Ghostwriting for CEOs: what it taught me about adapting tone and trust

by Amanda Swennes:

Ghostwriting is equal parts art, empathy, and espionage, especially when your “voice” must channel someone else’s. Over the last few years, I’ve ghostwritten for three CEOs who couldn’t have been more different in tone, temperament, and approachability. Their companies ranged in size from 400 to more than 150,000 employees. Each experience pushed me to stretch different muscles as a communicator and taught me something new about what it means to write for someone else.

CEO 1: The Natural Storyteller

At a mid-sized U.S.-based organization with about 5,000 employees, the CEO was a dream collaborator. Charismatic, approachable, and a natural storyteller, he made my job easy (and sometimes fun).

We’d sit down for a conversation, and I’d basically type as he talked. His stories were rich, personal, and naturally connected to our business strategy or culture. He instinctively understood the “why it matters” element, and he delivered it with warmth and humor. I had easy access to him, which meant I could follow up, clarify, and shape content quickly. Revisions were rare and minor. His voice was clear because he knew who he was and was comfortable letting others see it.

Key takeaway: When your leader has a strong voice, don’t over-polish. Let their personality shine through. Sometimes your best writing skill is knowing when to get out of the way and how to type fast (or use a good AI note-taker).

Try this: If your exec is a natural storyteller, ask for an anecdote first then reverse-engineer the business message to fit.

CEO 2: The Polished Pedestal

At a global company with more than 150,000 employees, the CEO was a brand unto himself: polished, decisive, and highly visible (but largely inaccessible) to most staff. He had an entire comms entourage, including a dedicated speechwriter and a media team managing his external presence.

I was brought in temporarily to support some internal strategy communications during a bit of a crunch period that included working on a small team ghostwriting for him. I never met him. Instead, I absorbed his tone and rhythm through speeches, media clips, and previously published articles. I worked closely with his core team, who handled all the reviews and revisions. And I didn’t usually get to see the final version of the pieces I worked on until they were published.

Still, I had a win: I pitched a line for a year-end video script on the company’s pandemic response—and he used it! Even better, he followed my suggestion to wear a sport coat with shorts and sandals in his home office, humanizing his image through a shared experience during a difficult time.

Key takeaway: Even when you can’t access the CEO directly, you can still influence the narrative. But it takes deep research, trust in the chain of command, and humility about where your fingerprints show up (or don’t).

Try this: Build a personal “voice file” for inaccessible execs—a working doc of their go-to phrases, sentence structure, and tone clues from past content.

CEO 3: The Introverted Thinker

At a much smaller company with just 400 corporate employees, the CEO was soft-spoken, private, and deeply uncomfortable with being the center of attention. And yet, weekly executive updates were part of his role, and I was tasked with ghostwriting them. He was direct and succinct, and if he had a story to share, I usually had to dig for it.

To make the process more manageable, I scheduled monthly check-ins to plan content and gather any anecdotes or thoughts he was willing to share. I also collected background material and context from his leadership team, who were pretty accessible to me. I often wrote first drafts with just a sentence or two of guidance. Feedback during review and approval was usually a “looks good,” with little additional input, which sometimes made it hard to know if what I was creating was actually any good or if it was all just a tickbox exercise.

Key takeaway: When your exec is introverted, reluctant, or brief, your job is part journalist, part translator, part storyteller. It’s critical to build trust behind the scenes with the CEO and the people who can give you “the rest of the story.”

Try this: For quieter leaders, front-load content planning. And don’t be afraid to use their leadership team to triangulate stories and priorities.

What I’ve Learned About Ghostwriting for Executives

These three CEOs taught me that ghostwriting isn’t one-size-fits-all process. It’s a chameleon craft … one where your voice disappears so theirs can be heard. And while every leader is different, I think a few universal truths hold up:

Flex to their style. Your most eloquent draft means nothing if it doesn’t sound like them. Listen to how they talk and write to that.

Access is everything. If you can get face time (even 15 minutes a month), guard it fiercely. Use it to uncover tone, test phrasing, and gather nuggets you can’t get from a slide deck.

Do the detective work. For distant or overly busy leaders, immerse yourself in their past work. Build a voice guide, analyze sentence structure, and identify their patterns of emphasis and emotion. If you can get time with their speechwriter or media team, do it!

Remember who the message is for. It’s not just about capturing the exec’s tone. It’s also about making sure their message resonates with the audience. Be the bridge between intention and impact. Why should a call center employee take 10 minutes off the phone to read this message?

Ghostwriting for executives is rarely about getting credit. As strategic communicators, our best work often happens behind the scenes, shaping voices that aren’t our own. It’s chameleon work: we shift styles, tones, and formats depending on who’s speaking, listening or reading.

Whether your CEO is outgoing or reserved, accessible or untouchable, your job is to bridge the gap between leader and employee, between thought and tone, between the business need and the human story.

And that’s the real magic of our work. Quiet, observant, and usually behind a keyboard.

+++

Amanda Swennes is a Prosci-certified change leader and internal communications pro who’s spent nearly 20 years helping organizations—from top hospitals to global corporations—connect people to the information they need to do their best work. Now leading Flying Comma, she specializes in aligning teams and driving results through clear, people-centered communication.

Written by: Editor