Positioning: the mind is not an empty vessel

What a classic 1981 advertising book teaches public affairs practitioners about where communication breaks down

Apr 8 • Joseph Lavoie

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March 2026

Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini

Why the moment before the message is the must underused variable in communication

Mar 25 • Joseph Lavoie

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Change, by Damon Centola

Why the most important variable in public affairs isn’t the message, but the structure through which it travels.

Mar 11 • Joseph Lavoie

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How can we design for judgement, not just information?

Our tools are getting smarter. What about our decisions? My take on what's missing

Mar 8 • Joseph Lavoie

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February 2026

It's not what you say, it's what people hear

Frank Luntz gives a classic primer with his Words That Work

Feb 25 • Joseph Lavoie

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Last weekend I built an app

What vibe coding taught me about the future of public affairs

Feb 19 • Joseph Lavoie

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You cannot change someone's mind

All persuasion is self-persuasion. How Minds Change, by David McRaney

Feb 11 • Joseph Lavoie

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Decision architecture

A visual explainer of the three layers that determine whether you sense the shift in time to respond

Feb 6 • Joseph Lavoie

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The gap between pictures and reality

Walter Lippmann saw something in 1922 that most people still don’t understand.

Feb 1 • Joseph Lavoie

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January 2026

Why I'm launching Masters in Public Affairs

The fundamentals of public affairs. One book at a time.

Jan 28 • Joseph Lavoie

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The scenarios no one will put in a deck

Why analysts imagine extreme scenarios but don't say them—and what AI changes about that

Jan 22 • Joseph Lavoie

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Rupture, not a transition

And not a doctrine. Something rarer

Jan 21 • Joseph Lavoie

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