Shhh, I'm Not Really a CEO: I'm a professional writer.

As a freelance writer, I’ve written about a variety of topics that I have neither personal experience nor expertise in. I’ve never been married, but I’ve ghostwritten advice for couples from marriage therapists. I’ve never experienced incontinence, but I’ve written countless articles about it which are mainly geared towards people decades older than me. That company founder whose articles you frequently read? Some of those articles might have been written by me.

I’m not telling you this to instill fear that you can’t trust who your articles say they are written by. Instead, I’m emphasizing how writing is enhanced by professional writers. An expert in his field is not always a great writer; however, well-qualified writers are pretty good at positioning themselves as experts.

I learned a similar lesson as an undergraduate. Universities love to hire professors who are renowned in their fields. When these people are also knowledgeable about best teaching practices, it makes for an exciting lecture. If they haven't learned how to teach, the smartest people in their fields can also make the worst teachers.

Because they know their topics so intimately, it can be difficult for them to understand where students are struggling. They also may not have the best communication skills to explain what they know. Think it would be amazing to learn math from Albert Einstein? Think again.

“Einstein was never an inspired teacher, and his lectures tended to be regarded as disorganized.” -Biographer Walter Isaacson

Before starting my freelance writing career, I earned a degree in elementary education. The topics I was able to teach best weren’t the ones I excelled at in school -they were the ones I struggled with. I knew where students were likely to become confused and how to lead them to a place of understanding. Writing is the same way.

Writers know how to take complex topics and break them down into pieces that are easy for readers to understand. They’re good at determining what comparisons to make and what adjectives will evoke the proper emotions. Professional writers navigate you through a topic, knowing where you need more details and where you need analogies. After they write a piece and you read it, both of you become more knowledgeable about the topic.

This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t learn from experts. When an expert and a professional writer team up, that’s when magic happens. Next time you need a piece written, don’t default to searching for the best mathematician or insist CEOs are the only ones capable of writing about business. Consider hiring someone who can better relate to your target audience and spends each day deep inside their thesaurus.