I read something this week from Shawn Twing that reminded me of an old school copywriting principle:

(He credits Rich Schefren)

Twing says:

"If you've ever tried to sell 'better' — which I have far too many times — you know it's an uphill climb. 'New,' however, is always easier. We seem to be hardwired for novelty."

And I immediately thought...

This is the entire Cognitive Fingerprint positioning problem.

👉 The Default Pattern

When we extract your CF patterns, you immediately want to translate them into competitive language:

• "So I'm better at strategic planning"
• "This proves I get better results"
• "I'm more effective at seeing what others miss"

And I get it. You finally SEE your invisible expertise, and you want to claim it's better. But "better" triggers skepticism. When someone hears "I'm better at X," their brain immediately goes to:

• "Prove it"
• "Compared to who?"
• "Show me the results"
• "Everyone says that"

You've just started a credibility contest with a ton of competition lose.

👉 What You Actually Have

Your Cognitive Fingerprint isn't "better" it's structurally novel.You're not playing the same game better. You're playing a different game all together.

• You're not "better at change management"
• You see the psychological contract shifts that determine whether teams adopt or resist change
• You're not "better at strategic planning"
• You work with the tension between stated strategy and operational reality that most planning processes ignore

See the difference?The first triggers: "Prove you're better" The second triggers: "Tell me more about that"👉 The Marketing Principle"New" works because it sidesteps comparison entirely (and triggers dopamine in the persons mind.)When you position your expertise as novel territory rather than competitive superiority:

• You create curiosity instead of skepticism
• You own a category instead of competing in one
• You demonstrate your lens instead of proving your results
• You become the person who sees something others don't, not the person claiming to do something better

👉 The CF Application

Your extracted patterns already contain genuine novelty...no one else has your exact cognitive fingerprint.But if you translate that into "I'm better at..." language, you've just commoditized yourself back into a competitive market.The work isn't extracting the patterns (we've done that).The work is learning to communicate them as NEW rather than BETTER.A Quick TestLook at how you currently introduce yourself or describe your work.Count how many times you use comparison language:

• "Better results"
• "More effective"
• "Higher success rate"
• "Proven track record"
• "Superior approach"

Now try this instead:

What do you SEE that others miss?
What variable do you track that standard approaches ignore?
What tension do you work with that most people don't name?

That's your unqiueness...That's what makes you impossible to compare. That's what "new is better than better" means for your Cognitive Fingerprint...and we all have one.

Stay Curious,

Click below to discover your Cognitive Fingerprint or join us in the CF Lab.​

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