Closure vs Continuity
Why every interaction is a choice to close or continue a conversation, PLUS closing out the Email deep-dive mini-series with a poll and a round up of all 7 posts
If you’re a leader who cares about reaching people, you can’t ignore email.
Over the past seven weeks I wrote that email is the backbone of your business that requires CEO level commitment to maintain. I wrote that there are (at least) 8 different kinds of email, that there’s a useful 2x2 matrix you can use to guide your email strategy, that you need to segment your list (but not too much) and that email requires a level of infrastructure that might surprise you.
Then last week, I showed how I’ve used AI to accelerate intuition in my writing process, and publish 1-2 times per week, every week, all year long.
In this final installment of the summer 2025 Email Deep Dive Mini-Series, we’re going to show vs tell an important lesson in email: know when to bring closure.
We’re done!
We started on the email mini-series adventure because I thought documenting my own learnings on email (not ironically through email) might help you leverage email more effectively in your leadership practice.
I also wanted to kick-off the Business Growth section of my Substack as a place where everyday leaders can learn strategies and tactics for business and organizational leadership that are thoroughly researched, tested in the real world, and aligned to the goal of building a Democratic Ownership Society.
That said, I know that probably NONE OF YOU signed up for this list to get weekly emails about email. 🤪
So while I hope this has been helpful and useful for future readers, you and I can take a deep breath.
WE’RE DONE WITH EMAILS!
(Director’s Cut voiceover: this is me providing “Closure”)
My writing will continue on the core topic of Timeless Leadership every week, but I’m taking a pause on Business Growth writing… until it’s time for another mini-series.
(and that was “Continuity”)
But before you go - can you fill out this little poll question? It will help me think about what that mini-series might be.
Thanks for voting, and reading! If you missed some of the previous posts from the mini-series: I provide links below with a quick blurb about why I wrote each one of them.
See you next week for the finale of Season 2: Saving Time in my main “Timeless Leadership” newsletter!
-Joe
Week 1 - 8 Types of Emails
Here we catalog the range of emails that exist for different purposes and requirements, and solve different business and customer needs.
Week 2 - The Role of Email
This argument underpins everything else in the series (and helps explain why I was doing it in the first place).
Week 3 - Email Prioritization
Knowing that email is important and what different kinds of emails are isn’t enough: you need to know how to pick which emails need attention, right now.
Week 4 - Email as a Priority
Even though I argued in week 2 that email is a business’s “backbone”, it’s possible that it still gets under-resourced by CEO-level leadership. Try to avoid that misstep.
Week 5 - Email List Segmentation
Emails don’t happen without recipients! I didn’t write about building a list in this series (short answer: ads, web traffic, lead magnets, events, organic social, referrals, outbound, and constantly delivering value to existing subscribers), but this post addresses how to manage whatever list you do end up building.
Week 6 - Email Infrastructure
It took me a long time to learn and it’s surprisingly hard to find a good walk through of the entire range of tools and technologies needed to run a quality email program.
Week 7 - Email and AI
Finally we covered AI because (a) most people are curious about AI, (b) AI has a very clear application to marketing, but can be done very poorly, and (c) I have enough direct experience using AI for email that it seemed like the right way to share.
Before you go: Don’t forget to fill out the poll at the top of this post!
If you’d like to share more feedback, two questions I’d love to get answers to:
Did you have a favorite post from this series? If so, which one?
What’s one thing you learned, or one thing you think I missed?
Drop a comment or send an email, and I’ll be sure to reply! You can also book time with me here. I’ve love to meet more of you and learn more about what you’re working on and how I can help!