The Problem
Most professional content follows the same pattern. Open with expertise. Deliver information. Close with a call to action. The structure is clean. The logic is sound. Nobody remembers it.
The reason is simple: information without connection does not stick. Your audience has access to more information than they can process. What they lack is content that makes them feel understood before it tries to teach them something.
After analyzing 50 LinkedIn posts across six months, the data was unambiguous. Posts that led with a personal, emotional moment outperformed technical posts by 7x. The top three were all deeply personal: helping people during layoffs, working at 4am with dogs on the couch, turning 50.
That pattern became a framework.
The Framework
Three moves. Every piece of content that connects follows this sequence.
1. Human Container
Start with a specific human moment. Not a definition. Not context-setting. The 4am coffee. The meeting that went sideways. The realization that something was not working.
The human container earns attention. It signals this content was written by someone who has been where the reader is, not by someone performing expertise from a distance. It pulls people in rather than presenting to them.
Examples: a scene ("Three dogs asleep on the couch. Coffee made twice without noticing."), a confession ("I watched a rep freeze in a meeting I had prepared him for."), or a question ("Have you ever rehearsed a conversation in your head, then had the other person say something completely different?").
2. Professional Content
Now bring your expertise. The framework. The data. The lesson. This is the part most people lead with, which is why their content underperforms. Expertise without a human container feels like a lecture. Expertise after a human container feels like a conversation.
This section is where your credibility lives. Specific numbers. Named methodologies. Real results. It lands differently because the reader already trusts you. They gave you their attention in the human container. Now they are ready to learn.
3. Human Close
End on the human, not the pitch. The best endings open a door rather than close one. They leave the reader with something to think about, not something to buy.
A human close sounds like: "Your audience does not remember your research. They remember the night you made coffee twice and did not notice." It does not sound like: "Download my guide" or "Follow me for more content like this."
The close returns to the emotional register of the opening. It completes the arc. The reader arrived through a feeling, learned something in the middle, and leaves with that feeling deepened.
How to Use It
LinkedIn Posts
1-2 sentences of human container. 60-70% professional insight in the middle. 1-2 sentences human close. Under 1,300 characters. The hook is always a feeling, not a fact.
Articles & Blog Posts
Expand the container into a full opening scene. Multiple frameworks in the middle. A longer, more reflective close. The ratio stays the same: human, teach, human.
Sales Conversations
Open with something personal that builds rapport. Move into business expertise. Close by connecting back to something they shared. Trust follows this arc naturally.
Newsletters & Email
Subject line hints at the container. First paragraph is the full moment. Body delivers the insight. P.S. line returns to the personal. Readers follow people, not brands.
Get the PDF
Download the complete Authenticity Algorithm guide. Print it. Pin it next to your screen. Use it every time you write.
This framework comes from two books:
Think on Your Feet, Land on Your Numbers (the improvisation skills)
The Deliberate Breath (the presence practice)
What's next
Speaking with conviction across difference is a skill you can develop — but it moves faster with feedback from someone who can hear what your audience hears. If something in this guide named a gap, a 30-minute discovery call is the right next step.
Book a call →