The First Rule

There’s a simple rule most people forget.
If you want to be heard, don’t make people defensive first.

It’s strange how often people in the business of selling something are also pushing a political position.

Not occasionally.
Consistently.

And I keep asking the same question.

Why cut your audience in half before you’ve earned the right to speak to them?

Before trust.
Before value.
Before they even know you.

It doesn’t feel strategic.
It feels careless.

Maybe we’ve started valuing being right more than being effective.

I think about late-night shows.

When I was a kid, Johnny Carson made fun of everyone.
Didn’t matter who. Everyone laughed.
It felt like truth about people, not a side being taken.

Now it feels different.

The joke lands for half the room.
The other half checks out.

Same stage.
Different outcome.

Because the approach changed.

I don’t have a talk show.
But most of us carry influence.
Our lives point somewhere.

So this matters more than we think.

If I want to reach people,
I can’t start by pushing them away.

Connection comes first.

Then trust.

Then maybe, if I’ve earned it,
the message actually lands.

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