#437 Why Business Leaders Should Tell Their Stories – And Why Books Still Matter - article by Niels Brabandt
Why Business Leaders Should Tell Their Stories – And Why Books Still Matter
By Niels Brabandt
In an age where executives publish daily on LinkedIn and corporate thought leadership often feels like a numbers game, the idea of writing a book may appear daunting — or even outdated. Yet, as publishing expert Sierra Melcher explains in conversation with leadership specialist Niels Brabandt, stories remain a powerful currency of trust, visibility, and transformation.
From Doubt to Credibility
Most aspiring authors hesitate for familiar reasons: “I don’t have the education, I’ve never written anything long, no one knows my name.” According to Sierra Melcher, nearly 99% of people who want to write a book never do. Only 7% of those who start actually publish.
And yet, those who push through the doubts earn something far more valuable than a product on Amazon. “The confidence you see in published authors is earned,” Melcher explains. “It comes from wrestling with the question: What do I have to say, and who am I to say it? The writing process transforms a person into an author.”
Vanity Publishing vs. Real Authors
Brabandt raises a growing trend: “Pay $25,000 and get your book published.” Many such projects result in what he calls “AI-written expansions of LinkedIn profiles” — glossy but hollow ego projects.
Melcher agrees. While ghostwriting and support services can be legitimate, outsourcing the struggle entirely robs the process of its value. “It’s like buying a gold medal without running the race. Readers notice when a book doesn’t sound like its supposed author.”
In an era of AI-generated content, authenticity matters more than ever. “Fast food will keep you alive, but over time it makes you sick,” Melcher warns. “Books stripped of the author’s voice do the same.”
Self-Publishing or Traditional Publishing?
Business leaders often ask which path to choose. Melcher is pragmatic:
Traditional publishing works when authors bring an established platform and an audience. For publishers, it’s a numbers game.
Self-publishing offers control and speed. Some global bestsellers started as unformatted PDFs and went viral.
What matters, Melcher stresses, is aligning the publishing strategy with goals: timeline, investment, reach, and above all, credibility. “No publisher will knock on your door. You must put your work into the world.”
The Trap of Perfectionism
Another obstacle is timing. Executives often wait for the “perfect” moment — after the next project, after family obligations, after travel. “Perfectionism is a trap,” says Brabandt. Melcher echoes this with a phrase from her latest book: The Art of Imperfect Creation. “You can’t improve on nothing. Even if you make a mess, at least you know where to fix it.”
Why Books Still Matter for Leaders
In a digital landscape of fleeting posts and short-form content, books remain uniquely powerful. They provide a lasting platform of credibility, allow deeper storytelling, and force the author into clarity. “YouTube may have a wider reach,” Melcher observes, “but books build authority.”
For decision makers, publishing is not just about personal branding. It’s about shaping organizational narratives, influencing industries, and connecting with stakeholders on a human level.
The Call to Action
As Melcher concludes: “If you hear the whisper that you have something to share, that’s your sign. Reach out. Start. Don’t wait for perfection.”
For executives and entrepreneurs, the message is clear: your story may be the competitive edge your business needs — but only if you tell it.
Niels Brabandt
---
More on this topic in this week's videocast and podcast with Niels Brabandt: Videocast / Apple Podcasts / Spotify
For the videocast’s and podcast’s transcript, read below this article.
Is excellent leadership important to you?
Let's have a chat: NB@NB-Networks.com
Contact: Niels Brabandt on LinkedIn
Website: www.NB-Networks.biz
Niels Brabandt is an expert in sustainable leadership with more than 20 years of experience in practice and science.
Niels Brabandt: Professional Training, Speaking, Coaching, Consulting, Mentoring, Project & Interim Management. Event host, MC, moderator.
Podcast Transcript
Niels Brabandt
Remember when you said, I always wanted to write this book or you thought about publishing a book and then you said, yeah, well, maybe it's just not me and we need to talk about, maybe it is you, but maybe it is you without knowing. And I have an expert exactly on that matter with me here today. Thank you very much for taking the time. Hello and welcome. Sierra Melker.
Sierra Melcher
Hi, Niels. Great to be here. Thank you.
Niels Brabandt
Thank you very much for taking the time. And we get straight into the topic. You probably heard of people who said, I thought about writing a book, but I don't have the education. I've never written anything that long. I don't have a platform. No one knows my name. I think it's not for me and everyone else I see, they publish because they are so confident and I am not one of these people who confidently stand out in the crowd.
So maybe books are just not for me. And you now for a long time, help people publishing their book. How do you make it happen?
Sierra Melcher
So I hear a couple of questions in there. Everybody, everybody who's ever published a book has wrestled with all of those doubts, and probably more I know for a fact, because I was one of those people.
Niels Brabandt
Okay, here we are.
Sierra Melcher
I got into publishing, but before that I had 15 years of reasons why I shouldn't write. Nobody cares about what I have to say.
Who am I? All of the stuff, whether it's logistical or emotional, there are obstacles laden throughout the past in the writing process, the publishing process, and onward. I'm not going to make it simple and say, well, just get over those things. Because it's not quite.
That's just not fair. Right?
Niels Brabandt
Yeah. Because I don't think it is easy. I know that publishing my first book was by far the most complicated thing. And from there it became a lot easier once you understand how the game works. But publishing your first book is a huge step forward.
Sierra Melcher
Exactly. Because. But this is true about anything. We could be talking about rocket launches anytime. You've never done anything before. It is impossible, overwhelming, intimidating. And then as soon as you know how, then you know how and it's a matter of will you do it again? So. But I hear you asking something underneath all of that, because there's.
There are people who have amazing things to share and get stuck in any number one of any of these questions. You know, the statistics are like 99% of the people who want to write a book will never write a book. And then only 7% of those people will actually have their book published, which tells me there's a lot of people out there with the interest, the passion, and something worth sharing. And those are the. Those are the people that I want to work with because we're still hungry for stories. We're hungry for this piece of humanity that connects us all. And we're only getting access to a tiny little piece.
So it's not simple. It's not a. Well, just do this. Roll out of bed on the lunch.
Niels Brabandt
There are people out there. There are people out there, often from vanishing, what's it called, vanity publishing agencies. Oh. It's all very simple. You give us $25,000 and we publish your book. And what they get is, in my opinion, an AI written piece of. Basically recap of their LinkedIn profile blown up into a massive ego project where they say, look at this.
And embarrassing themselves in public.
Sierra Melcher
That's certainly an option. It's not one I encourage. Neither do I, because. And you've done this. You've been through this process. A couple things happen. One, we look at people who have been published and see confidence.
It is earned through going through the struggle of facing those doubts and fears in the writing process, wrestling with, what is it that I'm trying to say? Who am I trying to say it for? Who the hell am I to get to say it? And then how do I say it?
Well, yeah, those are. Those are exercises. They are muscles that we build. There are ways through it. There are ways to navigate it. It's hard when we get stuck because then we're not doing the reps to build the strength and the comfort and the familiarity and the confidence in the writing process, but in a supported container with a guide, which is. I became a guide because I didn't have one.
And I was like, that was hard. It shouldn't have been that. It didn't have to be that hard. If I had known this, this and this, I could have done it easier. Now I've been published 18 times, written four solo books, published 64 books.
Niels Brabandt
Wow.
Sierra Melcher
And it becomes this like, oh, oh. This is actually something that we can do. The publishing process, once you have a manuscript is also pretty repetitive. We need editing, we need formatting, we need a cover, we need to set it up and print it and distribute it. Very logical. But there's a lot of emotion that comes with both the writing process for the creator and the publishing process, which is if you go through those pieces, if you do that work, the author becomes transformed. The person becomes transformed into an author.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah.
Sierra Melcher
And that. That comfort, that confidence and that credibility is earned and that's part of the difference. $25,000 of a vanity press where everybody's doing the heavy lifting for you. Sure, you got the gold medal, but you didn't run in the Olympics.
So it's like. Yeah.
Niels Brabandt
And also I think when, especially when these books are ghost written, especially when you know someone and you know someone personally, you quickly realise if it's written by them or not. Because when you know them, you hear their voice while you're reading. And when you suddenly read something, I think that doesn't sound like you at all, you immediately know ghost writing.
Sierra Melcher
Yeah. Which, and there's, there's some validity in having somebody help you write your book.
Niels Brabandt
Of course. Of course.
Sierra Melcher
Right.
Niels Brabandt
It's not, it's not immediately bad. But when your personality is completely taken out of it, for sure.
Sierra Melcher
And within the age of AI, this is becoming critical and we're missing, we're missing some of the value as from the writing standpoint, the author is not forced to, to become different. It's not hard enough. And then the reader misses something too. So it's, it's sort of like fast food. It'll probably keep you alive, but you know, it'll maybe make you sick over time.
Niels Brabandt
So it works for the moment, but not in the long run. So when it comes to publishing, what do you think? Because some people say, well, I heard about the self publishing thing, but I also heard about the publishers. I don't think any publisher will ever listen to me. And when I do self publishing, I feel like a bit like a second class author. Despite the fact that we already have global proof that some global bestsellers basically started as an unformatted PDF and went viral from there in self publishing mode. So what is your take on the publishing self publishing decision, which is an.
Sierra Melcher
Ongoing one for sure and I don't think there's a single right answer for all people. If I told you that, then it would just be my sales pitch. Right. And that's just not fair. So I always ask, what is your platform? Right. If you already have an established following platform, certain number, then traditional publishers will be interested because for them, rightfully so, it's a straight numbers game.
Do you have a following? Can we sell X number of books to make this a business arrangement that works in our favour. If you do and that's a path that you want to go down, then getting a literary agent and approaching a publisher is perfectly reasonable. I think most of us and most people who have a story in them don't fall into that camp. Yet, but could become someone in that camp by trying a different pathway the first couple of times and then building an audience, building a reputation, going viral. No one's going to publish the ideas in your head if you don't tell anybody about them. And no one's going to just knock on your door and say, I think you have a bestseller in you.
You do have to put it out there. Which is the scary part. And this is why I love the 21st century. For all the drawbacks of technology, the multitude of self publishing options, and I want to clarify, self publishing, like you're doing all of it, you put it on Amazon yourself. That is one definition of self publishing. But then there's this whole spectrum of you still own the copyright, you own the royalties, maybe other people help you.
That's still self publishing. And that we fall in between. There's people who I say you should go self publish where you do it all. If somebody has four or five books in them and they want to do it themselves and they're fascinated with formatting and want to manage a team to help them get their book out, that's the pathway. But then there's companies that help close some of those gaps. So you get a high quality product that's actually edited in your own voice, that gets distributed properly. The title's not misspelt on the COVID I've seen it happen.
Oh my gosh, I've seen it happen. The content's good, it's engaging. There's all the sort of the insider knowledge that, that you can miss. I'm going to. On a longer podcast. I'll tell you some of the mistakes that I made early on in my career. I'm so glad I made that mistake because no one else will have to make it again.
But it's really a matter of looking at your goals. Who are you reaching and what's the best pathway for you to do that in terms of energy and money investment, but also timeline. Do you have something you want to share with people, some people in the next year? Because that's another major distinguishing factor. Do you want to wait three or four to five years to get your book into the world, or do you want to get this book into the world and then build that momentum and then get something else into the world and then something else into the world and five years from now, maybe get that deal and have the Netflix series and the da da da da da da. I think so many people on this list of why people don't write their books is because they're waiting for it to be ready. Waiting for it to be perfect. Waiting for.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah, it's the perfectionism trap. It is never the right time. Now there's something with family. Now I have to travel.
Sierra Melcher
So there we are.
Niels Brabandt
Perfect. Perfect.
Sierra Melcher
That is the this is my last book typo. The art of imperfect creation is to do something because you can't improve on nothing. So even if you have to make a mess, screw it up. How do you know where it needs to be fixed until you've tried?
Niels Brabandt
Absolutely. Would you say that every story is worth being told in a book, or do you think that there are things where you just say that's just too thin, that doesn't carry a book in its length or in its validity to be published?
Sierra Melcher
Interesting. Every story. So you. Before we hit record, we were just talking about all the different formats. Right. And I think I might twist your question a little bit and say, does Ev. I think everybody who hears this whisper of like, I want to share has something worth sharing that.
Which is a major doubt most people have. So if you're doubting that you have something to share, it's probably because you have something to share.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah.
Sierra Melcher
There are people who don't hear the call. They don't have something to share. That's fine.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah.
Sierra Melcher
But if you're wondering if you have something, it's because you do. But the same question, sort of, what's the right publishing pathway? My other question is, what's the right format for this particular thing? Who is your audience? Where will they receive this message best? I am admittedly a fan of books because of the transformational process that it has for the author, and because it's this timeless thing that once you create, creates a different level of credibility and visibility that a blog or a podcast or a YouTube video. The YouTube video may have a bigger reach, but it doesn't guarantee a bigger credibility boost.
Because books are hard.
Niels Brabandt
Yeah, absolutely. So to wrap this interview up, if someone now thinks I might hear exactly that whisper, but I'm not quite confident, how can they reach out to you?
Sierra Melcher
Absolutely. So I run Red Thread Publishing, and so we're@redthreadbooks.com, red Thread Books on Instagram, sort of Red Thread books everywhere. Love to talk to people about their book ideas, what the best pathway for them forward is, and how to get their message out into the world, connecting with the people who need them. It's what lights me up all day long. So I encourage people to reach out anytime.
Niels Brabandt
Perfect. I think these are the perfect final words when you now think I hear this calling then I think it's time to get in touch with Ciara Ciara Melka thank you very much for your.
Sierra Melcher
Time thank you Niels.