How Consultants Can Use LinkedIn to Build Authority

A finished piece of work gives a potential client something to examine: the idea, the way it is explained, and what the reader can do with it. That is the kind of authority I want a LinkedIn profile to make visible.

In my newsletter work with Gregory Shepard, I adapted and prepared his material for readers, including editorial preparation, layout and publishing-channel preparation. The ideas, experience and book are Gregory’s. My contribution is the work that carries that material into a finished issue.

The published issue Your First Customer Should Have a Name is a useful example. Its structure moves from a personal experience to a specific customer, then gives the reader a page to work through. Each part makes the expertise easier to inspect.

Begin with an experience the author can own

The issue opens with Gregory’s climbing experience:

In my twenties, I wanted to climb El Capitan.

The following paragraphs describe the preparation and help he needed. They connect the experience to the Vision chapter of his book and to the value of learning from people who understand the work ahead.

That opening gives the lesson a person and a situation. It also gives the rest of the issue a direction: ambition becomes more useful when you understand what it requires and whom you need to learn from.

When adapting an expert’s material, I need to preserve whose experience it is and make the connection readable. A client’s first-person story stays theirs. My role is to prepare the piece so a reader can follow the idea through to its practical use.

For your own LinkedIn writing, start with an experience you can explain precisely. Give the reader enough context to understand what it taught you and why it matters to the problem you help with.

Bring the idea down to a person with a job to do

The issue then uses StartupScience.io to work through the customer decision. A broad ambition to serve the startup economy narrows to organizations running founder cohorts, then to the program director or head of entrepreneurship inside them.

That person has responsibilities: filling the cohort, keeping founders involved and reporting what the program achieved. The article now has someone whose working day a team can investigate. The reader can follow how a broad market becomes a customer worth speaking with.

The cover at the top supports that same focus. Its main line leads with the starting customer, with colour emphasis on the customer. Gregory’s portrait, book and credentials establish the author behind the idea. They support one clear entry into the issue.

This is the connection I want between a piece of content and its presentation. The opening, example and cover should help a reader follow the same idea. A polished graphic earns its place when it helps explain the work.

Give the reader something they can use

The issue finishes the customer discussion with a six-line worksheet. One of its prompts is:

The problem, described without our product.

That line asks the founder to describe the customer’s situation before explaining the solution. The surrounding prompts identify the customer, the responsible role, the current approach, direct evidence and the next conversation or test.

The issue also tells readers to leave the interview-evidence line empty when they have no notes. That detail makes the worksheet useful: it shows where further work is needed. The reader has a way to examine a decision, rather than simply agree with the advice.

You can inspect the complete issue and my contribution on the newsletter adaptation and production page.

Apply that test to a work sample you put on LinkedIn:

• What decision or problem does it help someone understand?
• Which actual passage or deliverable lets them examine your thinking?
• What can they do after reading it?

Show the work beside the observation

The Gregory newsletter lets a reader inspect the editorial work. The Ken Parkinson case shows another part of an evidence example: the published Microsoft Copilot use-cases creative beside the original LinkedIn owner analytics.

For the featured post, the public record shows 95,994 impressions, 62,299 members reached and 270 profile viewers, captured on August 10, 2026. Those are reach and profile-activity observations. They do not measure buyer trust, qualified inquiries or revenue.

Together, the creative and the native record let the reader examine what was published and the response recorded around it. This is the structure I would use when preparing a work sample for a LinkedIn profile:

Evidence component	What to include
The work	A direct link or readable sample of the published artefact
Your role	The specific positioning, editorial, design or delivery contribution
The observation	The native record and its capture date, when available
The conclusion	The narrow statement supported by that record

Keep those parts together. A performance number without the work gives the reader little to inspect; a work sample with its context gives them a clearer basis for deciding whether your expertise is relevant.

Give the profile a clearer introduction

The newsletter shows how Gregory’s ideas become useful content. His profile provides a separate example of my positioning copy and information hierarchy.

The retained March 24, 2026 profile used this headline:

General Partner | Author of The Startup Lifecycle

The retained August 26, 2026 profile used this revised headline:

The Startup Architect | Founder & CEO at Startup Science | Author of The Startup Lifecycle | 12 Startup Exits | Helping Founders Build, Scale & Exit

The positioning choice was what to lead with and how the pieces connected. The original line named two roles. The revised line opened with Gregory’s established brand, then connected his company role, book and operating experience to the founders he helps.

That order gives a new visitor a way into his work: a recognisable identity, a current role, supporting experience and an audience. Each credential supports the introduction. The purpose is to make the connection understandable, so the visitor can decide whether to explore his work further.

Original profile, retained March 24, 2026 capture:

Revised profile, retained August 26, 2026 capture:

My contribution was the copy and information hierarchy. The established brand and career record are Gregory’s. These dated captures show the wording change; they do not establish an inquiry or sales result. The full Gregory positioning case keeps that context with the work.

In the Founder Positioning Project, this is the job of the positioning brief and profile copy: decide what should lead, which existing proof supports it and what service the right person should understand. The offer page and introductory campaign carry that same direction. A visitor can then move from an understandable introduction to relevant work and a clear first engagement.