Hearing a TTC should be a trigger for you to START thinking, not stop.

Because even when something is true, sometimes, it may not be RIGHT for you or for people you care about.

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Is it possible that people are now taking some "thought-terminating clichés" about "government efficiency is an oxymoron" as fact? Also yes.

You may agree that a statement is true.
But is it ALWAYS true?
Is it TRUE in this instance?

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Issues that were and are important enough or that affected enough people to warrant considering them more deeply.

Have people taken advantage of that and created a bunch of bloat and needless bureaucracy? Yes. And.
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One of the major reasons our government is structured the way it is, with three branches of government, with both a Senate and a House, was to make sure that emotions *couldn't* take over. To make sure we could stop—and think—about issues.

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There IS a lot of inefficiency in government (where I've never worked) and in academia and higher education (where I have).

But some of that inefficiency is there *on purpose.*

That may not make sense at first, but think about it:

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You may find that you agree after all, and if so, that's fine. At least you thought about it.

But you may also find that you don't agree with it. Because these statements aren't fact. They're opinions. And they're also context-specific (which is why SOMETIMES they *are* true).

I mean, I get it.
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Or to intentionally stop someone from thinking about a subject any further.

But because you can't really ever truly know someone else's intent when *they* use one, when you hear one

When you hear one of those phrases, QUESTION IT.

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DO those means really justify those ends? Are there other ways to accomplish those ends? How important are those ends in context with other possible outcomes? And again, WHO SAYS?

Does that mean if you use one, you're also a totalitarian? No.

Not, that is, unless you do it *on purpose*

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To see what I mean, let's look back at the examples.

> IS something what it appears to be? Does it have to continue to be what it is right now? Why or why not?

> DOES time actually heal all wounds? Who says? Are there some wounds that can't, don't, or shouldn't heal?

> And the last one:

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That's where the "thought-ending" piece comes in.

Because the intuitive parts of our brains recognize these phrases as (a) ones we know and (b) something we've probably said ourselves, our brains often accept them unquestioningly.

🧠: "Yep, sounds right, so it must BE right."

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There aren't many people who awe me, but Kate does—always. She turns her relentless curiosity and kindness into knowledge, insights, and action plans that can help us all.

We need a LOT more people like Kate.

But in the meantime, we can all be more like her, and this book is SUCH a great start.

If you:

- Believe in achieving "the best futures for the most people" (Kate's mission)
- Have ever wondered how to decide what to pay attention to—and what to ignore—in this ever-changing world
- Want to understand what your future options are—and how to decide among them

This book is for you.
👇

Do you see what we did? We said the quiet part out loud. 📣

Adding WHAT ABOUT the data connects the action (focus on 50+) to an outcome (make more 💰) AND gives stakeholders the story they can tell themselves—one that makes sense based on BOTH their experience, their intuition, AND the evidence.🔚

❝When you focus on more people who have more money to spend, YOU'RE much more likely to make more money. Because there are more people in the 50+ market than in the markets we usually focus on AND they have more money to spend, so they represent a huge, untapped opportunity to increase profits. ❞

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2. We answered WHY the greater number of people 50+ was important to that (“more people = more money”)

3. We answered WHY greater capacity to spend was important to that (“more money to spend = more money spent”)

And then we put it all together:

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...It's used to illustrate and validate an underlying—and ultimately, irresistible—idea. Here’s how we excavated her impossible-to-ignore message in 3 simple steps:

1. We defined the outcome her audience already wanted (“make more money”)

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She did what a lot of people do at first… she gave me data. 📊
She told me exactly how big that market is and how much more money they have than the market her clients usually focus on.

Don’t get me wrong, data is important, but it can be all too easy to to ignore. Unless, that is…

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