Don't Play by Outdated Rules—Start from What’s in the Mind, Not in the Product

Picture a debate team that swears by staying tightly on script. Season after season, they painstakingly rehearse points, citing statistics that prove they've got the better argument. Yet, year after year, they lose to teams who don’t seem to follow the rules. Finally, their coach calls for a brainstorm: What if we’ve started the process upside down? They ask several recent judges and rivals what they remember from their debates—it turns out people recall feelings of passion, clarity, and a bit of humor, not raw facts. In fact, opponents who admit to being 'the challenger' or 'the scrappy newcomer' win more often because it’s easier to fit them into a story in the mind.

The team switches gears. Instead of focusing on rehearsed facts, they ask: What impression do we want our audience to hang on to? They underline their challenger status in their introduction and aim to disrupt expectations, earning attention with a bold, simple statement that grabs judges emotionally from the start. The next season, their win rate surges.

Behavioral science calls this working 'outside-in'—shaping experience from the audience’s perspective, not yours. The mind uses shortcuts (heuristics) to sort, rank, and stereoptype information. When you tap into these mental frames (the 'ladder' for a product, person, or idea), you don’t have to overturn the whole system—you just need to find your best step and own it.

Shift your attention to what your audience thinks and feels about you today. Interview or survey them for their snap judgments or gut reactions, paying special attention to words they repeat or unexpected descriptions. Map out their mental 'ladder' for your area—figure out who sits above, below, and right next to you in their mind. Use this as your launchpad: tailor your message to fit their expectations, or, where it makes sense, deliberately flip those assumptions to stand out. When you meet them where they already are, your chances of breakthrough grow overnight—give this audience-first approach a try in your next big pitch or conversation.