Working Below the Waterline

A blog by one of our editors -

Most of the work I do isn’t visible.

My title is Senior Research Editor at Kiwi Red. What that means in practice is that I work on the internal structure of corporate training programs for executive-level clients. These programs are used by large organizations to address strategy, operations, leadership, and change management. My role is to take fragmented material — from consultants, client notes, and research briefs — and make sure it becomes something coherent, useful, and well-supported.

This involves a lot of reading. A lot of decisions about what stays and what doesn’t. A lot of checking that a sentence means what the author thinks it does. And a lot of thinking about how something will be interpreted by someone who may be reading it at speed, while managing a business, with very little patience for fluff.

It’s not surface-level work. It happens behind the scenes, often well before anything is presented to a client. I do not speak at conferences or facilitate sessions. I work behind the material that allows those things to happen. This kind of editing and synthesis may not be outward-facing, but it’s operationally central. If the logic is flawed, the entire framework fails. If the training program is based on vague thinking or inconsistent assumptions, clients will notice — even if they can’t always articulate what’s wrong.

My approach to this work is shaped by experience that doesn’t come from a business background. I studied zoology as an undergraduate. I served in the Royal Navy as a Medical Assistant. I’m finishing a degree in paramedic science. These environments are structured, high-pressure, and practical. They train you to think clearly, act quickly, and trust systems that have been tested. There isn’t room for improvisation without foundation.

That mindset now applies to what I do at Kiwi Red. When I review a training module or edit a white paper, I’m not looking to make it sound smarter. I’m looking to make sure it holds up under pressure. That means it should be internally consistent. It should avoid vague language. It should connect its claims to some form of evidence, whether conceptual or operational. And it should respect the time and intelligence of the people who are going to use it.

There’s also a basic discipline in doing this kind of work well. You have to be comfortable not being the face of the project. You have to take responsibility for outcomes that you influence but don’t control. You have to care about details that no one will thank you for noticing. In that sense, it’s similar to working in healthcare or logistics. The outcome is what matters, not whether anyone saw what you did to get there.

I’ve come to think of it as working below the waterline. It’s not a metaphor for hidden talent or quiet humility. It’s just a practical description of where the structural work happens. Most of what keeps something afloat is not at the surface. That’s true in medicine. It’s true in strategy. And it’s true in the way good content, good thinking, and good programs are built.

If your work falls into that category, you probably already know what I mean. If it doesn’t, you’ve probably benefited from someone else’s version of it.

Either way, the work matters.