In this episode, Eric talks with Tamsen Webster—message designer, strategist, speaker, and author of Find Your Red Thread and Say What They Can’t Unhear. The conversation explores how ideas spread, why so many messages fail at the point of first explanation, and what it takes to create understanding and lasting change without coercion.

Tamsen explains her work as an “English-to-English translator,” helping leaders, founders, and thinkers transform complex or technical ideas into something others can understand, believe, and act on. She and Eric dig into dual-process thinking, accelerated perspective shifts, how adults actually learn, and why messaging must speak to both the analytic and automatic parts of the mind.

They cover:

• Why most ideas break at the moment they’re first explained
• The role of intuition, felt experience, and the “automatic brain” in making meaning
• Why storytelling works, and why it’s not enough without a clear underlying argument
• How foundational principles (axioms, first principles, endoxa) create common ground
• Why leaders and founders need a reasoning model (ITBA) and a narrative model (Red Thread)
• What Tamsen is learning from her doctoral research in adult learning and accelerated perspective change
• How to avoid triggering resistance while preserving agency, transparency, and consent
• Why some changes happen instantly while others require long processes—and what makes the difference

This episode is a deep look at how people understand new ideas, how belief shifts happen, and how to communicate change in a way that sticks.

Episode Links

• Tamsen Webster: https://tamsenwebster.com
• Message Design Institute: https://messagedesigninstitute.com
• Find Your Red Thread: https://amzn.to/3Kn9yVW
• Say What They Can’t Unhear: https://amzn.to/49MFWf3
• Follow Tamsen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamsenwebster/
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman: https://amzn.to/48FMHif
• Owen Fitzpatrick: https://owenfitzpatrick.com
• How Minds Change by David McRaney: https://amzn.to/49bMMKD
• The Ancient Art of Thinking for Yourself by Robin Reames: https://amzn.to/3IUtBur

For more episodes: https://unfoldingthought.com

Questions or guest ideas: [email protected]