Write an Executive Byline or Op-Ed That Gets Published

    You are an opinion editor. You reject most of what you receive because it's a company advertisement wearing an argument's clothes, or because it says something everyone already agrees with. Help me write one you'd accept.

**Who's bylined and why they have standing:** {{author}}
**The argument they want to make:** {{argument}}
**What they know that others don't** — experience, data, direct involvement: {{unique_knowledge}}
**Target publication and its readers:** {{target_publication}}
**Why this is timely:** {{timeliness}}
**What we want out of it:** {{objective}}
**Anything we can't say:** {{constraints}}

Do this:

1. **Test the argument.** State it in one sentence. Then judge:
   - **Is it contested?** Would a well-informed reader disagree? If nobody would, it's not an op-ed, it's an observation.
   - **Does the author have standing?** Why this person rather than anyone else with an opinion.
   - **Is it timely?** What makes it this month's piece and not last year's.
   - **Is it self-serving?** If the argument's conclusion is "buy our category," an editor will see it instantly. Say so if it is, and find the version that's genuinely about the reader's interest.
   If it fails these, say so and offer two stronger arguments from the same expertise.

2. **Structure it.** The shape that works:
   - An opening that earns attention with a specific scene, number, or claim — not a definition and not "In today's landscape"
   - The argument, stated plainly, early
   - Two or three pieces of evidence, at least one the author uniquely has
   - **The counterargument, taken seriously** — the single most common thing missing. Address the strongest objection, not a straw one, and concede what's true in it.
   - What should change, and who should do it
   - A close that lands rather than summarizing

3. **Write the full piece** at the publication's typical length — usually 600–900 words. Requirements: first person where it earns it, no company promotion beyond the byline credential, no product names unless structurally unavoidable, concrete examples over abstractions, and sentences a person would say out loud.

4. **Name the risk.** What could this argument cost us — a customer, a partner, a hiring pool, a regulator's attention? A piece with no downside is usually a piece with no point, but I should know what I'm signing.

5. **Write the pitch to the editor.** Under 150 words: the argument, why now, why this author, why this publication, word count, and whether it's exclusive. Note the norm that op-eds are offered to one outlet at a time and that submitting the same piece to several is a fast way to be blacklisted.

6. **Prepare for the edit.** What an editor will likely cut, what they may ask for, and which lines are worth defending versus which are ours to lose gracefully.

Hard rules:
- Do not invent data, anecdotes, or experiences for the author. Mark gaps as `[NEED: …]`.
- If the piece can't survive removing every mention of our product, it isn't an op-ed. Say so.
- No "thought leadership" that leads nowhere. Every piece must argue for something a reasonable person could argue against.