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I have been giving a lot of thought lately to what I have to give to the world that I am not sharing at the moment and that might be a help and encouragement to others. Although it occurred to me quite awhile ago that writing might be a sensible step toward this goal of contributing more meaningfully, I’ve been waiting. What for, I am not exactly sure.

Not long ago, I had a conversation with a friend who is a professional writer. I should clarify that. My friend, who is a wonderfully gifted communicator with a genuinely good heart and wealth of valuable insights to share, spends much of her professional life ghostwriting. Hearing her talk about it made me feel, for some reason, concerned. Not concerned for this particular friend’s well-being, exactly (she is quite successful and content, as far as I can tell), but concerned that this mode of working, seemingly so very pervasive in the government, nonprofit, and business worlds, is undermining even greater success for people – and, particularly, women – like my friend. Why, I wondered, is this dimension of corporate life not more explicitly and honestly accounted for in public discourse with the acknowledgement of actual writers and teams in Op/Ed pieces, letters, and even speeches? While I can certainly see how important it is for official messages to be clearly identifiable as such, why the inaccuracy of a leader’s signature in place of an “on behalf of” or “from the office of” when the work can only be accomplished – and accomplished well – by a team of individually-talented members? Junior-level staff are often extremely talented writers, designers, directors, and innovators. Why should those talents be exploited in ways that require systemic dishonesty? Somehow it feels important to ask these questions on Equal Pay Day.

Briefly, after this conversation with my friend, I felt grateful and, embarrassingly, a little self-satisfied not to be a ghostwriter. But it wasn’t long before the obvious dawned on me: that I was probably doing something worse in not really writing at all. Where she was exercising her talents fully, thereby strengthening and perfecting them, I was waiting for some more opportune time to start.

So, here goes.