'Mom, why don't you just write it like you talk to me?'

When Laura Hamill set out to write a book about the subject she knew best - the subject she'd spent years researching in theory and practice - she naturally drew on all the studies, statistics and evidence she'd gathered together to support her argument.

Turns out, that's not what the reader needed. (And it wasn't just her editor who told her that, it was her son, too.)

Those in organizations with a problematic culture don't need research studies, they need help. Laura had to learn how to step out from behind the screen of academic writing, how to own her experience and her opinion, and to sit with the discomfort of uncertainty and self-doubt that involves throughout the writing process.

The result is a book that allows leaders and indeed anyone at any level to look beyond the words stencilled on the lobby walls to see how the real culture - what's expressed in how people speak and behave - is aligned with strategy, and what to do about it if it's not.

'As we lean into artificial intelligence across every sector of business and life, how do we ensure that we're delegating the right things and keeping responsibility for the right things? And specifically, how do books and writing play into that?'

In this best bits episode, I'm exploring the role of writing in human intelligence in a world where it's suddenly possible to delegate writing to an AI tool. How does generating a written output quickly and easily fit alongside the hard yards of writing for ourselves, and is there still a place for that at work? [Spoiler alert: Yes. Yes, there is.]

Hear from:

• Patrick Dixon on why physical books have become even more meaningful in an increasingly virtual world;
• Anna Faherty on why AI takes us backwards when it comes to story-telling;
• Dan Kieran on why we need the alchemy of writing to make sense of our lives;
• Thomas Bergen on the renaissance of the book and capturing its soul;
• Kathryn Jacob and Sue Unerman on why creativity matters so much in a world run by algorithms;
• Tiffany Gaskell on how being more human benefits the organization as well as the individual;
• Graham Allcott on why he doesn't let his AI avatar write his newsletter;
• Colin Ellis on the importance of the discography;
• Alina Addison on giving readers the courage to embrace both the too-muchness and the not-enoughness.

Get ready to be challenged and cheered by these outstanding humans.

'They think the goal is to have the book, but no, the goal is to become the person it takes to write your book.'

Dan Kieran is a publishing legend: as a co-founder of Unbound he revolutionizing the industry by empowering authors and readers. He learned a lot about himself and about setting up a business along the way, and he brought all that together in Do Start, winner of the Startup Book of the Year at the Business Book Awards.

But he also firmly believes that writing isn't just, or even primarily, about the final product; it's the process itself, the way you understand and articulate your journey, both professionally and personally. Which is why turning to AI to generate your writing outputs for you is such a dangerous, self-defeating habit for anyone who cares about ideas.

Or as Dan put it: 'Why would anyone want to read something that you couldn't be bothered to write?'