"Only 10 business editors in the country can do what Mickey Butts does with the written word."
— Suzy Welch, coauthor, with Jack Welch, of the international bestseller Winning, and former editor-in-chief of Harvard Business Review

 

Welcome to my Web site. I'm a San Francisco Bay Area-based business editor, writer, and content strategist who helps leading thinkers and organizations bring out the best in their ideas.

I currently lead the Insight Content Lab, a content marketing agency that advises leading companies on content strategy and offers a network of leading business writers, editors, designers, and developers who specialize in creating top-tier thought-leadership content that engages audiences in the following formats:
  • Writing and Editing. Articles, reports, books, blog posts, and other written content that elevates ideas.
  • Data Visualization. Infographic and interactive content that commands attention.
  • Multimedia. Experiential content like motion graphics, videos, and quizzes that deepen understanding.

Before starting my own agency, I was a deputy editor at Boston Consulting Group, a top-tier management consulting firm where I scaled up and coached a network of 28 thought-leadership business writers, managed the development of innovative interactive and infographic data visualizations, and led the development of editorial best practices. As a senior writer at BCG, I collaborated with senior partners and consultants to develop pioneering thought-leadership content about technology, big data, digital transformation, marketing, pricing, and education.

In my career, I have helped a wide range of leading management consulting, publishing, educational, and nonprofit clients develop content and digital strategies and to edit, write, and create books, articles, case studies, white papers, courseware and curriculum, business and strategic plans, and data visualizations with wide appeal. I've ghostwritten articles that have appeared in Harvard Business Review, McKinsey Quarterly, MIT Sloan Management Review, BCG Perspectives, The Financial Times, Strategy+Business, Economist Intelligence Unit, Forbes.com, Fortune.com, and the San Francisco Chronicle. I've ghostwritten and edited books published by Random House, Harvard Business Press, St. Martin's Press, and Jossey-Bass. A book I edited, Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits, was named one of the The Economist's best business books of the year. To read more about my corporate and social impact work, see the ghostwriting & corporate writing and clients & testimonials areas of the site. And to see the books I've edited, go to the editing section.

My own writing and reporting have appeared in such publications as Salon, The Nation, Food & Wine, The Industry Standard, Wired, The Financial Times, The Economist, Smithsonian, Current Affairs, Portfolio.com, Business 2.0, Parenting, Sunset, San Francisco Magazine, Via, and The San Francisco Chronicle. To see samples of my journalism work, see the writing & journalism area of this site.

I was formerly a part of the launch team and executive editor of The Industry Standard magazine and assistant managing editor for new media at Time Inc.'s Parenting magazine. I have also edited a variety of other online and print publications. To read more about my background and view my resume, see my bio. And see the editing section for examples of magazine articles I've produced. To check out my online work, including the short-lived online wine newsletter Route du Vin and long-lost sites I built in the early days of the Web, go to the online work area of my site.

Please contact me to explore how I might help advise in the development of business- and technology-related content, data visualizations, and content and digital strategy. Thanks for visiting.


>>>NEW AND NOTABLE<<<

SMITHSONIAN
"How One Robber Baron’s Gamble on Railroads Brought Down His Bank and Plunged the U.S. Into the First Great Depression,", Sept. 18, 2023

CURRENT AFFAIRS
"Deny Until We Die," February 2022

MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW
"Three Ways VMware Made Diversity Gains Stick," Jan. 18, 2024

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PRESS
Radically Human: How New Technology Is Transforming Business and Shaping Our Future, 2022

DELOITTE INSIGHTS
"The Workforce Well-Being Imperative," March 13, 2023

ACCENTURE RESEARCH
"Breakthrough innovation: the megatrends of transformation," March 13, 2023