Valerie Ehrlich's Human-First AI Content Playbook

Valerie Ehrlich's Human-First AI Content Playbook

I was scrolling LinkedIn and had one of those "wait, what?" moments: Valerie Ehrlich, PhD has 1,628 followers and a 79.00 Hero Score. That combo is not normal. A small-ish audience with top-tier engagement usually means the content is doing something very specific, very right.

So I got curious. I wanted to understand what makes her posts work, especially next to two very different creators: Om Nalinde (massive audience) and Max Dewar (mid-sized, recruiting niche). And honestly, a few patterns jumped out so fast it felt like someone highlighted them for me.

Here's what stood out:

• Valerie wins with trust + nuance, not volume or hype
• Om wins with repeatable technical teaching at scale
• Max wins with clear market utility (talent + hiring) and a straightforward point of view

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Valerie Ehrlich, PhD's Performance Metrics

Here's what's interesting: Valerie's Hero Score (79.00) is tied with Om's, even though Om has 144,580 followers. That tells me Valerie isn't "getting lucky" with one viral post. She's consistently creating reactions, comments, and shares relative to her audience size. Pretty impressive, right?

Key Performance Indicators

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What Makes Valerie Ehrlich, PhD's Content Work

Before we get tactical, I want to put the three creators side by side, because the contrast explains a lot.

Quick comparison: size vs. resonance

Now, the fun part: Valerie's playbook.

1. Values-first positioning (and she actually means it)

The first thing I noticed is that Valerie doesn't lead with "AI can do anything." She leads with people. Equity. Power. Agency. And she treats those as the point, not as a disclaimer at the end.

You can almost feel the stance in her phrasing: human-centered, staying human, "this is not ok" when something dehumanizes people. That kind of clarity is a magnet for the right audience, even if it turns off some folks who want pure hype.

Key Insight: If your niche includes ethics, equity, or behavior change, don’t soften it to sound "neutral". Say what you stand for, then invite people into the complexity.

This works because a lot of AI content on LinkedIn is either (a) breathless tool talk or (b) fear. Valerie lands in a third place: thoughtful and usable, with a real moral backbone.

Strategy Breakdown:

2. Small audience, high-touch community building

Valerie writes like a thoughtful colleague you want to talk to after a meeting. Not because she's trying to be relatable, but because she is. Gratitude shows up. Collaborators get named. Events get framed as communities, not funnels.

And she uses questions in a way that feels genuine: "What do you think?" "Who else will be there?" It doesn't read like engagement bait. It reads like an actual invitation.

Comparison with Industry Standards:

Now, here's where it gets interesting. When your audience is 1,628, you can actually recognize names in the comments. Valerie's style fits that reality. Om's style fits a stadium. Max's fits a busy marketplace. Different games.

3. Readability engineering (without looking engineered)

Valerie's formatting choices are doing quiet heavy lifting:

• Short paragraphs with plenty of breathing room
• One-line emphasis statements (the "pause" effect)
• Parentheses for quick honesty or nuance (it feels like live thinking)
• Occasional emoji, often as bullets, not as decoration

It makes her posts easy to scan, but still substantial. And that balance is hard.

A thing I love: she doesn't pretend complexity can fit into one sentence. But she also doesn't bury the reader in a wall of text.

4. Concrete "application" moments that respect expertise

Even when Valerie gets philosophical, she usually brings it back to practice: evaluation use cases, behavior change, leadership development, learning design. Not in a performative way. In a "here's what I’m doing" way.

That is a huge reason her audience responds. She’s not just posting opinions. She’s showing her work.

If you compare that to the other two:

Valerie's "product" is confidence. Not false certainty. The calm kind.

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Their Content Formula

Valerie’s posts feel like a conversation with structure. Not a thread. Not a lecture. More like: "Here’s what I’m noticing, here’s why it matters, here’s what we can do next." Clean.

Content Structure Breakdown

The Hook Pattern

Valerie doesn’t rely on shock hooks. She uses honest ones. The kind that make you nod before you even realize it.

Template:

"AI has a lot of potential, but our choices at every stage will determine who it helps."

Here are a few hook shapes that match her style (and yes, you can borrow these):

• "You want to know what's hard?" + name the human challenge
• "Right now, we're collectively in the midst of..." + situate the moment
• "Please, please take time..." + signal urgency with care, not panic

Why it works: it sets a tone. It tells the reader, "This will be thoughtful." And the right people lean in.

The Body Structure

She tends to move from context to complexity to an actionable reframe. And she uses transitions like a real person thinking out loud: "And" "But" "Yet" "Anyway".

Body Structure Analysis:

A practical note: this structure matches how people actually process ethical and organizational change topics. You can’t just drop "here are 5 tips" and call it a day.

The CTA Approach

Valerie’s CTAs are rarely pushy. They’re usually one of three types:

1. Reflective: "What do you think?"
2. Relational: "Who else will be there?"
3. Action with context: "Please register" followed by why it matters

Psychologically, this matters because her audience includes nonprofit and foundation folks who are allergic to hard selling. If she ended every post with "Book a call," it would clash with her whole human-centered stance.

And this is a good place to contrast:

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The side-by-side success: why all three work (in different ways)

Want to know what surprised me? Valerie and Om share the same Hero Score (79.00), but they likely get it through totally different mechanisms.

• Om can post a tight technical lesson and get huge reach because his audience is enormous and hungry for "do this, get that" outcomes.
• Valerie can post a nuanced reflection and still spark conversation because her audience is there for sense-making and values.
• Max sits in the middle: his 78.00 Hero Score with 11,114 followers suggests a strong practical niche that rewards clarity.

Here’s a clean snapshot:

Also, posting timing: Valerie has guidance pointing to Afternoon UTC and Evening UTC as strong windows. That fits a US-based creator speaking to global mission-driven orgs. It catches both sides of the workday overlap.

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3 Actionable Strategies You Can Use Today

1. Write one "values sentence" you’ll repeat - A simple line like "Focus on people first" becomes a memory anchor, and it attracts the right audience.

2. Use "context - nuance - choice" as your default structure - It keeps your post honest and prevents you from sounding like you’re selling certainty you don’t have.

3. Swap loud CTAs for real invitations - Ask a specific question, invite people to an event, or request examples from others. It boosts comments without feeling gross.

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Key Takeaways

1. Valerie’s edge is trust - With 1,628 followers and a 79.00 Hero Score, she proves depth can outperform volume.
2. Om shows the power of repeatable teaching - Massive audience, same top-tier Hero Score, built on clarity and momentum.
3. Max proves usefulness scales in a clear niche - Recruiting content wins when it’s direct, current, and actionable.
4. Format is a strategy, not decoration - Valerie’s spacing, questions, and careful tone make hard topics readable.

Give one of Valerie’s patterns a try this week: write a post that names the human stakes, adds one layer of nuance, and ends with a real question. Then watch who shows up in the comments. What do you think?

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Meet the Creators

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This analysis was generated by ViralBrain's AI content intelligence platform.