How To Take Over the World!! | Lulu Cheng Meservey

Lulu Cheng Meservey is one of the sharpest minds in communications and strategy. She has helped some of the best leaders through their hardest moments.

We discuss why both trust and conviction are contagious, how to win attention in a noisy world, and how to handle attacks without losing ground.

About Lulu
Having been CCO and EVP of Corporate Affairs at Activision Blizzard and VP of Comms at Substack, she is now the creator of Rostra, the only advisory firm focused on founder-led comms.

Learn more:

22 Takeaways From This Episode
1. Conviction beats logic.
2. Under attack? Spread the force (pressure equals the force divided by the surface area). Attacking? Focus on a specific point.
3. In order of how much it matters: the hook is first (to get attention), then how you tell your story, and finally where you tell it. Most people get this wrong.
4. You have to fight story with story.
5. Facts don’t win hearts and minds.
6. Stories trump statistics. One death is a tragedy. A thousand is a statistic. Stories always win.
7. People remember 2-3 things about you. Don’t let them be random.
8. If you have a repeated game of long-term relationships and repeated interactions, the optimal strategy is actually tit for two tats. You can cross me once, and maybe I’ll let that go, but if you cross me the second time, I never will.
9. No spokesperson can tell your story better than you.
10. Deterrence matters: Establish that you’re not a soft target. If you can establish that you’ll fight back, you’ll make the rest of your life so much easier.
11. Reality bends to whoever tells the better story.
12. Let your inner circle tell you you’re wrong, or strangers will embarrass you.
12. Use common words. Everyone gets it. No one feels stupid.
13. Trust = Not a stranger + shared values + common ground first.
14. We’re more convinced by people we like, and we like people that we trust.
15. Humor creates involuntary likability.
16. Apologize when wrong. Never when right. Most do the opposite.
17. Cult leaders speak directly. So should you.
18. Corporate speak is everyone copying everyone, saying nothing.
19. The wizard behind the curtain gets no trust. Show your face.
20. Every unicorn pitched the impossible with impossible conviction.
21. Reality is subjective. You can bend it to your will if you’re able to communicate to people who matter in the ways that strike them in the heart and in the mind to get them to see the world the way that you do.
22. You don’t build believers with press releases.

Chapters
(00:00) Introduction
(01:30) Getting People to Pay Attention to Us
(05:01) How To Find Your Narrative
(06:30) Communicating to Many People at the Same Time
(08:42) Start Every Communication with This
(08:59) The Key Elements of Communication
(10:26) How Much Time You Have to Get Someone's Attention
(11:50) How to Formulate a Hook
(12:47) Intellectual and Cultural Erogenous Zones
(14:35) Why Do Governments & Corporations Communicate So Poorly?
(19:10) Communications as a Tax
(20:48) Goodwin's Law
(21:50) How To Build A Cult
(27:56) The Two Personal Traits That Impact Your Message
(29:34) How to Engineer Trust
(32:20) Show Up And Defend Yourself
(33:51) Make Yourself a Hard Target
(36:05) Strong and Weak Deterrence
(39:19) Responding To a Public Attack
(42:57) Stories vs. Statistics
(43:04) If You're Fighting A Story With a Statistic, You're Losing
(47:34) The Importance Of Being First
(55:22) Overcoming Being The Underdog
(1:00:03) How To Play Offense In PR
(1:05:36) 3 Things To Make A Difference In Your Comms / Storytelling
(1:21:07) The Halo Effect
(1:25:52) Practical Comms Advice For Everyday Work Interactions
(1:46:17) What Is Success For You?

Made Possible By
Basecamp: Stop struggling, start making progress. Get somewhere with Basecamp. Sign up free at http://basecamp.com/knowledgeproject
reMarkable: Get your paper tablet at https://www.reMarkable.com today
.tech domains: Nothing says tech like being on .tech https://get.tech/

Shane Parrish
Instagram:   / farnamstreet  
X: https://x.com/ShaneAParrish
LinkedIn:   / shane-parrish-050a2183  

Lulu Cheng Meservey
X: https://x.com/lulumeservey

*Books*: https://fs.blog/books/

*Newsletter*: Timeless insights into business and life in 5 minutes a week. For free.
http://fs.blog/newsletter

The Knowledge Project is a show featuring in-depth conversations with the top CEOs, investors, and business leaders to uncover the timeless principles that drive success.

#tkp #business