{"id":482,"date":"2017-11-28T18:06:24","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T18:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/107.170.231.162\/2017\/11\/28\/an-attempt-at-authentic-leadership-why-i-illustrate-all-our-blog-posts-as-a-ceo\/"},"modified":"2024-10-11T10:48:58","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T17:48:58","slug":"an-attempt-at-authentic-leadership-why-i-illustrate-all-our-blog-posts-as-a-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2017\/11\/28\/an-attempt-at-authentic-leadership-why-i-illustrate-all-our-blog-posts-as-a-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"An attempt at authentic leadership: Why I illustrate all our blog posts, as a CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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One small way we try to show we care as a company and value genuine leadership.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Lately, I\u2019ve been getting asked more frequently: \u201cClaire, do you illustrate your own blog posts?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer is, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, I\u2019ve written hundreds pieces on our blog<\/a>. With the exception of a few (where I\u2019ve used a photograph as the main image instead), I\u2019ve illustrated each one myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not a professional artist by any means (I grew up drawing and painting thanks to my mom, who\u2019s an artist). A much better idea might\u2019ve been to hire someone else who I\u2019m sure could produce higher caliber work and save me some time\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I insist on doing the illustrations myself. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An illustration I did last week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It shows we care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, everyone<\/em> is writing something\u200a\u2014\u200abe it blog posts, e-books, newsletters\u200a\u2014\u200aand a lot of it sounds and looks the same. A high-resolution, parallax scrolling image as the featured photo. A brightly-colored, minimalist infographic. You can even hire ghostwriters or outsource your writing to content marketing firms who\u2019ll both write and illustrate the posts for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See the same thing enough times in enough places\u2026 and you start to smell the lack of authenticity when you read it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You think to yourself, \u201cDo these people even give a shit?\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here at Canopy<\/a>, we do give a shit. Our sole purpose for writing is not to increase our SEO ranking or \u201cgrowth hack\u201d our business. We write because we truly care about creating more open, honest workplaces. And we believe sharing our insights can help more people influence their own workplaces to be that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Illustrations done by me, the CEO, is one way for us to show this. We don\u2019t hire out anyone else to write our stuff. We don\u2019t even hire anyone to illustrate <\/em>our stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We give a damn, so we do it ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doing something yourself\u200a\u2014\u200awhether or not you have to\u200a\u2014\u200ashows that you care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past January, I received a birthday card that my mom made herself. Admittedly, I cried when I opened it. It meant so much more to me than if she would have picked up something from the store. (By the way, my mom has handmade me a card almost every year since I was born!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The birthday card my mom made me this year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The same goes for business. When a CEO writes, illustrates, etc. herself, it shows she cares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, it\u2019s time-consuming and a bit tedious. I first google some images to get ideas for what I want to draw. Sometimes, I draw a few images and riff on them before deciding on one. I sketch out the final image. Then it\u2019s Sharpie time. I use watercolor pencils to fill it in. I take a picture of it with my phone, adjust it in Photoshop\u2026 And voila! The illustration you see is on our blog post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that all too \u201cin the weeds\u201d for a CEO to be doing? Meh, I\u2019m not sure that I care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that something takes longer and requires a little more effort matters less to me. What matters is that we\u2019re trying to communicate authentically with whoever is kind enough to lend us their time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if it\u2019s not \u201cperfect\u201d quality or the most efficient thing to do\u2026 So what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it shows you care, I say do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Never miss a post \u2013 get our latest leadership insights, as they’re released…<\/h3>\n\n