Hey Hey Hey Modern Authors!

Last week, an author asked me a familiar question:

“Do you think my book idea will work?”

Here’s the quiet truth: it’s not just about whether a book will “work.”

The real question is: can you build a platform around the book that makes the idea spread?
​That’s what modern thought leaders do differently. Adam Grant. Simon Sinek. Brené Brown. James Clear.

They don’t just write books. They architect movements.

And the pattern they follow is what I call the Thought Leadership Triangle:

And when you get this right, your book is much more than a book... it's the foundation for keynotes, workshops, corporate trainings, coaching systems, and much more. Look at the biggest thought leaders out there and all their books are foundational to their platforms.

And that's all by design...

The Quiet Truth About Thought Leadership

Most people think thought leadership is about writing a good book.

But here’s the thing I’ve learned working with thousands of authors: the book itself is not enough.

I’ve watched brilliant leaders pour their heart and soul into a manuscript, hit “publish,” and then sit there wondering why the world didn’t take notice.

It’s not because their ideas weren’t powerful. It’s not because they lacked talent, energy, or conviction.

It’s because they didn’t build their thought leadership with the right architecture.

That’s what the Thought Leadership Triangle is all about:

1. A unique, brandable category that hooks people.
2. A framework that teaches them how to apply it.
3. Stories and proof that make it real and spreadable.

This is the pattern behind the biggest names you know: Adam Grant. Simon Sinek. Brené Brown. James Clear. Mel Robbins.

They don’t just write books. They design movements.

Tier One: The Category (The Hook That Makes People Lean In)

Every modern thought leader starts by naming a category.

That’s the hook. The memorable, brandable, easy-to-repeat phrase that travels through word of mouth.

Think about:

• Simon Sinek’s Start With Why.
• Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly.
• James Clear’s Atomic Habits.

The brilliance isn’t just in the content, it’s in the category design.

As I wrote in my piece on category design, people want ideas that make them feel smarter when they repeat them. “Oh, you’ve got to check this book out, it’s all about atomic habits. Crazy good.”

That’s the moment when thought leadership tips from interesting to unstoppable.

It was funny but when I had finished writing Super Mentors, I spent hours and hours brainstorming titles and subtitles, twisting and turning. Finally a branding expert I was considering hiring told me: "You've already got your category here... I'm not sure I could do anything other than confirm it. I mean who doesn't want to be or have a Super Mentor?"

That's it... your book and it's category gives people language they need.

And here’s the quiet truth: you don’t stumble into a category. You architect it.

I’ve built my career around helping authors do this. It’s why Manuscripts is a B-Corp, it’s not about just publishing more books, it’s about building categories that catalyze movements.

Tier Two: The Framework (What People Actually Pay For)

Here’s the part most aspiring thought leaders miss:

People don’t pay for stories. They pay for frameworks.

A great book doesn’t just inspire. It shows people how. But not in a dry, how-to manual way. Modern frameworks are:

• Principles (think Covey’s 7 Habits).
• Steps (think Clear’s 4 Laws of Behavior Change).
• Models (think Heath Brothers’ SUCCESs model in Made to Stick).

The framework gives depth. It transforms your book from “interesting” to “actionable.”

For Super Mentors, this wound up being a big part of my own restructuring of the book from the initial research study into the ultimate framework that really drove the book's success. I had initially structured it around what, looking back, resembled a massive data dump. I tried to essentially give readers a 5-chapter download into how smart I'd become about mentorship.

And frankly, early readers didn't give a flying flip about that.

Frameworks are powerful because they are easy to remember and flexible enough to apply in multiple scenarios.

They aren't about making the author look smart, they are about making your reader feel more confident themself.

It’s what lets you:

• Turn chapters into workshops.
• Turn diagrams into slides.
• Turn your process into coaching or corporate training.

Without a framework, a book is just a story. With a framework, it becomes an operating system.

If you want to know my secret of figuring out the PAST framework for Super Mentors, it came down to a decision I made to try and teach the book to a group of five MBA students who volunteered to let me pilot the book concepts on them.

What I learned:

• Teaching your framework live is the best way to see if it actually makes sense
• Turning your framework into a one-page handout (not a 100-slide deck or 30-page white paper) helps ensure it's simple
• Asking your learners to write up their takeaways ensures your concept is memorable.

If you haven't done all three of these (or any of them weren't home runs when you did it), keep going until you get a heck yea on all three.

Tier Three: Stories, Anecdotes, Proof (Why It’s Possible for Me)

The third tier of the triangle is what makes thought leadership stick.

Stories aren’t the product. They’re the proof.

It's what I got wrong about Super Mentors... I assumed that the stories were what would make the book spread. Turns out that's the framework... the ability for someone to talk about your framework is key for the idea's spreadability, but the stories are what makes the framework believable and emotionally resonant.

When you show examples, case studies, and real lives changed, people see the pattern. They see themselves.

• That’s why Brené Brown isn’t just quoting statistics. She’s telling stories about vulnerability that feel raw and relatable.
• That’s why James Clear doesn’t just talk about habit loops. He tells you about the guy who lost 100 pounds by putting on his running shoes every morning.

Stories do two things frameworks can’t:

1. They spark emotion.
2. They spread the framework.

Nobody walks into a networking event and says, “Let me tell you about the four-step model I read last night.”

But they will say: “Did you hear the story about the CEO who…”

Stories spread frameworks. Frameworks sustain categories. Categories launch movements.

And when you really do a deep dive into the best thought leadership books today, you'll be surprised to learn that 60-80% of those books are stories. It's certainly not a memoir written in a narrative arc, but illustrative, relevant stories are what make the key elements sticky and memorable.

Why Architecture Matters

Most authors reverse this (that's what I did with Super Mentors at first).

They start with stories. They sprinkle in some advice. And they hope it lands as something bigger.

But modern thought leaders flip the order:

• Category first (What’s my hook? What makes this unique?).
• Framework second (What’s the system that people can actually apply?).
• Stories last (What proves this is possible and spreads it?).

That’s why Atomic Habits wasn’t just another self-help book.

That’s why Daring Greatly didn’t just inspire—it created a vocabulary millions use every day.

That’s why Start With Why is still quoted in boardrooms fifteen years later.

Architecture matters. Because a book without it doesn’t scale.

Bringing It Together: A Modern Author’s Playbook

Here’s the cheat sheet we use inside the Modern Author Accelerator:

✅ Unique Category

• Name it.
• Make it simple and intriguing.
• Test if people feel smarter repeating it.

✅ Framework

• Package your insights into steps, stages, or principles.
• Design them to be teachable and scalable.
• Visualize it. Models stick.

✅ Stories & Proof

• Collect anecdotes and case studies that make the system real.
• Feature other people, not just yourself.
• Use stories to spread the message, not replace the framework.

When those three align, you don’t just write a book.

You architect a thought leadership system.

Final Thought

I’ve worked with entrepreneurs, professors, coaches, and creatives. And the ones who truly break through, the ones who build movements, are the ones who design their book as the front door to a bigger architecture.

And it's tempting to just start writing... it feels like you should just start to get what's in your head out.

But it often becomes quicksand you can't dig out of, buried under words without structure.

In my experience, most successful authors will spend 4-8 weeks of intentional, and thoughtful work on the architecture... dialing in these elements, testing them with feedback from a book architect or coach, and some light market testing on your socials.

When you get this right, and most of us will know it when it really does feel anchored, this becomes the compass that guides you forward... no guessing, but just filling out the skeleton.

They know the book is the hook. The framework is the system. The stories are the proof.

That’s the Thought Leadership Triangle.

And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

The question is: are you just writing a book… or are you architecting a movement?

Have a terrific week of writing and building... write on y'all!

Eric

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👉 Want help building your own triangle? We'll have a new author community this fall and winter. Ping me for details!