A vision must be a tangible, visual artifact—like a diagram on the wall—that paints a clear picture of the future. True alignment only occurs when the leader repeats this vision so relentlessly that the team can make fun of them for it. If they can't mimic your vision pitch, you haven't said it enough.

Rather than stating an MP3 player had "253 megabytes," Steve Jobs said the iPod held "1000 songs in your pocket." This use of "concrete phrases"—terms the brain can easily visualize—is proven to be up to eight times more memorable than the abstract technical language commonly used by enterprise brands.

In a crowded digital space, products and marketing with a unique, even polarizing, visual style are more likely to capture attention and be memorable than those following standard design trends. Daring to be different visually can be a powerful competitive advantage.

To increase the "memobility" of your ideas so they can spread without you, package them into concise frameworks, diagrams, and stories. This helps others grasp and re-transmit your concepts accurately, especially when you can connect a customer pain to a business problem.

A live event with a few hundred people feels more impactful than a dashboard showing millions of users. This is because our brains are wired to appreciate concrete, physical experiences, not abstract data. This presents a core challenge for leaders of digital-native companies to stay motivated and connected.

The most effective way to convey complex information, even in data-heavy fields, is through compelling stories. People remember narratives far longer than they remember statistics or formulas. For author Morgan Housel, this became a survival mechanism to differentiate his writing and communicate more effectively.

Our brains remember tangible information we can visualize four times better than abstract ideas like 'quality' or 'trust.' Instead of describing MP3 player storage in 'megabytes,' Apple used the concrete, visual phrase '1,000 songs in your pocket,' making the benefit sticky and easy to recall.

Abstract technical specs like "5 gigabytes of storage" are far less memorable than concrete phrases that create a mental image. Research shows people are four times more likely to recall concrete terms (like "white horse") than abstract ones. Effective taglines allow the customer to visualize the benefit.

Instead of just simplifying ideas, focus on making them highly repeatable and shareable, like a meme. This involves distilling a concept into a single, evocative phrase or visual that people will want to reuse, ensuring the core message propagates organically through an organization.