There’s a very simple reason why most messages don’t spread.

It has nothing to do with how smart the message is or how polished and elaborate your argument is. Me and you have seen too many smart, polished, and elaborate arguments fail.

The reason is much simpler: People are selfish. They treat their message as if it’s their own. They want others to spread it exactly as they said it.

And then they wonder why no one repeats it.

Here’s the problem: Sharing is not about you. It’s about what the other person gets for saying your message out loud.

Every time someone repeats your message, they are taking a risk.

→ Their reputation is on the line.
→ Their credibility is on the line.
→ Their relationships are on the line.

So, if you want your message to spread you need to let it go and allow your audience to adopt it. That’s when people spread a message: When they feel it’s theirs.

Now, how do you design for this?

Well, there’s a very simple shift.  It just feels uncomfortable (which is maybe why so few leaders do this):

Shift from your core message to their pass along phrase.

A core message is sender-focused. It’s what you want to say.

A pass along phrase is radically audience-focused. It’s still your message, but in a shape that allows others to pass it along.

Here are 3 simple ways to make your message pass along ready:

1. Is it portable?

Make people work hard to repeat your message and they won’t. 

It’s as simple as that. If they have to explain an acronym or provide 5 minutes of backstory, followed by 6 minutes of nuance, they simply won’t bother.

A pass along phrase needs to be light enough to travel through the air, mouth-to-mouth.

2. Is it profitable?

We have to accept a brutal truth about human nature: People do not repeat your message to help you. They repeat it to help themselves.

We are all mercenaries of information. We trade in news that increases our status. We say things that make us look smart, funny, vigilant, or plugged-in.

For example:

“The CEO has a 5-point plan” makes the relayer sound like a drone.
→ no profit.

“The CEO is cleaning house” makes the relayer sound like an insider.
→ high profit.

A pass-along phrase needs to make the sender look good, not you.

3. Is it potent?

We don’t just share news to inform. We share news to influence. Your message is much more likely to travel when it acts as a tool for the person saying it. In other words: Why would your team repeat your strategy? Because it helps them win their own arguments.

That’s why “We are focusing on growth” is weak. It solves nothing.

But “If it doesn’t ship in Q1, kill it” is potent. A middle manager can take that sentence into a meeting and use it to cut a distracted project.

If your message is an observation, there’s just no reason to pass it along.  But if it’s a tool that helps your people get things done, they will carry it into other rooms they enter.

Why is this so rare? Well…

Trusting your audience with your message.
Letting them turn it into their own.
That freaks leaders out.

It sounds like losing control.

But if you know what you’re doing. If you craft your message specifically for the pass along moment. If you design your words to make it easy for others to pass them along.

Then it’s the ultimate spreading mechanism.

Keep lighting the path,
Michael