Write to bust flab; CEO AI excuses deconstructed; death of nonfiction: Newsletter 17 June 2026

Newsletter 156: Writing is hard, which is why it is essential. Plus, a paean to corporate jargon, why personas are more than chatbots, three people to follow and three books to read.

Writing is supposed to be hard

For the last two years I have done strength training with a personal trainer three times per week. (Stick with me here, there is a lesson coming about work, I promise . . .)

My trainer puts me through a series of programs intended to build up my muscles (which is not so easy when you start doing it at age 67). He watches me do the exercises and coaches me on form.

It’s hard. Not “I’m almost in tears” hard but certainly often “Jeeze, how many more reps do I need to do” hard. I sweat. I ache. Inevitably, once it feels easy, he comes by and says “move your knees farther apart” or “extend fully at the end” or “slow down” and his instruction always makes whatever I am doing harder. My body wants to find a shortcut, he stops me taking that shortcut. And once I do start to master the exercise we increase the reps or the weight, or substitute an exercise that’s similar but a little different and harder.

No one is looking at this tubby body of mine now and swooning. But I can feel the strength where I wasn’t strong before. I have had chronic back problems but this has made them far less likely to render me in pain and disabled. Physical activity like lifting heavy things or yard work are less risky, which at this age is crucially important. My blood pressure and cholesterol are also lower. I feel great.

Now let’s talk about you and how you write. (Yes, there is a connection, I promise.)

You write every day. You write emails. You may have to write memos or research reports or analysis or proposals. Writing is hard. Not “I’m almost in tears” hard but often “This is taking a long time and still doesn’t sound so great” hard.

You could just ask AI to do the writing for you. Now it won’t be so hard. You’ll save time. It’s a shortcut.

It will not be worth it. Here’s why.

Writing is thinking. Writing trains your brain to be organized and logical. It trains you to communicate effectively with others. And the more you do it, the better you get and the more powerful your writing becomes.

Just like you, I could get a machine to do my reps in the gym. I could lift the weights with a forklift instead of my arms and legs. A machine would have perfect form. And after I did that, I would still be flabby and weak and at risk of injury when I need to actually do something physical.

When you delegate writing to a machine, you cease to learn. You do a disservice to both your reader and your mind. You become dependent. And you lose the judgment about what forms of logical thinking are effective and supportable and what forms are fallacious and boring.

Students who outsource their writing to AI are no longer learning to think and communicate and have good judgment. They will become far less useful in the workplace and as citizens.

Workers who outsource their writing to AI will cease to grow and become smarter. The job is not producing documents and emails. The job is thinking clearly and then using the documents and emails to share that thinking. Of course it’s hard. Thinking is hard.

Some things at work are tedious and repetitious and don’t enable you to grow. Searching 100,000 web sites for the key facts you need is something an AI can do better than you. Finding inconsistencies in what you wrote is something an AI can help with. Batting ideas around with AI or asking it to poke holes in what you wrote is fast and useful. AIs are probably better at spelling than you, and that’s useful.

But writing is thinking. Once you delegate that, your mind will become flabby and weak and useless.

I am your trainer. I am telling you not to take shortcuts, just like my exercise trainer tells me. I am telling you to take the time to type the words, to get feedback from actual humans, and to find ways to get better, smarter and more persuasive with better judgment. Even thought the AI is sitting right there where you could use it instead.

Stop writing and you’ll stop growing. And once you stop growing, you may as well give up. What a waste that would be.

News for writers and others who think

Rafe Needleman delivers a devastating analysis of what’s most appalling in all those public statements CEOs are making about dumping workers in favor of AI. Including this gem: “The CEOs guilty of these memos and op-eds are not dumb and their analyses on AI’s impact are not necessarily wrong. That’s not the problem. The problem is manners. Old-fashioned, didn’t-your-mother-teach-you manners.”

From the Chronicle of Higher Ed, an essay on how students can no longer read. “I assigned my rhetoric and writing students a 20-page article. . . . Not one student finished it.” The author Tyler Jagt effective explains how we got here, but is at a loss on how to fix it. (Link, registration required)

If you write a nonfiction book, you must make a promise to the reader. Write that promise down first, and make sure your book delivers on it. That’s the thesis of Marisa Solís and Elizabeth Dougherty in an essay on Jane Friedman’s blog.

Tim Ferriss asks “Has AI Already Killed How-To Nonfiction?” My answer: If your book answers a question for which the Web already has good answers — then yes, your book should not exist. But the best books change people’s way of thinking about the world. AI can’t do that.

In the Wall Street Journal, Andrea Javor offers an essay in praise of corporate jargon, which softens the blow of failure. That way lies madness . . . (gift link).

Charles Voloshin explains the difference between chatbots and online personas.

Three people to follow

Guido Palazzo , business ethics expert

Todd C. Helmus , analyzing AI and information threats

Hansi Lo Wang , reporting for NPR on threats to our elections

Three books to read

I Eat the Stars: How to Live Fully and Beautifully in a Collapsing World by Sarah Wilson (Penguin Life, 2026). A deep and researched reflection on living well when life seems impossible.

Strategic Clarity: The Practical Method for Transforming Vision Into Results by Kyle J. H. (Amplify, 2026). How far off is your company’s actual activity from its stated strategy?

The Design of Books: An Explainer for Authors, Editors, Agents, and Other Curious Readers by Debbie Berne (University of Chicago Press, 2024). A book designer explains how books work.