Hi Friends!
Two years. Co-pilot Communications is two years old this month.
I almost let it slip by without marking it because I've been deep in some of my favorite kind of work. One client has their biggest industry event of the year happening this week. A lot of prep leading up to this one with influencer collaborations and video-forward content. Another client recently had a CEO transition and, not surprisingly, a shift in strategy. I get to help them build out their marketing and communications function. The past few months have been full of client delivery, peppered with relationship building. And September is a great time to step things up again! I have ideas :)
What will things look like in another two years? 2028. I hope you’ll be here with me, because I know I’m way better doing this with friends.
Let's jump in.
- Jess
What I’m Practicing
Telling Better Stories
I've been increasingly fascinated by the power of storytelling of late, helping clients figure out how to say the right thing in the right way when it really counts. Giving them permission to insert themselves into the copy, even if it’s meant to be “about the business.” I put together a one-sheet to anchor that work. But as I was writing it, I kept thinking: this isn't just for executives at a big tech company. This is for anyone who communicates with others, which is all of us. So I'm sharing the highlights with you too.
Princeton neuroscientist Uri Hasson found that when someone tells a story, the listener's brain activity actually synchronizes with the storyteller's. This is a phenomenon called neural coupling. Facts alone don’t create that effect. Only stories do. That is the science behind something every great communicator already knows: people forget most statistics, but they remember stories. Stories stick.
Imperfection Is Your Magic
Polish is not what makes people trust you. Specificity is. I reread Stephen King's in May, a book I hadn’t touched since high school. Thirty years later, the details in King’s writing gripped me so hard I brought the book to a restaurant with me. It was messy and crass and made me hate that dog and deeply root for that little boy stuck in the car.
That’s the same principle that makes a leader's post land, or a CEO's keynote feel like a mic drop. As AI makes it easier than ever to sound polished, the advantage shifts to the people willing to sound human. You can’t outsource authenticity. You can get help shaping it, but if there is no real input from you, there is no real output that connects.
Three Moves That Make Any Story Land
Scott Galloway and his team use these strategies to build every presentation. I say we steal them!
1. Inject Drama - Use provocative, evidence-backed claims that challenge assumptions, and turn flat numbers into vivid comparisons. EXAMPLE: Big Tech will spend $364 billion on capex this year. Said plainly, that number doesn’t register. Said as "enough to build another International Space Station, dig the Channel Tunnel twice, run Japan's military for an entire year and still have money left over," it sticks.
2. Zoom Out - Move past what happened to so what, and even better, what happens next. The obvious story is rarely the most useful one. It's the "yes and" move in improv. We just apply it to how we deliver a point. Galloway did this years back with his predictions on GLP-1s and their widespread impact on other industries.
3. Personalize + Add Context - Numbers only land when they mean something to the person hearing them. It’s not just about being accurate, it’s framing so your audience feels why it matters to them specifically. Relatable, local, and acute.
Your brain is wired to remember stories, not slides full of statistics or overused business jargon. The leaders who understand that, and who are willing to be specific and human instead of polished, are the ones who will have influence.
What I’m Loving
Substack
I’ve been on a Substack tear of late. I know it’s been around since 2018, but something has shifted in the last year Here’s some context for the uninitiated:
Substack has exploded into the internet's fastest-growing media network, surging past 35 million monthly subscribers in 2026. Nothing compared to the social media giants, but rising rapidly. By posting over 40% year-over-year traffic growth, it has officially evolved from a passive newsletter tool into a high-end social platform. Creators no longer have to bring their own audience because the platform natively builds it for them, fundamentally changing how writers monetize their work. Honestly, Substack is for grown ups and I’m here for it.
My latest favorite follow is Dr. Julie Gurner.
Julie is a doc of psychology and executive performance coach with over a decade of experience working with some of the world’s top CEO's, founders, executives and teams. She writes about how to operate like the top .01%.
Take a look at a few of these:
If you’re not yet poking around Substack, go on over. As a creator, writer, editor and partner to others, if I’m making a prediction, this is the next platform.
Shining a Light
Why Public Recognition from Respected Sources Still Matters
UiPath, one of my clients, just landed as a leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (BOAT). If that sentence meant nothing to you, that's 100% ok, most people outside enterprise software don't track Gartner reports. But stay with me, because this matters beyond UiPath.
Gartner's Magic Quadrant is what big companies use when they're about to decide who to spend millions on software with. Being named a leader (upper right) means Gartner's analysts believe UiPath has both the capabilities buyers need right now and the vision to compete as the market evolves. It's the difference between "maybe we should look at them" and "they're a player that must be on our short list."
For UiPath as a company, this validates their bet on orchestration, meaning connecting agents, robots, APIs, systems and humans through one platform to get stuff done more efficiently and consistently. They've moved way beyond robotic process automation (their origin). For CEO, Daniel Dines, and CMO, Michael Atalla, this is the kind of moment that shapes how people see you. Your credibility shifts. You're not just building something you hope cuts through. You're someone whose company is recognized as a strategic force in shaping the next chapter. That changes conversations. It changes who calls you back.
This is a universal truth. Public recognition from sources people respect is how trust spreads in markets built on incomplete information, which is every market. Someone has to vouch for you before strangers believe you matter.
UiPath earned this. They're moving faster than competitors into the agentic future. And now, publicly, people can point to that and say: yeah, these guys know what they're doing.
When someone you trust vouches for you, a door opens. And when you vouch for them, the same thing happens. Use that power judiciously.
ICYMI
I’m not just reading Substack, I’m writing on it, too.
After all that gushing about Substack earlier, it only felt right to put my money where my mouth is. I've started my own Substack, and I'd love for you to follow along as I get it going. It's early days, so you'll get to watch me figure it out in real time. Come find me here.
Where’s Jess?
To my surprise, no one guessed correctly that the August photo was from Banff, Canada. If you haven’t heard of this magical resort town, ADD IT TO YOUR LIST!
For September, I took the girls canoeing in a lake in Oregon. Known for their iconic red boats, can you guess which one it is? Don’t let me down again.
Reply with your guess. I'll feature the winner next month.
Thank you for being here. See you in October. 💛
— Jess
Bet on yourself.
➡️ Did a friend forward this to you? Subscribe here. You’ll get pro tips and inspo about once a month.
