Thought Leadership Article — Start Here
What Is This?
The thought leadership article is the centerpiece of a weekly content ecosystem. It's a long-form interactive narrative that names a concept, builds an argument, and moves the reader from unaware to ready-to-act in a single session.
It is client-facing. It lives permanently at its own URL.
The Process
Building an article is not a one-pass operation. It's a structured conversation between you and Claude that moves through three phases:
| Phase | What Happens | Who Drives |
|---|---|---|
| Intake | Claude reads the source material, proposes options, you make decisions together. Brand, goal, conversion, title, interactives, narrative arc all get locked. | Collaborative — Claude proposes, you pick. |
| First Pass | Claude builds the full HTML article based on intake decisions. Flags known weaknesses. | Claude builds, you review. |
| Revision Cycles | You give specific editorial feedback. Claude rebuilds what needs fixing. Repeat until it ships. | You direct, Claude executes. |
Expect 2–3 revision cycles. The first pass raises the floor. Your editorial judgment is what reaches the ceiling.
Files in This Folder
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
| 00-article-start-here.md | This file. Overview and orientation. |
| 01-article-context.md | Intake questions, narrative architecture, prose standards, design rules. |
| 02-article-terminology.md | Shared vocabulary — movements, interactive types, section anatomy. |
| 03-article-golden-example.html | The Proof Gap — reference article at full quality. |
| 04-article-quality.md | Quality checklist for reviewing an article before publishing. |
| 05-article-output-skill.md | Build instructions, HTML/CSS template, React patterns. |
How to Build a New Article
- Provide source material. A document, a transcript, a raw concept — whatever you have. Claude reads it first.
- Run the intake. Claude proposes decisions with options. You pick, push back, or say "you decide." See 01-article-context.md for the full intake sequence.
- Claude builds the first pass. Full HTML article based on locked intake decisions.
- You review and give feedback. Specific — what's working, what isn't, what's missing.
- Revision cycles until it ships. Claude rebuilds based on your feedback each round.
- Final QC using 04-article-quality.md.
How the Article Fits the Ecosystem
The article is one of five assets produced each week per topic:
| Asset | Relationship to Article |
|---|---|
| Article | The centerpiece. Names the concept, builds the argument. |
| Micro-tool 1 | Standalone tool that does cognitive work the article argues for. |
| Micro-tool 2 | Second standalone tool, different archetype from Tool 1. |
| Briefing | Time-limited video page. Walking through the article's argument on camera. |
| Framework page | Permanent home. Embeds all pieces at one URL forever. |
Key Principles
The article type determines the architecture. Not every article follows the same movement structure or CTA pattern. An article that teaches a self-service system and sells a $27 toolkit is fundamentally different from an article that names an invisible problem and routes to a diagnostic booking. The intake phase is where those decisions get made.
Interactives serve the argument, not the format. The number, type, and placement of interactives should be driven by what cognitive work the reader needs to do — not by a template that says "put one here."
The intake is where quality starts. A well-run intake produces a first pass that's 70–80% there. A skipped intake produces a first pass that reorganizes source material into sections without doing any original thinking.