Hi there,
What’s the Story?
Things are getting busier than ever—keynotes, trainings, a ton of strategy work across the board, and a LOT of work on my brand new book, which I am very excited to soon share with the world. I’ve been loving every minute.
If you’re a podcast fan, Changing Minds is taking a short break before we return with a brand-new season packed with big ideas, brilliant guests, and lots of nerdy goodness. We’re closing out the season with a bang. This week’s guest is Tamsen Webster— message strategist, TEDx veteran, and author of two brilliant books on how to make your ideas stick.
In this episode, we dive deep into why some messages move people and others fall flat… and how to design messages people simply can’t unhear. You can watch it here.
And that’s what I’m going into with the article today, too!
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How to Get Your Message Across Persuasively: The Power of Message Design
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes 16 seconds
Why do some ideas become movements—and others just… disappear?
That’s what Tamsen Webster has been obsessed with for years. In this conversation, we explore her powerful approach to message design, centered around her concept of the Red Thread—a tool for finding the internal logic behind your idea and making it resonate with others.
At its core, Tamsen’s work isn’t just about crafting the perfect sentence. It’s about connecting with how people think, feel, and decide. It’s about mapping the unspoken logic that makes people believe something is true. Because when people believe, they act.
As many of you know, my entire work around inner propaganda is very much connected to these ideas. My core idea is that the stories that we sell to ourselves become the beliefs we buy into. This conversation with Tamsen was so much fun because we got super nerdy about persuasion and self-influence. But let’s go into Tamsen’s ideas deeper.
The Red Thread
Borrowing from a Northern European idiom, the “Red Thread” is the logical path of an idea—the journey your brain takes to go from question to conclusion. It’s the invisible throughline that connects your thoughts, links your evidence, and builds your case.
But here’s the twist: It’s not about the logic you use to create your idea. It’s about the logic your audience needs to believe it.
That’s the secret. It’s not just about your idea—it’s about how you translate it.
And in a world drowning in noise, clarity is your superpower.
Most people try to win minds by jumping straight to their point. But that’s like handing someone a book and saying, “Start on chapter five.” Without the setup, there’s no payoff.
The Red Thread, instead, walks people through the thinking. It invites them into a process that feels natural, because it reflects how humans actually make meaning. The Red Thread doesn’t impose an idea. It reveals it, step by step, until it feels like their idea, too.
Why Most Messages Miss
We tend to start by describing what our idea is. But that skips the part of the story that makes it make sense.
That’s why so many messages land with a thud. Not because the idea is wrong, but because it’s missing the reasoning that makes people care.
Tamsen’s Red Thread framework gives us a way to reconstruct that missing story. Her model walks through five core components:
- The Goal – What the audience wants
- The Problem – What’s getting in the way
- The Truth – A belief or insight that changes everything
- The Change – The shift in perspective or action needed
- The Action – What to actually do next
Simple. Elegant. Powerful.
Each step is designed to create cognitive momentum—to move someone from attention to alignment to action. And at the heart of it is what she calls the “penny drop moment”—that instant when it all clicks.
It’s not manipulation. It’s not about “wordsmithing” your way into someone’s heart. It’s about earning your way into their logic.
Great messaging isn’t just well-written—it’s well-reasoned. It takes the audience on a journey from “Hmm…” to “Oh!” to “Yes.”
Understanding Is Not Agreement (But It’s a Start)
Something else that stood out: Tamsen emphasizes that persuasion isn’t about tricking people or forcing them to agree. It’s about establishing mutual understanding.
Understanding doesn’t guarantee agreement. But without it, agreement is impossible.
That’s why she encourages finding what she calls bedrock beliefs—principles or values your audience already agrees with. From there, you can build a shared logic for why your idea makes sense. You’re not trying to change someone’s mind out of nowhere. You’re starting where they already are and walking with them toward somewhere new.
This isn’t about arguing harder. It’s about revealing what already feels true.
The Role of Identity and Belief
We also talked about identity—how we see ourselves, how we want to be seen, and how groups shape our beliefs.
Identity isn’t just a side factor in persuasion. It’s central. People don’t just accept arguments—they adopt ideas that fit who they believe they are.
So when you’re trying to move someone, you’re not just navigating logic and emotion—you’re navigating self-concept.
That’s why dismissing someone’s current beliefs doesn’t just fail—it backfires. It activates defensiveness. It closes the door to possibility. But when we respect someone’s identity, when we show that we see them, value them, and get them, we lower that wall. Not with flattery. With genuine understanding.
In fact, Tamsen links respect to persuasion in a fascinating way: When we make people feel seen and valued, we lower their defenses. That opens the door to real transformation.
Because people don’t change when they’re under attack. They change when they feel safe enough to explore something new.
Logic, Emotion, and Why Structure Matters
One of my favorite parts of the conversation was when we dove into logic versus emotion.
Yes, emotion drives action—but only if it’s built on a coherent structure. Logic isn’t about being “cold.” It’s about giving people a map for how to make sense of what they’re feeling.
We’ve all felt that discomfort when something sounds good but doesn’t quite add up. Our brains crave narrative symmetry. We want to know how things connect. That’s where structure earns its keep.
Tamsen calls it a belief-based argument: combining facts, stories, and emotions in a way that aligns with what someone already cares about.
It’s not persuasion by pressure—it’s persuasion by resonance.
That’s why she cares so much about the structure of ideas. Because structure creates sense. And sense creates belief.
When your idea is structured in a way that mirrors how people naturally process the world, they don’t just understand it—they own it.
And that’s the goal. Not to impress people. But to give them something they can’t unhear.
The Takeaway
In a world full of noise, the ideas that move us aren’t louder—they’re clearer.
Tamsen’s Red Thread shows us how to find the internal logic behind our ideas—and then tell the story in a way that others can follow, feel, and believe.
It’s not about catchy slogans. It’s about cognitive alignment.
Because when an idea clicks into place—when it fits with what someone already wants, values, and believes—it becomes unforgettable.
It becomes undeniable.
It becomes… theirs.
To dive deeper into this, check out this week’s podcast episode with Tamsen.
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The Brain Prompt
When you’re trying to explain an idea, don’t just ask, “What do I want to say?”
Ask:
“What question does my audience already have?”
“What problem do they not yet see?”
“What truth do I believe they’d agree with if I said it out loud?”
Build your message from that—and see what happens.
For more actionable insights on persuasion, influence, and psychology, subscribe to Inner Propaganda.
Cheers,
Owen.
