If Others Can't Repeat Your Idea, It Won't Spread

I once spent three months building the perfect framework.

It had layers. Nuance. Conditions and exceptions. It captured every edge case I'd encountered in fifteen years. It was, I thought, my best thinking.

I presented it to a client team. They nodded. They took notes. They said it was brilliant.

Two weeks later, I asked the director how they were applying it.

He paused. Then: "Honestly? I couldn't explain it to my team. So we just... didn't."

Three months of work. Dead on arrival.

Not because the idea was wrong. Because it couldn't travel without me in the room.

Has that ever happened to you?

I’ve watched so many experts get this wrong (yes, including me):

They optimize for accuracy. But influence requires transmissibility.

You spend hours getting the idea right. You add the caveats. You include the nuance. You make sure it's technically precise.

And then it dies, because no one can pass it on.

The ideas that spread aren't always the best ideas. They're the ideas that are easy to repeat. Easy to remember. Easy to explain to someone else without the original thinker in the room.

Think about the concepts that have actually shaped how you work. Most of them fit in a sentence. Most of them, you could explain to a stranger in thirty seconds.

That's not a coincidence. That's the price of entry.

Here's a question that will change how you communicate:

Could someone explain your idea without you?

Not perfectly. Not with all the nuance. But could they get the core across to someone else in a way that makes sense?

If yes, your idea can spread. It can travel through organizations, across conversations, into rooms you'll never enter.

If no, your idea stays local. It lives and dies in the conversations you're personally part of. Your reach is limited to your presence.

Most experts never run this test. They assume that if they explained it clearly, people would get it. They mistake nodding for understanding. They mistake understanding for transmissibility.

But those are three different things.

Nodding means they're paying attention. Understanding means they got it in that moment. Transmissibility means they can pass it on.

Only the third one builds influence.

Here's how to make your ideas transmissible.

Let’s get it…

Not your whole methodology. Not every implication. One core claim that captures the essence.

If you can't say it in one sentence, you haven't finished thinking yet.

Example: You've developed a nuanced view on why teams get stuck. You could explain the seven factors involved—or you could compress it: "Teams don't get stuck from lack of ideas. They get stuck from lack of decision rights." That's the core claim.

Everything else is elaboration.

Give your concept a label. A phrase. Something that sticks. When people have a name for something, they can reference it, share it, apply it.

The name doesn't have to be clever. It has to be memorable and accurate.

Example: Instead of "the phenomenon where adding more people slows down a project," we have "Brooks's Law." Instead of "the tendency to continue investing because of past costs," we have "sunk cost fallacy."

Names make ideas portable.

I know that's uncomfortable. The nuance matters to you. The exceptions are real. The caveats are important.

But every piece you add is another piece someone has to remember. And they won't.

Strip it down until it feels almost too simple. That's when it's ready to travel.

Example: Your original framework has five principles. But when you're honest, two of them do most of the work. Lead with those two. Let the others be advanced lessons for later. The simple version will spread.

The complete version won't.

When you present your idea, say the core phrase multiple times. At the beginning. In the middle. At the end. Use the same words each time—not elegant variations.

This feels awkward to you. It doesn't feel awkward to them. It feels like clarity.

Example: "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." You've heard that phrase. You remember it.

Because whoever said it to you repeated it until it stuck.

Your job isn't to transfer everything you know. Your job is to transfer enough that the idea can travel.

The details can come later—in follow-up conversations, in written materials, in implementation. But if the core doesn't land first, the details never get a chance.

Example: A colleague asks about your approach to pricing. You could spend twenty minutes on the full methodology. Or you could say: "I use the 10x test. If the client wouldn't pay 10x the price, I haven't shown them 10x the value. Everything else is just mechanics." They'll remember that. They'll repeat that.

The mechanics can come later.

I worked with an expert who had a simple phrase: “Everything not prohibited is allowed. Not everything allowable can be prohibited.”

That's it. That was her core teaching on policy development.

Was there more to her methodology? Of course. Layers and layers of it. But that phrase did the heavy lifting. Clients remembered it. They repeated it in meetings she wasn't in. They shared it with their teams.

And every time someone said it, they thought of her.

That's what transmissibility does. It lets your ideas work for you when you're not in the room. It extends your influence beyond your presence.

She didn't have to be the smartest policy advisor. She had to be the most repeatable one.

Your best thinking is worthless if it can't spread.

Experts optimize for accuracy; every caveat, every condition, every nuance. But influence requires transmissibility. Ideas that travel are simple enough to remember and clear enough to repeat.

Compress to one core claim. Anchor with a name. Remove until it hurts. Repeat the core phrase. Yield the details.

That's CARRY. Not dumbing down your ideas—making them portable enough to work without you.

The test is simple: Could someone explain your idea without you?

If not, it stays local. If yes, it can go anywhere.

Thanks for reading. Be easy!
Girvin