The Law Of Narrative Preeminence

Over the last 20 years, I’ve often asked myself, “What is the single most powerful force to create results in a business or individual?”

The answer is The Law of Narrative Preeminence.

Understanding this simple law — and adhering to it — is the most surefire way I’ve ever seen to catapult a business (or a person) to lofty heights of leverage and results.

When the law is followed, your business will leave your competitors in the dust as you fly to the moon and beyond.

Of course, understanding this simple law doesn’t guarantee success. But violating it almost guarantees collapse.

The company where I first discovered the operation of this law was propelled from $30 million to $300 million in five years.

They achieved undisputed leadership in their industry and attracted hundreds of thousands of new customers. They earned media attention, celebrity endorsements, and a culture of high achievement.

Then it all came crashing down.

What follows is the reason why.

Adherence to this Law — turning it into the fail-proof “rule book” that governs your decisions — is the most preemptive move you can make to become a scaling machine.

It’s also the perfect guiding light for your marketing team, sales force, product development and customer service. It can shape every decision you make in a way that makes sense to the market and to your team.

If that wasn’t enough, I’ve found the discovery of this Law (and my following of it) is the best way to enjoy lasting, loving relationships between friends, family, husbands and wives, and parents and children.
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The complete, full-blown explanation of this Law takes at least three intensive hours. Most often, this instruction takes place during an on-site strategy day.

But here is a short "manifesto" version to get you started. Enjoy!

‍** What exactly is the Law of Narrative Preeminence?
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‍The Law:
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‍“In any market, the story that earns the most trust becomes the reference point. Stories that contradict themselves don’t lose to competitors — they collapse under their own weight.”
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Narrative Preeminence is a law, not a tactic. Markets obey it whether leaders believe in it or not.
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It governs trust the way gravity governs motion. Gravity doesn’t care if you believe in it or not. Drop an apple. It still falls.

The market always selects a reference story: Every market converges on a reference point—the story people use to orient decisions, comparisons, and expectations. The reference point with the most trust wins the lion's share of the market.
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Messaging, branding, funnels, storytelling, and content are downstream expressions—never the law itself.

‍** How do you gain Narrative Preeminence in your market?
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‍You don’t “use” the Law of Narrative Preeminence. You either comply with it or violate it.
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Most companies don’t choose to violate it. They drift into violation and only notice when the market reacts.
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Compliance to the Law of Narrative Preeminence requires a strategic mindset, starting with the founder, CEO, and decision-makers, and continuing to every department, function, team member, suppliers and vendors, and ultimately customer in your business.
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This requires governance at the level of decisions, incentives, and trade-offs — from the top down.
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Full compliance to this Law is achieved by designing a world where the customer objectively gains leverage by staying… and pays a price by leaving.
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According to marketing expert Jay Abraham, who's generated over $75 billion from his work:

‍“Preeminence is a business strategy and mindset in which your goal is not merely to compete, sell, or persuade, but to serve, educate, and position yourself as the trusted advisor—the obvious, most valuable choice—for your customer.”
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Narrative Preeminence is the governing law that determines whether this positioning  compounds or collapses at scale.
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Competitors or others may tell similar stories. Yet preeminent stories absorb, invalidate, or reframe competitors by default.
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‍** The primary currency of Narrative Preeminence is based on trust.
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‍According to Seth Godin,
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“The two scarce elements of our economy are trust and attention.”
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Attention always follows trust the way motion follows gravity.
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Trust compounds when a story remains coherent before, during, and after the transaction. Trust decays when actions and words contradict the established narrative.
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Most businesses have some reserve of trust, or else they wouldn’t be in business. The opportunity is leveraging this trust into growth. The danger is growth often reveals trust violations at scale.
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‍** There is a world of difference between giving information and guiding someone else to live out their best story.
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‍Information is inconclusive. Helpful advice only converts into action when it fits within a new story the person believes.
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This is why those who respect the Law of Preeminence tell people, "Here’s a story about your problem in your world. Here’s a new world where you will discover what you should do about it, here’s how to do it, and here’s why you should do it. The story will be continued in our relationship for the rest of our lives.”
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Remember: the story you tell doesn’t have any value unless it makes an impact. Information alone is not motivating.
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If the story doesn’t change decisions, behavior, or commitment,  it has no value.
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‍** The customer is the hero — the new world you build for them is the asset.
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‍According to Donald Miller, best-selling author of StoryBrand,

“Customers aren't looking for another hero; they're looking for a guide. The role of your brand is to be that guide...”

In the casting of the story, the customer is the hero.

When the brand becomes the hero, preeminence always collapses.
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The object is to guide the prospect or customer from their current flawed world... to a new world of greater happiness, results or profits. Gaining these benefits could be impossible if they remain in their old world.
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The new world you build can be a tremendous cash-generatig asset for you or your company.
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The more detailed you make this world (including establishing culture, community, specific language, etc.) the more the customer will want to live in your world.

And the more they will spend their hard-earned money out of the sheer joy of spending time in the world you built for them.

‍** It’s YOUR job to provide narrative clarity and leadership through story.
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‍Most people silently think: “I don’t know what to do.”
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They are desperately searching for someone they trust who understands them and can point them in the right direction.
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Truly narrative preeminent companies and individuals sell leadership in every communication as part of a coherent narrative.
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This includes having a definitive worldview, authoritative positioning, and conviction of a point of view. They communicate everything they do within a story which yields greater results, greater happiness or greater profit for the other person.
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Most people are aware how drab or deficient their current world is. As Emerson notes, most men live lives of quiet desperation. They are seeking someone to articulate the current story they are living out.

And even better, they are seeking someone to show them a clear picture of new world with new possibilities.
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Leadership is connecting the dots for them. Guiding each step into a new world you are creating for them to live in and thrive.
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This is why narrative preeminent companies will never sell more (or less) than what the customer needs to be the hero of the story. Indeed, to sell them less could shrink the world you built and rob the customer of this better story.
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‍** Narrative Preeminence creates new categories — it does not compete inside them.
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‍Narrative Preeminence creates a category of one.

Narrative preeminent companies (or individuals) do NOT...
Compete within an existing frame.
Optimize inside a market definition.
Win by outperforming peers.
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Instead, they...
Establish a new reference reality.
Create a distinct new and unique world with its own laws.
Expands outward without direct competition.
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Once the world exists, competitors aren’t rivals. They are operating in the wrong universe.
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‍** Competition doesn’t destroy stories — contradiction does.
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‍Most companies don’t lose because someone else is “better.”
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They lose because their own behavior invalidates their story.
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Collapse happens internally first. The market only delivers the verdict.
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Narrative collapse precedes economic collapse: Rising acquisition costs. Churn. Discounting. Desperation offers and launches. Cultural drift. Internal politics. These are effects, not causes. They are symptoms of narrative violation already in motion.
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Funnels fail when they override the governing story. Funnels may win clicks. They can win moments. Narrative preeminence wins over lifetimes. When funnels dictate behavior, belief continuity fractures. Conversion may spike. Customer lifetime value always pays the price.
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Most people will avoid making decisions out of fear of feeling foolish. And narrative incoherence and contractions are a surefire way to make someone feel like a fool.

On the flip side, narrative preeminent companies usually gain a customer for life.
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Put yourself in the role of customer, and then imagine the story you are telling through your marketing, customer experience and operations. Vividly imagine every touch point...
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Does the story make sense?
Does it have coherence?
Does it include contradictions?
Is it authentic and truthful in what it promises?
Is story continuity broken somewhere along the way?
Does something in your story, however big or small, "not add up” for the customer, client or end-user? 

If so, trust is being consumed rather than generated.
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No amount of added attention will fix this.  In fact, increased attention will only accelerate narrative collapse.
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‍** People buy because they ask themselves: “What objectively worsens if I delay or choose another world?”

Truly narrative preeminent companies (or people) communicate a story which makes sense to the other person -- while also raising the stakes of NOT entering the world you are creating.

The story being told should always make the other person sense that their feelings are understood. According to persuasion and negation expert Jim Camp:

“You're always safe in the other person's world."
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What this means is you begin by giving the other person psychological certainty that you understand their story.
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At the same time, most selling, marketing and offers focus on providing tangible results.
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But most of the great rewards in life are intangible and emotional: Their wedding day, the birth of a child, winning the big game. Being recognized as an achiever at work.
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A truly great story raises stakes of missing out on both tangible and intangible emotional benefits.
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* Most businesses don’t need better execution — they need diagnosis.
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‍Growth amplifies narrative violations. Faster growth accelerates them.
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Scale does not forgive incoherence. It punishes it faster.
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What feels like “market saturation” or “platform fatigue” is often narrative fracture under expansion. Higher acquisition costs, lower conversion rates and dropping customer lifetime values are not leading indicators. They are lagging measurements of future narrative collapse.
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Violations are cumulative and irreversible without intervention. Narrative violations don’t reset with a rebrand or relaunch. Eventually the story loses authority, even if the product or sales copy still "works."
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And when the trust is gone, the costs to regain are usually insurmountable.

Most businesses don’t need better execution — they need diagnosis of where they are violating the Law of Narrative Preeminence. Before tactics. Before content. Before growth plans.