EP #069 Turn Any Post Into a CEO Masterclass: A Guide to Educational Content

Most CEOs talk about their companies when they should be teaching.

Executives post company updates, product launches, and milestone announcements while skipping the content that actually builds credibility and trust. These same leaders are naturally educational in person - put them in a room with a client, investor, or new hire, and they explain, clarify, and walk people through their thinking.

But the moment they open LinkedIn, they turn into a press release generator.

To help executives find their educational content, I use a simple framework called the keynote test. You have an hour to give a keynote to 10,000 people from your ideal audience. If you mention your company name, they pull the mic.

Now decide what you're going to talk about. And if your first instinct is "our innovative solutions," you've already lost the room.

The constraint forces you to identify the overlap between topics where you have real depth and authority, and topics your audience actually cares about. 

Educational content lives in that intersection.

1. Mine your sales conversations

The most common questions you hear in sales calls are exactly what your audience needs to understand. If prospects keep asking about implementation timelines, pricing models, or measuring success, those questions deserve posts that answer them - without requiring a sales call.

You're already answering these questions 50 times a quarter. Just write it down.

2. Challenge common misconceptions

Every industry has widely held beliefs that you know are wrong, and posts that challenge these misconceptions demonstrate expertise while giving readers a perspective they won't find elsewhere.

Topics where you disagree strongly with industry norms or standard entrepreneurship advice make for compelling educational content when backed by your experience.

3. Share milestones and mentors

Think about significant moments in your life that shaped how you show up as a professional - breaking your arm in third grade and learning about resilience, a college professor who changed your worldview, a failed business that taught you about risk.

The mentors who influenced you - an uncle from childhood, a high school English teacher, a former boss - can become stories that make abstract lessons concrete and memorable.

4. Root lessons in stories

Educational content works best when you ground it in specific experiences.

Instead of writing "Leaders need to communicate clearly during uncertainty," share a specific moment when unclear communication created problems, what you learned, and how you approached it differently next time.

Stories make lessons stick.

Promotional content tells readers what you do, while educational content helps them understand how to think about a problem, make a decision, or approach a challenge. 

Compare these two approaches:

"We just closed our Series B to scale our AI-powered analytics platform."

"We just closed our Series B. Three metrics told us we were ready to scale: customer acquisition cost dropped below $500, net revenue retention hit 120%, and our sales team closed deals without founder involvement."

The second version teaches something valuable while still positioning your company as credible and thoughtful.

So the next time you sit down to write, ask yourself what you would teach if you couldn't sell.

Run through the keynote test, think about questions your audience asks repeatedly, and look for misconceptions you could clarify or experiences that shaped your thinking.

Educational content outperforms promotional content because it provides value whether someone becomes a customer or not, building trust by demonstrating expertise rather than claiming it.

— Justin

Justin M. Nassiri | Founder & CEO
M: 650.353.1138 | E: [email protected]
250 Fillmore St Suite 150, Denver, CO 80206
www.ExecutivePresence.io

Executive Presence specializes in helping top-tier executives boost their visibility, activate their network, and position themselves as thought leaders via our premium, fully-managed LinkedIn service.

Our unique process involves ex-McKinsey, BCG, and Bain consultants conducting monthly hour-long interviews with our clients, and turning them into impactful daily LinkedIn posts to establish their unique voice and authority. On average, our clients see a 500% bump in engagement in their first 30 days with us. Data is continuously analyzed to improve engagement and identify impactful messaging that you can use for conferences, podcasts, and internal communications.