Robert Caro was just named the first-ever Founders Historian Laureate by the 221-year-old New York Historical for “luminous writing.” For the lay reader, he may be best known for his seminal work on the politician Robert Moses entitled “The Power Broker.” He is now (finally) completing a five-volume biography of Lyndon B. Johnson. The first book in that series was published in 1982.
Caro’s writing style is distinctive, if not vivid. Certainly his early career in journalism helped to define his approach. Based on exhaustive research and one-on-one interviews, Caro thrives in the process of interpreting others. One indicative anecdote: He once moved to Hill Country, Texas for three years to better understand Johnson’s childhood. The output from this process is original work that is deeply engaging. He always reverts to the power of the story.
The truth is that building an asset base is a long-fuse process. Some try to short-circuit that marketing work by claiming an investment strategy is highly differentiated—or capacity to accommodate new investors is limited. Those arguments are often artificial. In practice, there is almost always a unique strategy with room to accommodate inbound institutional money.
When writing white papers, we think business-to-business companies can learn from that approach. Quality is now more important than volume. No, white papers are not dead, given the ascent of artificial intelligence. Their ability to build trust and authority—while generating essential leads—is timeless. Your audience, though, has far less patience for clumsy work than they may have had in the past.
Adopting elements of Robert Caro’s approach helps to overcome the artificial-intelligence problem. Original data and interview insights are not the sort of building blocks that artificial intelligence can easily exploit. And humanizing the work, rather than using the predictable cadence of computer-generated text, gives you an added premium in communicating to your core audience.
For those selling to investment officers, we emphasize highly-analytical professionals respond most to thoughtful communication. Despite your enthusiasm, qualified investors will probably not speak with you until they have vetted your material and are convinced of the value of a conversation.
Overnight results measured by asset growth are of course hard-won. Taking the added steps to ensure a white paper will endure across an investment cycle means the difference between drivel and substance. Robert Caro understands this point. He took seven years to write his Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Robert Moses. When he started “The Power Broker” in 1967, he thought it would take about a year to finish. ■
Essential Message: Original data and interview insights are not the sort of building blocks that artificial intelligence can easily exploit. Taking added steps means the difference between drivel and substance.
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