I overthink so you don’t have to.

How to Create Anticipation How do you make your message more interesting? You’re often told to tell people what you’re going to tell them, tell it, and then tell them that you told them. But that’s not very interesting because it doesn’t have suspense. As Nick Morgan says, “the difference between a story and an […]

  Psychological Reactance This week on Find the Red Thread, Tamsen discusses the concept of psychological reactance. It’s the very human response that if we’re told to do something we often want to dig in our heels and do the opposite. This is something that we’re always going to pay attention to if we’re trying […]

The Tortoise and the Hare “The Tortoise and the Hare” is a classic fable with a memorable moral: slow and steady wins the race. However, if you asked someone in Ancient Greece what it meant, they would tell you that idleness can ruin even the greatest gifts. Stories are uniquely powerful at transferring meaning from […]

A Focus on Your Audience’s Perspective Because the Red Thread is critical to what you’re trying to say, it’s critical that you understand who they are first. That’s why we need to start with a simple question: who are you for? Each person has a different perspective, even if their demographics match on paper. Why is […]

Meaning in Your Message that Drives Change When we’re trying to get someone to make a change, there are certain fundamental questions that they need to be answered in your message before they will give it a try. When something is not working in your message, try going through the steps of the Red Thread. […]

The TED Thread with Jill Bolte Taylor This week on Find the Red Thread, you have some homework to do. Take a look at “My Stroke of Insight,” a TED Talk by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. Challenge yourself to find the four statements she makes that capture key pieces of the Red Thread. In her […]

  Standing Out This week Tamsen shows how asking the little questions will help you answer the big ones. By breaking down your mission into the five pieces of the Red Thread, you can find specific answers that will help you carve out your own path. Even if some elements of the Goal, the Problem, […]

What Do You and Your Favorite Movie Have in Common? Understanding the Red Thread is one thing, but discovering what it means to you and your life can be tricky. What can you do to help? Think about your favorite movie. In this episode, Tamsen explains how the secret to your Red Thread just might […]

Finding a New Solution to Old Problems UPS is the world’s largest package delivery service. Their Red Thread is to figure out how to get something from point A to point B as quickly as possible. How do they do it? Surprisingly, it’s not about an algorithm that solves for the shortest distance; instead, it […]

The Difference Between a Good Talk and a Great One This week, Tamsen Webster finds the Red Thread in a TED talk by Brian Little: “Who Are You Really? The Puzzle of Personality.” The presence of the Red Thread is often the difference between a good talk and a great one. Watch the video for yourself […]