Resonance Over Reach: Part 1—Turn Your Expertise into a Powerful Premise You Own
I'm obsessed with a single question lately:
What if you could whisper?
Marketing has gotten shouty. Creators seem to love sensationalizing their expertise and advice with gimmicks and clickbait. People keep creating mediocrity at massive scale thanks to AI.
What does it take for someone with substance to stand out?
You can't keep shouting into the storm, hoping to be heard. We need to bring ideas to market with a certain calm confidence and more quiet power. We need to become higher-impact storytellers and communicators. What can you say that you could whisper, and it would still hit hard?
This is a craft. This is something you can learn. But it starts as something you choose. Decide today to step off the hamster wheel and refuse to show up in this world as a commodity content creator. Lord knows, we've got enough feed-fillers. Instead of the volume game, play the IP game: turn your thinking into a core idea informing the rest, plus all the thinking around the idea that helps you distribute, own, and monetize your expertise in repeatable, scalable ways.
In short, prioritize resonance over reach.
Today, we explore the first of two major moves we can make to resonate deeper, everywhere we show up.
* * *
It starts with your premise.
High-impact communicators don't just talk topics. They explore a premise, and the premise provides the foundation of all their IP:
Your premise is the core idea informing the rest. I define it as...
an assertion you make (you defend a stance or perspective)
about a topic you explore (which others explore too, but not like you)
which aligns your choices (it all clicks into place!)
and informs your reputation (you're known for your premise)
Your premise is the lens coloring your understanding, which you can use to develop stronger work while handing that same lens to others. Now they see it like you do. Your premise is the big idea you explore and own. It's your perspective made memorable.
We've all encountered exceptional premises in the world. Can you remember who said these?
"People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel."
"Your body is not a temple. It's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride."
"People don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it."
The answers: Maya Angelou, Anthony Bourdain, and Simon Sinek.
But it's not just famous people with famous quotes. Everything you do should carry a distinct premise so potent, you could merely whisper it, and it would stick and stay in their minds.
Speeches have premises. My assertion is you should prioritize resonance over reach to grow your business. That's my premise. So my keynote is titled "Resonance Over Reach: How to Stop Chasing Attention and Become More Highly Sought." There's an alternate dimension out there where a guy named Jason Acunzo gives a speech called "Follower Frenzy: How to Predictably Go Viral to Win the Attention Economy." But that dimension is not this dimension. In this dimension, Jay Acunzo just threw up in his mouth.
Speeches have premises.
Shows have premises too. I assert that you don't experience stories. You experience life, then craft THAT into stories, piece by tiny piece. It's a craft. So on my podcast, How Stories Happen, clients of mine and some of the world's most extraordinary communicators take us inside the construction of their work. It's a closer study of the craft. I could instead host a show called Story Stars, where legends regale us with their backstories. That could be a good show. But that isn't aligned with my premise on storytelling.
Shows have premises.
I think your business needs a premise too. One of my favorites comes from client Susan Boles, who runs the firm Beyond Margins. She's a former CFO and COO who now helps her clients engineer calmer, more resilient agencies and businesses. She knows that her small business owner clients started their companies to escape the corporate grind and reject hypergrowth tendencies (and burnout). She tells them, "If you want to build a business that's difference, you need to solve for something different." Then she asserts her premise: "Make calm your new KPI." It's not just a tagline, she can really defend it and speak to it and implement it for clients. She has significant amounts of IP behind it too, like her visual framework used as a teaching and assessment tool (which you can see me workshop with her in realtime, as it's a big part of her new speech).
Businesses need premises. You need a premise. It's the source of all your communication clarity, creativity, and power.
A great premise is often articulated as an insightful reframe on a familiar topic. That's what the world's strongest communicators give us: a means to rethink something common. They don't need to invent jargon or whole categories to convey that they're different or better. They become your favorite voice by showing you something profound about a topic you already care about. They deliver an insightful reframe on a common topic, and as a result, they show up as exceptional leaders, not commodity experts.
Executive coach Scott Monty asserts, "The most timely modern leaders rely on the most timeless historical lessons." He draws on ideas from history and philosophy, often centuries old, to coach his executive clients. Leadership is a saturated topic. Scott doesn't shout. He whispers something more powerful than the rest.
Hall of Fame keynote speaker Sally Hogshead asserts, "Different is better than better." Innovation is saturated as a topic. Sally is a successful innovation speaker and author NOT because she once sold a tech company to Google for $17B, but because she explores and owns a distinct premise, then turns it into IP, like her frameworks, stories, speeches, assessment tools, and more.
Bestselling author Ann Handley asserts, "Today's most effective marketers do their work ASAP: as slow as possible." She might have critics of that idea, but she can defend her stance (and her book in 2026 will do it in greater detail; can't wait!). Ann shows us something we desperately need to see about a topic we already care deeply about. She doesn't need to shout louder to get her message heard. She resonates deeper.
You can pressure-test your own premise using a simple framework: the XY Premise Pitch.
X is your topic. That's commodified.
Y is your premise. That's entirely your own.
If you and I were launching a new podcast, I might pitch the premise like this:
"This is a show about X. Unlike other shows about X, only we Y."
All of us know the X. Very few spend time developing the Y, and that's why ... (get it? you see what I did there?) ... people don't care about your ideas. It lacks the "Y." Not the Simon Sinek version (though maybe). But the premise. It lacks a premise.
Try the XY Premise Pitch to help:
This is a book about habits. Unlike other books about habits, only Charles Duhigg asserts in The Power of Habit: every habit serves a craving, so understand the craving to understand the habit. But unlike him, only James Clear asserts in Atomic Habits: you don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.
Same topic. Commodified.
Original premises. Differentiated.
These are strategy services for small businesses. Unlike other strategy services for small businesses, only Susan Boles asserts: make calm your new KPI (if you want your business to be different, you have to solve for something different). But only Michelle Warner asserts: prioritize sequence over strategy (doing things in the right order matters more than doing them particularly well).
Great premises feel kinetic. People experience a before and after moment with you and your ideas, the moment they encounter your work. While other, commodified competitors are forced to get in front of their audience 10 times each week, what can you say which the audience would think about 10 times each day? Because you can't "own your audience," but you can own an idea in their mind.
What idea do you want to own? It won't be a keyword. It won't be a topic. That's all been commodified. It must be your premise—an assertion you defend, explore, and own, pressed through your perspective, which informs your choices and reputation. Give them your insightful reframe on a familiar topic. As an expert, you know more than tips and tactics, strategies and stories. You know how others should (re)think about your topic. Before you influence how they buy, influence how they think.
Don't talk topics. Explore a premise.