Write, Publish, Promote => Platform
Peter Birkeland, Author, Ph.D.
About
I became a ghostwriter and editor after working as a consultant, researcher, CEO, business development leader, and professor in strategic management. I enjoyed research and writing for my graduate work at the University of Chicago, but it wasn’t until I published my first book, Franchising Dreams, that I understood how the written word transforms people’s lives.
Franchising Dreams uncovered the inner workings of a gritty business model that was labor-intensive and fraught with risk–for both franchisees and franchisers. I received countless letters from franchisees who would write, “I wish I had read your book before I bought my franchise. It would have saved me a lot of money.” I wish they had read it, too!
Today I help entrepreneurs, business leaders, and others take their cutting-edge ideas and get them into book form. It’s a significant achievement to write a book, but having a book is not enough to make a big impact. A book is the cornerstone for sure, it’s the core asset you need, but without a way to get your book to a publisher, without the digital media, speaking engagements, and a platform, it’s difficult to become the thought leader with significant impact.
I collaborate with people who “don’t know how to write a book” or don’t think of themselves as “writers,” to elevate their ideas and make the broadest impact possible.
Experience
I have spent my career spanning the boundaries of academia and practical business operations, and in all situations I want my work to have an impact, to help people make better decisions, and to help them have better clarity about their situation. I have worked with companies to create strategy, improve productivity, enhance leadership, and accelerate innovation. I have worked in multiple industries including energy, bio-power, technology, consumer products, beverages, community banking, retail and commercial development, steel fabrication, cannabis, and others. Within these industries I have worked with small, start-up, entrepreneurial, and Fortune 500 companies, and with each company I have the same goal: to create an impact.
In my past engagements I wrote a wide variety of documents—business narratives, financial pro formas, operating plans, grants and proposals, white papers, case studies, company and executive profiles—that lead to action from individuals within the companies and from stakeholders outside of the companies. I bring a depth of knowledge and experience to every writing project.
I also have deep research expertise, not only from my own research at the University of Chicago, but as Research Director at Accenture, Research Associate with world-leading strategy expert Gary Hamel (author of Competing for the Future, Leading the Revolution, and The Future of Management), and research associate at the National Opinion Research Center (NORC).
I am proficient and knowledgeable about business, and have experience working in scientific and technically complex organizations. As the Director of Business Development at a materials science company, for instance, I wrote, edited, and presented countless proposals for funding.
Other roles and experiences that guide my writing include:
CEO of a steel fabrication company during which I orchestrated a turnaround, rebuilding and solidifying vendor and customer relationships, and changing the culture from mercenary to collaborative.
Professor of Strategic Management at the Carlson School of Management (University of Minnesota), teaching courses in the MBA program on organizational change and strategic management.
Chairman of the Board of the Children’s Home & Aid Society in Chicago, one of the oldest and largest ($50MM budget) non-profits in Illinois.
I was named as one of the “Top Ten Minds in Small Business” by Fortune Small Business Magazine for my work on franchising, distribution channels, and way-to-market opportunities. My first book, Franchising Dreams, was widely acclaimed and was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets, and I was featured on NPR’s Talk of the Nation and hundreds of other radio programs.
In my second book, Legal Cannabis: The Great Social Experiment, I explored the newly legal cannabis industry in Colorado. I worked with vertically integrated cannabis operators, interviewed the architects of the regulatory framework interviewed cannabis opponents, and penetrated the black market. Legal Cannabis provides a comprehensive sociological, economic, and institutional account of the historic cannabis reform movement.
I received my Master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in economic sociology with a concentration in organizational theory and quantitative methods (statistics, econometrics, and survey design). My undergraduate degree, from Iowa State University, was in social work.
Since 2019 I’ve worked with authors to publish eleven books, two ebooks, and dozens of blogs
Do You Want to Write a Book?
We can do it together, fast. Contact me today.
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