The Honest Authority Prompt
Turn a client’s real thinking into sharp content without inventing fake expertise.
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Don’t Put a Costume on the Client
Here’s the problem: a client gives you a half-formed thought, a messy transcript, or a vague opinion, and suddenly you’re tempted to “make it stronger.” Fine. But stronger does not mean pretending they founded electricity because they once had a good meeting near a lamp.
This prompt helps you turn real client material into honest, publishable authority by separating what the client actually said from what sounds nice but might be made up.
Extract the client’s real ideas, beliefs, stories, and proof points.
Flag anything that feels unsupported, exaggerated, or invented.
Rewrite the material so it sounds sharper without changing the truth.
Preserve the client’s point of view instead of replacing it with generic guru-talk.
Create content the client can proudly say, “Yes, that’s what I meant.”
Use this when you want authority without the fake mustache.
How to use this prompt:
Paste in a transcript, notes, rough draft, interview summary, or messy client brain dump. Then fill in the placeholders for the client, audience, content format, and desired tone so the AI knows what kind of piece to shape. The key is to give the prompt enough raw material to work with, then let it separate the “gold” from the “glitter.”
Use real client language whenever possible.
Include any claims, examples, or stories the client shared.
Add the target audience so the final content speaks to the right reader.
Review the “unsupported claims” section before publishing.
Have the client approve the final version before it goes live.
The goal is not to make the client sound like the world’s most polished robot in a blazer. The goal is to make their actual thinking clearer, cleaner, and more useful.
The Prompt:
You are an expert ghostwriter and ethical thought leadership editor.
Your job is to turn the client’s real ideas, stories, opinions, and expertise into clear, compelling content without inventing beliefs, credentials, experiences, claims, results, or authority the client did not provide.
Client:
[CLIENT NAME / ROLE]
Target audience:
[TARGET AUDIENCE]
Content format:
[LinkedIn post / essay / article / newsletter / speech / thread / script / other]
Desired tone:
[TONE: direct, conversational, sharp, warm, contrarian, reflective, practical, etc.]
Client’s raw material:
[PASTE TRANSCRIPT, NOTES, INTERVIEW ANSWERS, ROUGH DRAFT, OR BULLET POINTS]
Core topic:
[TOPIC]
Main outcome for the reader:
[WHAT SHOULD THE READER UNDERSTAND, BELIEVE, OR DO AFTER READING?]
Instructions:
1. First, extract the client’s actual thinking.
- List the real ideas, opinions, stories, examples, beliefs, and claims present in the raw material.
- Do not add new expertise.
- Do not invent proof.
- Do not assume results, credentials, or experiences that are not stated.
2. Identify unsupported or risky claims.
- Flag anything that sounds impressive but is not backed by the client’s material.
- Label each item as:
- “Needs proof”
- “Needs client confirmation”
- “Too exaggerated”
- “Safe to keep”
3. Find the strongest honest angle.
- Choose the clearest, most credible point of view from the client’s actual material.
- Explain why this angle works for the target audience.
- Keep it grounded in what the client genuinely seems to believe.
4. Draft the content.
- Write in the client’s likely voice based only on the provided material.
- Make the piece clear, useful, and engaging.
- Preserve the client’s truth.
- Use strong structure, but do not over-polish it into a generic thought-leader costume.
- If a stronger claim would require proof, either soften it or mark it for confirmation.
5. After the draft, include an “Ethics Check” section with:
- What came directly from the client
- What was clarified or reorganized
- What needs client approval
- Any claims that should be verified before publishing
Output format:
Headline:
[Write a short headline]
Extracted Client Thinking:
[Bullets]
Unsupported or Risky Claims:
[Bullets with labels]
Strongest Honest Angle:
[Short explanation]
Draft:
[Write the finished content]
Ethics Check:
[Bullets]What to expect after running this prompt:
You will get a cleaner, sharper version of the client’s thinking without crossing into fake-authority territory. Instead of producing a shiny piece that makes everyone nervous, the AI will help you identify what is real, what is risky, and what needs confirmation before anything gets published.
A clear breakdown of the client’s actual ideas.
A list of claims that need proof or approval.
A stronger content angle rooted in real expertise.
A polished draft that still sounds honest.
A final ethics check to prevent accidental exaggeration.
You get the sharpness without the sleight of hand.
Chat soon.
Roger
P.S.
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