Good positioning is not manufacturing a persona. It is selecting and amplifying the three circles of positioning: what is true, relevant, and strategically useful.
Podcast: Helping Founders Go Direct in a New Era of PR & Comms with Lulu Cheng Meservey | Ep. 25 - YouTube
Good positioning shouldn't be fake packaging. If the message does not match the person, people feel the mismatch.
Positioning stops working the moment it drifts too far from reality.
For example, if a founder is naturally sharp, intense, and technical, you cannot convincingly package them as a warm, fuzzy people-manager. People may not be able to explain why it feels off, but they can feel the mismatch.
That is what I found useful in Lulu Cheng Meservey's framing. Instead of inventing a character, positioning should focus on compression and amplification. The world cannot absorb the full complexity of a person, so you choose which true parts to make more legible.
She describes a useful filter: your messaging should select and amplify the overlap of three circles: what is true, what is relevant, and what is strategic.
- If it is true but irrelevant, nobody cares.
- If it is relevant but untrue, it feels manipulative.
- If it is true and relevant but not strategically useful, it may get attention without helping the actual mission.
So don't just say whatever will go viral. The goal is to make the right truths louder.