Welcome to Swaying the Chooser
Every publication has an origin story. This one has a strategy.
Swaying the Chooser is about how preference is won—in business, politics, and public life. This post lays out what’s to come.
Most competitions today aren’t won by force. They’re won by motivating preference.
In a head-on confrontation, one side defeats the other directly. But in a preference competition, the outcome isn’t imposed—it’s granted. You don’t beat your competitors directly. Rather, you sway a chooser: a customer or prospect, a voter, an audience.
Swaying the Chooser is about how to win contests of preference—where positioning matters more than raw power, and a compelling narrative becomes your most valuable asset.
This isn’t about branding with “intangibles” or PR spin. It’s about reframing the competitive context with tangible, relevant differences that move minds, shift opinions, and motivate the audience behaviors you need to achieve your objectives.
In other words: giving people a reason to choose—and shaping how they see what’s worth choosing.
In Swaying the Chooser, you’ll find essays on:
How to structure positioning that amounts to a reason to choose
How to frame a narrative that motivates behavior
How to diagnose strategic success or failure
And how these principles apply across business, politics, culture, and public life
The perspective is mine. The tools come from Reason Doctrine—my company’s preference strategy framework, which approaches narrative as structure, not spin.
If success in your work depends on influencing decisions you don’t directly control, this publication is for you. The first article will post next week, and from there on out, expect an article or two every month.
AND I've 'recommended' you, Marc.....thanks !