Find Your Red Thread

Defining your message’s application is generally pretty easy. Simply ask yourself, “Where do I need to talk about my idea?” For the exercises in this book, use the idea you wrote down for the TEDx test in the first chapter.

just like you need a different outfit depending on whether you want to get in a good workout or have a night out with your friends. Every time your audience changes, or even when the same audience moves closer to acting on your idea, they need a different version of your message—one they can recognize as the answer to a new question in their minds.

your Red Thread will give them, and their brains, a map to follow.

we pay attention to, learn, and remember the same types of concepts.7 More specifically, we pay attention to people (characters), what they do (actions), why (motivations), and what happens as a result (effects). As it turns out, those elements are also the main elements of stories! Our brains are wired to ask questions that help us create a story

Every time you need your idea to produce a different outcome, it needs to “wear” a different message,

There are many other applications you or your business might use. Marketing messages and materials: Home page copy About Us page Social media bios White paper Positioning statement Market-level message Strategic sales conversations: Initial meeting or call Conversation or presentation with decision-makers or technical leads Final pitch Executive su

Problem: Your idea has and is a story, but stories and ideas aren’t the same. There’s always more than one way to talk about your idea. Truth: Situation drives story. What you say about your idea depends on whom you’re talking to and what you want to achieve. Change: Find the story that suits the situation. Action: Define the application, outcome,

As the great author Agatha Christie once wrote, “Words... are only the outer clothing of ideas.” But whether you turn your idea into a product or service or book, you have to talk or write about it first.

story. Filling in the blanks of a story is simply how you make sense of the world.