I promise that I will state plainly for you – in ten short words – the singular Rule of Success before you have finished reading this Monday Morning Memo.

Stay quiet and stay close. We are wandering into a dangerous area. To see the glittering truth of the Rule of Success, we must quietly sneak up on it.

The North Star never moves because it hovers directly above the axis of the earth. If you draw a line from the South Pole to the North Pole and then extend that line 323 light years into space, it will touch the North Star.

Your life’s goal is your guiding light, your North Star. This is why you are forever traveling northward as you pursue your dream.

But there is a limit to north. That limit is called the North Pole.

When you go beyond that limit, you are now headed in the opposite direction.

This is the bitter truth that has been tasted by every person who has achieved their life’s goal:

“You work your whole life to reach the summit. And when you get there, all the roads lead down.”

Like every rule, North and South are finite and achievable.

Like every principle, East and West are infinite and unachievable.

You can travel east forever and never reach the end of “east.”

“The opposite of a correct statement is an incorrect statement. But the opposite of a profound truth is often another profound truth.”

Without intending to do so, Niels Bohr summarized in those two sentences the fundamental difference between a rule and a principle. The first sentence describes every rule. The second sentence describes every principle.

The person who turns a principle into a rule is a fool.

I call that person a fool only because their mind is not big enough to hold in stasis the contradictory tension that is at the heart of every profound truth.

Did it ever occur to you that helping people get what they want is the foundational principle behind every business on earth?

Do you want to be successful?

This the only Rule of Success:

“Find out what people want, then give it to them.”

Jesus taught us the eternal principle behind the Rule of Success when he said,

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Remove “Love” from that principle, and you will have a similar principle that says,

“It is always good to help people get what they want.”

But here is the “opposite truth” of that principle:

“It is always bad to help people get what they want when it would require injuring an innocent person.”

In other words, removing “love” wasn’t such a great idea.

People who worship at the altar of Ayn Rand always try to convince me that it is okay to damage naive, gullible, innocent people “because the only person that really matters is you, and you are not responsible for making other people happy. You are only responsible for making yourself happy.”

Interestingly, that is exactly what Jeffrey Epstein believed.

He died in prison for his belief, and his name has become a curse word.

Bernie Madoff was only pretending to help people get what they wanted. He was perceived as “successful” for as long as he was able to sustain his con.

Bernie likewise died in prison.

Sam Bankman-Fried was a young fool who pretended to be helping people while he was robbing them blind.

The courts took away the 11 billion dollars he stole. Then they locked him in a room the size of a walk-in closet where he will spend the next 25 years of his life.

Removing love is never a good idea.

– Roy H. Williams

Effective advertising is not about delivering information; it is about delivering persuasion.

Don’t tell your audience how to feel.

Make them feel.

Great ad writers are secret poets.

Poetry is not about making words rhyme. Poetry is about leading people to a realization.

Poetic ad writers open your eyes and cause you to realize.

They lead you to a conclusion, then let you discover it for yourself.

Great writers don’t tell you. They show you.

This poem will do that:

What of the watchman on the wall?

What says the watchman?

“It is 10pm, let the night begin.”

What says the watchman?

“It is 11 at night, everything is all right.”

What says the watchman?

“It is midnight, the bell has rung. Every song has been sung.”

What says the watchman?

“It it is 1am, I am all alone. I am all alone.”

What says the watchman?

“It is 2am, scrolling on my phone.”

What says the watchman?

What says the watchman?

What says the watchman?

What says the watchman?

The watchman watched his phone.

The enemy arrived.

The watchman is gone.

Don’t just deliver information. Deliver persuasion.

Open their eyes. Make them realize.

When they see what you see, they will do what you want them to.

Win the heart and the mind will follow.

The mind will always create logic to justify what the heart has already decided.

Roy H. Williams

Cheryl Strauss Einhorn helps executives, entrepreneurs, and leadership teams make smarter, more confident choices and avoid costly mistakes. As a Decision Science strategist, Cheryl developed the widely used AREA Method, a framework designed to help leaders challenge assumptions, reduce cognitive bias, and improve judgment in high-stakes situations.

In this week’s episode of Monday Morning Radio, Cheryl explains to roving reporter Rotbart that while “gut instinct” plays a valuable role in business, too many leaders rely on it entirely, rather than grounding their decisions in real-world testing, stakeholder input, rigorous analysis, and evidence. Listen and learn at MondayMorningRadio.com

Find out what people already want, then offer them exactly that. Quit trying to convince customers that they should want what you are selling.

Speak to everyone, everywhere, about widely felt needs, deeply held beliefs, and personal values. Quit telling yourself that you need to reach “the right people” with your advertising.

1. A: The media doesn’t make the message work. The message makes the media work. I’ve never seen a business fail because they were were reaching the wrong people. But I’ve seen hundreds fail because they were saying the wrong things.
2. B: Anyone who has a friend, a relative, a co-worker, or a neighbor is an influencer. Is there anyone that you DON’T want to say good things about you?
3. C: Powerful brands like Ferrari, Rolex, and Harley Davidson are known, loved, and admired by hundreds of millions of people who will never own a Ferrari, a Rolex, or a Harley. Do you think those brands would be better off if they were known only to the people that the brands chose to “target” as potential customers?

Customers buy from personalities they know, like, and trust.

1. A: People don’t bond with corporations, they bond with personalities.
2. B: Brands that have personalities are exactly as real to us as our favorite characters in novels, television shows, cartoons, and movies. Who doesn’t love R2D2, C3PO, and Yoda? You realize those characters are purely imaginary, right? But we feel as though we know them.
3. C: Does your brand have a distinctive personality? If not, why not?

I will now summarize each of those 3 Steps in exactly 12 words.

People want friends, honesty, encouragement, access, and to know that they matter.

Buy mass media. Quit fishing with a hook. Use a net instead.

Don’t be so boring. Find some courage. Be a distinctively memorable personality.

1. Roy H. Williams

Zig Ziglar would have turned 100 this year.

This week, Tom Ziglar shares some little-known stories about his father with roving reporter Rotbart and deputy rover, Maxwell, including the fact that despite Zig’s worldwide fame, he once carried a stranger’s luggage to the guest’s hotel room simply because the out-of-towner took one look at Zig’s red sports coat and thought he was a bellman.

But todays episode is more than a nostalgic look backward, as Tom Ziglar offers a thoughtful meditation on legacy, leadership, and the enduring power of optimism. Things are looking UP at MondayMorningRadio.com.