Lulu Cheng Meservey is one of the sharpest minds in communications today.
Lulu is known as the go-to strategist for CEOs, founders, and policymakers navigating high-stakes moments.
Featured clips
The Importance Of The Hook
How To Respond To A Public Relations Attack
How To Play Offence In PR
What Is Success For You?
In this episode, she explains how to grab attention in a noisy world filled with AI-slop, appeal to human psychology, and build trust instead of farming engagement.
Available Now: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Transcript
About Lulu:
Former CCO and EVP of Corporate Affairs at Activision Blizzard and former VP of Comms at Substack, she is now the creator of Rostra, the only advisory firm focused on founder-led comms.
21 Takeaways
1. Conviction beats logic.
2. Under attack? Spread the force (pressure equals the force divided by the surface area). Attacking? Focus on a specific point.
3. In order of how much it matters: the hook is first (to get attention), then how you tell your story, and finally where you tell it. Most people get this wrong.
4. You have to fight story with story.
5. Facts don’t win hearts and minds.
6. Stories trump statistics. One death is a tragedy. A thousand is a statistic. Stories always win.
7. People remember 2-3 things about you. Don’t let them be random.
8. If you have a repeated game of long-term relationships and repeated interactions, the optimal strategy is actually tit for two tats. You can cross me once, and maybe I’ll let that go, but if you cross me the second time, I never will.
9. No spokesperson can tell your story better than you.
10. Deterrence matters: Establish that you’re not a soft target. If you can establish that you’ll fight back, you’ll make the rest of your life so much easier.
11. Reality bends to whoever tells the better story.
12. Let your inner circle tell you you’re wrong, or strangers will embarrass you.
12. Use common words. Everyone gets it. No one feels stupid.
13. Trust = Not a stranger + shared values + common ground first.
14. We’re more convinced by people we like, and we like people that we trust.
15. Humor creates involuntary likability.
16. Apologize when wrong. Never when right. Most do the opposite.
17. Cult leaders speak directly. So should you.
18. Corporate speak is everyone copying everyone, saying nothing.
19. The wizard behind the curtain gets no trust. Show your face.
20. Every unicorn pitched the impossible with impossible conviction.
21. Reality is subjective. You can bend it to your will if you’re able to communicate to people who matter in the ways that strike them in the heart and in the mind to get them to see the world the way that you do.
22. You don’t build believers with press releases.
