Have the leader of an enterprise speak directly about their vision, rather than relying on intermediaries or PR teams. This conveys human conviction, builds trust, and is essential for rallying people around an original vision, especially for startups.
Determine your communication narrative by finding the overlap between what you care about and what your specific audience cares about. This ‘gateway drug’ hook makes people receptive and allows you to lead them into your broader message.
Convey messages with absolute human conviction, looking people in the eye and telling them with unwavering belief that something is true. People find it hard to resist conviction, making them buy into what you’re saying, even if the pitch’s merits are weak.
Spend most effort on crafting a sharp, engaging hook for your communication before considering story details or distribution channels. The hook is the most overlooked and high-leverage part, as attention spans are very short (e.g., <5 seconds for video, first paragraph for text).
Build trust by becoming familiar through repeated exposure and establishing a set of shared values with your audience. People trust those they know and those who share their core beliefs, making them more receptive to your message.
As a CEO, weigh legal risks against other critical factors like trust, reputational risk, and long-term company value, rather than solely deferring to lawyers. The CEO’s job is to find the net optimal outcome, as reputational damage can cost far more than legal fees.
Build a reputation for fighting back if provoked, making it clear you are not a soft target and will respond to attacks. This establishes strong deterrence, making your life easier in the long run by discouraging future attacks.
Regularly engage in sparring sessions with diverse viewpoints, surrounding yourself with people who will challenge your ideas and welcome skepticism. This practice makes you intellectually sharper, better prepared for real-world confrontations, and prevents intellectual brittleness.
Consciously decide what image you want to project in any life context (e.g., as an employee, friend, partner) and intentionally present proof points that foster that perception. People retain very few things about us; intentionality prevents haphazard perception and helps achieve goals like promotions.
Inspire belief in your vision to overcome immediate rational objections, making people see the world through a new prism. Belief can supersede immediate logic, enabling recruitment of talent and support for ambitious, seemingly irrational goals.
When facing an opponent using stories, counter their narratives with your own powerful stories, looking for them ‘under the statistics.’ Statistics are less impactful than stories, especially when facing narrative attacks.
Present information by tying facts together in a chain to form a bigger narrative arc, rather than just dropping isolated facts. This gives people something to hang on to and feel compelled to follow, making your message more engaging.
Clearly define who you are speaking to (e.g., company employees, specific interest groups) rather than trying to address an infinite audience. Watering down messages for a too-broad audience makes them ineffective; specificity allows for maximal interest.
Craft your hook using humor, curiosity, strong emotion (wow/WTF), or by offering a new angle on a topic your audience already follows. These are common and effective ways to grab and hold attention across different audiences.
Tailor your message to be maximally interesting to your identified audience by understanding their ‘cultural and intellectual erogenous zones’ and linking your message to them. Trying to be interesting to everyone results in a diluted, marginal message; specificity makes it impactful.
Avoid blindly copying existing corporate communication styles; instead, do something original and courageous. Most corporate comms are hollow and meaningless; original approaches can break the cycle and set a better standard.
When arguing or debating, always make sure to start by agreeing with your opponent on something, even if it’s trivial. This establishes that seeing things the same way is possible, making productive conversation more likely.
Directly confront insults or attacks, especially online, by personally engaging and defending yourself or your organization. Confronting a person (even online) changes behavior, often causing attackers to fold, and builds deterrence.
Before responding to an attack, determine if it truly matters by evaluating if it reaches your important audience and if the accusation is material to your reputation. Don’t waste time on irrelevant attacks; focus resources on those that can cause real damage.
If an attack matters, respond immediately and aggressively to address significant reputational damage head-on. Delaying allows the damage to fester, making it harder and more painful to fix later.
If you know what people are going to attack you for, preemptively address those criticisms. Being first allows you to frame the narrative and disarm critics, similar to Eminem’s rap battle strategy.
Use the mute function for genuinely abusive or threatening content, but allow differing opinions and disagreements into your feed. Insulating yourself from disagreement makes you fragile; engaging with it helps you adapt and grow.
If you are an underdog facing a powerful attacker, use that position to your advantage by framing attacks from larger entities as punching down. People naturally sympathize with underdogs and are skeptical of bullies, allowing you to rally your aligned audience.
When under attack, broaden the scope of the attack to include your allies or a broader cause. This spreads the ‘force’ over a wider ‘surface area,’ diffusing pressure on you and rallying support.
When on offense (e.g., in a defensive response), narrow the target of your complaint to maximize pressure. Instead of broad complaints, pinpoint specific issues or individuals to make your complaint more credible and effective.
To gain attention as an underdog, choose a specific ‘foil’ or concrete obstacle to fight against. This provides something tangible for people to rally around, making your movement more relevant and easier to understand than vague complaints.
Ensure your communication efforts have both magnitude (quantity) and a clear direction (purpose). Define the specific idea you want to spread and ensure all comms activities build towards that destination, avoiding frantic, wasted activity.
Apologize only when you have genuinely done something wrong and take accountability, but resist apologizing for things you haven’t done. This builds trust and strong deterrence; arbitrary apologies make you a soft target.
Communicate using simple, common words that everybody knows, avoiding jargon unless your audience specifically understands it. This ensures your message is universally understood and prevents miscommunication.
For everyday communications like emails, texts, or presentations, clearly define what you want to say and why the audience should care. Most communications lack clear goals; this clarity ensures effectiveness and prevents wasted time.
Be mindful of who you associate with, as positive associations can enhance your perceived value and trustworthiness. People use proxies and mental shortcuts (the halo effect) to make decisions, so being seen with impressive people or entities can benefit you.
In long-term relationships and repeated interactions, employ a ’tit for two tats’ strategy: allow one transgression but respond decisively if crossed a second time. This is an optimal balance between cooperation and deterrence.
Have content be attached to a human mascot or representative. People gravitate to human beings and stories, making content more cared about and memorable than generic content.