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Business Writing

For decades, John Clayton brought his writing skills and storytelling style to the needs of businesses. He developed books, reports, bylined articles, white papers, benefits-focused case studies, and other materials for companies in logistics, technology, energy, transportation, retail, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, publishing, and other industries. John has stepped away from business work now that his own books are taking more of his time.

 

In his final years of business writing, John was gratified to focus on sustainability projects. Businesspeople often refer to this as "ESG" (environmental, social, and governance) work: reducing carbon impacts, mitigating climate change, or otherwise helping the environment (and social conditions) -- using market forces. John often wrote for CxOs. His work appeared before boards of directors of Fortune 500 companies, Presidential transition teams, members of Congress, and many other decision-makers in the private and public sectors. 

Forest near Yellowstone
Apache national forest scene
Scenic Tennessee stream

 

Examples of sustainability projects:

  1. Large corporations can lead the way to a reduced-carbon world. That's the premise of John's work. Here his clients show how

  2. To achieve those goals, companies need to change: John helped clients write about the role of the board of directors in shaping ESG outcomes.

  3. So-called 'Scope 3' emissions will require the biggest cultural changes, yet this increased collaboration can also increase profits.

  4. Many sustainability initiatives are already underway: John co-developed the Sustainability chapter in the 2021 State of Logistics report, detailing efforts by transportation and warehousing companies. John also helped clients light a fire under retail pharmacies to catch up to other industries.

  5. Sometimes governments can help: John drafted a white paper on how governments can encourage adoption of battery electric vehicles.

    • That means governments worldwide: John ghosted an op-ed on the challenge/opportunity in Saudi Arabia

  6. One key is continued innovation, for example in wind energy production: John co-wrote a successful $750,000 National Science Foundation grant for a startup with a radical new wind turbine design.

  7. Reducing energy consumption increases profits: John wrote a case study for an international software company on how a paper manufacturer reduced power consumption on the factory floor.

  8. Indeed, nature provides powerful metaphors for business: John developed the overarching metaphor in a white paper that encourages executives to think about business transformation the way foresters do about prescriptive burning.

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Other projects:

The boxes below contain an exhaustive list of John's past projects!

Reshoring, e-commerce, & transportation

Kearney.com

Pumpkin spice: Business genius

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Kearney.com

The year in Logistics

2020

Supply Chain Mgmt Rvw

Encouraging   battery electric vehicles

Kearney.com

State of Logistics 2020: key takeaways

Kearney.com

State of Logistics 2020: full report

Kearney.com

State of Logistics 2020: web summary

Kearney.com

Navigating tomorrow's "Last Mile"

Kearney.com

Freight brokerage shake-up

Kearney.com

5G network virtualization: will you lead?

Kearney.com

Lessons from prescriptive burning

Kearney.com

Quantum computing: you should care

Privately published

Coronavirus and the

supply chain

MIT Technology Review 

Coronavirus and airline impacts

Kearney.com

What's your transformation story?

Kearney.com

The Year in Logistics 2019

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Supply Chain Mgmt Review

Optimizing a Maintenance Turnaround

Supply Chain Management Review

WEF's Opportunity to Learn From CES

LinkedIn Pulse

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Logistics Trends: Steep Grade Ahead

Supply Chain Management Review

Five Keys to a Successful Transformation

ATKearney.com

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Jump-starting your merger

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Washington Technology

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How to succeed in media

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ATKearney.com

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What the RealReal's IPO is really about

Digital Commerce 360

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The State of Logistics 2019

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A thorough report from A.T. Kearney

Christmas in July: The importance of Amazon Prime Day

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A.T. Kearney

How chain drug stores can help manufacturers

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Chain Drug Review

The cannabis opportunity

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A.T. Kearney

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A consumer survey reveals how other retailers can take advantage of the world's newest holiday

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Tomorrow's consumers will demand new forms of value, and retailers can help their suppliers understand how

A consumer survey reveals positive attitudes toward cannabis-based health products

How CEOs should act more like elk

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A.T. Kearney

In the 1988 Yellowstone fires, elk instinctively knew how to survive. Can data help CEOs do the same?

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How technology will affect the shipping industry

TLI Magazine

What to do about mounting transportation costs

Chain Drug Review

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Amid a giant capacity crunch, shippers can use technology to find new supply

How shippers and retailers can address recent increases in transport costs

Unavailable online

The Future Consumer: From Idle to Agile

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A.T. Kearney

The Changing Meaning of Diversity

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LinkedIn Pulse

"Last mile" as an opportunity

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Supply Chain Management Review

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How leading companies are responding to demographic changes

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Why International Women’s Day matters to everyone

Savvy shippers need to disrupt their fulfillment strategies before Amazon does it for them

Retailers' Next Big Challenge

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Retail IT insights

It’s not only Amazon putting on the pressure. Meeting the changing, segmented needs of tomorrow’s consumers has become vital for retailers’ success.

Global Consumers of the Future

Forces that will shape the future of pharmacy

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Chain Drug Review

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A white paper probing the shift from affluence to influence, based on a global survey of 7,000 consumers.

Recommendations for pharmacy retailers to negotiate the future.

Australia: Taking Bigger Steps

With China slowing, and a wave of new disruptive technologies coming, Australia is at risk of decline -- unless it develops a compelling strategy to improve its long-term competitiveness.

How Bitcoin Has Been Building Brand Equity As A Spectator Of Itself

Cracking the Culture Code: How Organizations Get Where They Want to Go

Bitcoin is a hugely successful product, but one that works without a traditional marketing strategy. Indeed, that leaderless-ness may be its greatest strength.

Everyone talks about changing a corporate culture. But how do you actually do it?

Unavailable online

Photos copyright John Clayton. All articles are copyright their respective authors and/or publications (my ghostwriting services are work-for-hire). To engage me on one of your projects, click the Contact link.

Previous projects
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