Leaders
Chief executives, founders, firms and industry bodies. The argument you make in public, and the record it leaves behind.
For a leader with a position to hold
Executive voice. Your X, LinkedIn and YouTube on retainer, sourced through Trace.
Speeches and articles. Keynotes, op-eds, investor letters, launch announcements, and the difficult ones: layoffs, apologies, exits.
Arguments. Think pieces and video essays built to be quoted and argued with.
Message testing. A statement tested on the audience it is aimed at, before it goes out.
For a firm, a fund or an industry body
Investigations and documentaries. Dossiers, audits, and investigative pieces and films, to a standard that publishes.
Policy and public affairs. Position papers, white papers, submissions and government-facing briefings.
Cultural strategy. Campaigns that land in a named culture, and audits of existing ones.
Crisis. The assessment, the statement, the apology and the year afterwards, on its own page.
Training. Sessions and workshops for companies, schools and newsrooms: making a case in public, machine literacy for teams, and how executives get into trouble.
What you are buying
A position you can defend in a room with someone who disagrees. The measure is whether you get quoted, whether you get clipped, and whether your critics have to answer you.
Most engagements begin with a positioning audit.
Executive voice
Your X, LinkedIn and YouTube, run on retainer by people who have read what you have read.
What we do
A post most working days on X and LinkedIn, a long-form article every month, and YouTube at the cadence the material supports, produced in our studio. Replies are part of the work: when someone with standing disagrees with you in public, we answer from your position.
Every post starts from Trace, the archive of what you have saved and marked. If you have saved nothing on a subject, we ask rather than invent a view. The two of us do the work with a small production team, and it is not handed to a junior.
What you do
Read as you already do, with Trace running. Spend forty minutes a fortnight with us on a call, and approve what goes out. We keep a record of what you declined and why.
How it is priced
A monthly retainer with a minimum term of six months. Studio production days are included up to a limit set in the agreement. We take a small number of these retainers at a time, and we do not run accounts for two people who compete with each other.
Speeches and articles
Keynotes, op-eds, investor and shareholder letters, launch announcements, and the difficult ones: the layoff, the apology, the exit.
What we do
Each speech is written as an argument, with one position, one number the audience will repeat, and one thing you are asking them to do or believe. It is written aloud, cut to what survives being said, and rehearsed with you.
For the difficult ones, the psychologist leads. A layoff note is written for the people staying as well as the people leaving, and an apology is built around what the injured party needs to hear. Crisis covers one under pressure. Investor and shareholder letters are written with last year's letter open.
What you do
Two recorded conversations: one on what you actually think about the subject, one arguing over the draft. Then a rehearsal, filmed in the studio if you want it.
How it is priced
A fixed fee per speech, agreed after the first conversation. The difficult ones are scheduled first, and we will turn one around in forty-eight hours if the situation requires it. Rehearsal and filming are priced separately.
Arguments
Strategic think pieces and deep-analysis video essays, written and filmed, built to move an audience to a position and to be quoted.
What we do
The argument is built before it is written. The case is constructed the way a lawyer constructs one: the claim, the evidence that carries it, and the strongest objection with its answer. The change is designed the way a psychologist designs one: what the reader believes before, and what they need to believe after.
The written form is two to four thousand words, published under your name or placed, with a sources list a reader can open. The filmed form is a video essay of ten to twenty-five minutes, shot in our studio and cut into short pieces. Everything traces to something you read or said, through Trace.
What you do
Hold a position. If you do not have one on the subject, we will tell you in the first hour and the piece will not be written. If you do, give us three hours across the project: one on the case, one on the draft, one on the film. You approve the sources list.
How it is priced
Per piece, written or filmed, with the fee fixed after the first hour. A series goes on a retainer that includes studio time.
Message testing
Find out what a statement does to the people who will read it, before it goes out.
What we do
We put the statement, or the versions you are choosing between, in front of a sample of the people it is aimed at: customers, employees, the trade press, whoever is deciding. We test on the audience you are speaking to, not a general panel.
We report which version moved people, the strongest objection in the audience's own words, and the sentence that caused it, including the wording that lost. We also map what critics will say back, and what each point costs you if you have no answer ready.
What you do
Tell us the decision being made and who has to believe it, and give us the time: the test happens before publication or not at all.
How it is priced
Per test, scoped by the number of versions and the size of sample the decision justifies. Also available inside a crisis standby or an executive voice retainer.
Investigations and documentaries
Research dossiers, narrative and competitive audits, sourcing and fact-check review, and long-form investigative pieces and documentaries. The case against, made to a standard that publishes.
What we do
Every claim is sourced to a document, a filing, a recording or a named person on the record, and the sources are published with the piece. A claim the evidence cannot carry is cut. Before publication, the subject receives the piece and the evidence, with time to reply, and the reply is published with it.
A research dossier is private: the full case, for your use. An audit maps how your sector, your company or a rival is described in public, and by whom. Fact-check review checks a piece you intend to publish, claim by claim. The long-form pieces and films are the public case, written or shot as a short documentary, under our name or yours.
What you do
Bring what you have, including the parts that hurt your case. Decide at the start whether the work is for publication or for your own use. And accept the rule: we do not defend a party we are investigating.
How it is priced
After a scoping conversation. Dossiers and audits are fixed-fee once scoped, films are budgeted separately, and fact-check review is priced per piece.
Policy and public affairs
Position papers, white papers, consultation and regulatory submissions, and government-facing briefings: a policy position turned into an argument the public can follow.
What we do
One argument, made in three registers: the submission or briefing, drafted to the form the process requires; the white paper, making the same case in public with the same evidence; and the leader's own statements, saying the same thing in plain words.
It is built on the public record and on data the other side cannot dispute, with the counter-argument stated fairly and answered. Every figure carries a source a reader can open.
What you do
Decide the position: we can sharpen one and test one, but not find one for you. Give us access to the people who hold the numbers, and be ready for the argument to be made in your name in public.
How it is priced
Per project for a paper or a submission, fixed after scoping. A retainer for a consultation or regulatory process that runs for months. Briefings are priced individually. We do not represent two parties on opposite sides of the same process.
Cultural strategy
Landing in a named culture.
Campaigns that land in a named culture for a named demographic, not translated work that reads as foreign. Outbound for Indian brands entering North America, Japan, Europe and ASEAN; inbound for international brands entering India, including regional and vernacular audiences.
Also sold on its own as a cultural audit of an existing campaign. Japanese-language capability is provable in the room.
The full list
Everything under Leaders. If what you need is not on it, ask.
Where it starts
- The positioning audit: what you sound like, what you believe, and the gapEverything you have said in public, read against what you actually think, with a written account of where the two part company. A fixed fee, one to two weeks.
- Channel and feed diagnosticYour accounts read the way a stranger reads them: what they say about you, who they reach, and which posts are doing the work.
- Three sample posts written in your own voiceWritten before you commit to anything, so you can judge whether we sound like you or like an agency.
Executive voice
- X, run dailyA post most working days, argued from positions you hold, and a reply when someone with standing disagrees with you in public.
- LinkedIn, run dailyThe same voice for a professional audience: posts most working days and a long-form article every month.
- YouTube channel strategyWhat the channel argues, which formats carry it, and a cadence the material can sustain, filmed in our studio.
- Posting cadence and calendarA plan of what goes out and when, built around your diary, your sector's calendar and the arguments you want to own.
- Strategic replies and engagementAnswering the people whose disagreement matters, from your position, rather than reacting to whatever passes by.
- Threads and long postsThe argument that will not fit in one post, laid out step by step so it can be read, saved and quoted.
- Profile and bio positioningThe lines a stranger reads first, rewritten to say what you stand for rather than where you have worked.
- Drafting sourced through TraceEvery post starts from what you have read, saved and marked. If you have saved nothing on a subject, we ask rather than invent a view.
- Leadership team accounts, not only the chief executiveVoices for the people around you, kept distinct from each other and consistent with the company's position.
- A newsletter or Substack under your nameA regular long read that subscribers keep, written from your archive and published on a schedule you can hold.
Speeches and articles
- Keynotes and conference talksOne position, one number the room will repeat, and one thing you ask of them, written aloud and rehearsed with you.
- Op-eds and bylined articlesArgued pieces for named publications, with the placement handled and the sources ready for the editor.
- Panel and interview preparationThe questions you will be asked, the ones you hope you will not be, and answers short enough to say.
- Investor and shareholder lettersWritten with last year's letter open, so what was promised and what happened are dealt with plainly.
- Monthly investor updatesA short, regular account of the numbers, the decisions and the asks, written to be read rather than filed.
- Board and internal memosDocuments for the people inside who have to decide or carry something out, written to be acted on.
- Launch and funding announcementsThe news, why it matters to someone outside the company, and the line you want quoted back.
- Layoff and restructuring notesWritten for the people staying as well as the people leaving, with the behavioural half of the studio leading.
- Apologies and correctionsWhat was done, in the words of the people affected, the responsibility that is yours, and a commitment someone can check.
- Exit and succession statementsThe handover told so that it protects the person leaving, the person arriving and the company's record.
- Fundraise and pre-listing narrativeThe company's case, told the same way across the deck, the documents and the public story before a raise or a listing.
- Annual report narrative sectionsThe letters and strategy pages of the annual report, written to be read past the first paragraph.
- Award and listing submissionsEntries and nominations built as arguments, with evidence a judging panel can check.
- Ghostwritten booksA book-length argument under your name, built from recorded conversations and your archive, approved by you at every stage.
Arguments
- Strategic think piecesTwo to four thousand words making one case, published under your name or placed, with a sources list a reader can open.
- Deep-analysis video essaysTen to twenty-five minutes on film, shot in our studio, then cut into short pieces that point back to the whole.
- Industry position piecesWhere you stand on the question your sector is arguing about, stated early enough to set the terms.
- Contrarian and counter-consensus takesArguing against the prevailing view where you genuinely disagree with it, with the evidence to survive the reply.
- Response and rebuttal writingAnswering a critic, a report or a competitor point by point, without repeating their framing for them.
- Quote-ready framing and message designThe sentence journalists and audiences will lift, worked out before the piece is written rather than hoped for after.
Investigations and documentaries
- Research dossiersThe full case on a subject, sourced to documents and the record, kept private and for your use.
- Narrative and competitive auditsHow your sector, your company or a rival is described in public, by whom, and where that description comes from.
- Sourcing and fact-check reviewA piece you intend to publish, checked claim by claim against its sources before anyone else checks it.
- Long-form investigative writingThe public case, written to publish: every claim sourced, and the subject given the evidence and time to reply.
- Short documentariesFilms made from an investigation or an argument, researched, shot and cut by the same team.
- Documentary featuresLonger films where the subject needs them, budgeted separately and made to the same sourcing rules.
- Pre-publication risk reviewA read of what in a piece could be challenged once it is out, done before publication. Anything that needs a practising advocate is referred out.
Message testing
- Pre-testing a statement before it goes outThe statement put in front of a sample of the people it is aimed at, while there is still time to change it.
- Audience reaction researchHow customers, employees or the trade press actually respond to what you say, in their own words.
- Framing and wording alternatives, testedThe versions you are choosing between, compared on the audience that matters, including the wording that lost.
- Objection mapping: what critics will say backThe strongest replies to your position, and what each one costs you if you have no answer ready.
- Behaviour-change design for a campaignBuilt from what the audience believes now to what you need them to do, and measured on whether they did it.
Written positions
- Position papersYour organisation's stance on an issue, argued and sourced, in a form others can cite.
- White papers for industry bodiesA sector's shared case, researched and written so members can put their names to it and officials can use it.
- Policy explainersWhat a policy does, who it affects and what is at stake, made clear for readers who are not specialists.
- Research-backed reportsOriginal research or a synthesis of the existing evidence, published with its sources and its method.
Formal submissions
- Consultation responsesYour answer to a public consultation, made in the terms the drafting body is working in.
- Regulatory submissionsRepresentations to a regulator, built on evidence and written for the people who decide.
- Committee and inquiry briefsWritten evidence and briefs for committees and inquiries, prepared so members can use them.
Engagement
- Government-facing briefing notesShort notes for officials that set out the issue, your position and the ask, on a page or two.
- Stakeholder mappingWho decides, who influences the decision, and what each of them needs to hear.
- Turning a policy position into public argumentThe case made in submissions carried into op-eds, video and posts, so the public conversation carries it too.
Where to start
A positioning audit: what you currently sound like, what you actually believe, and the gap between the two. A fixed fee, one to two weeks, and three sample pieces written in your own voice at the end of it. Most retainers begin there.
Say who you are and what has to be argued.
We reply within two working days, and if the answer is no we say so in writing.