Framing
The context that determines how an idea is interpreted.
Use framing to shape what the audience compares the idea against.
Understanding framing
Every idea is judged relative to a category, whether that category is stated or assumed. Before an audience decides if something is good, they decide what it is being compared to. That comparison set is the frame, and whoever sets it first has a significant advantage, because reframing an idea after a weak frame has taken hold is much harder than framing it correctly from the start.
Framing is not spin. Spin hides the truth behind a misleading category. Framing chooses the truest and most useful category among several accurate ones. A difficult conversation can be framed as conflict or as joint problem-solving; both involve tension, but they create different expectations and behaviors.
What category are people currently placing your idea in? What category would make it look stronger?
How to strengthen framing
Identify the default category your audience is likely to place your idea in, and decide if that category helps or hurts you.
State the frame explicitly instead of hoping the audience infers it: this is not X, it is Y.
Choose the frame that makes your actual strengths the relevant criteria for judgment.
Combine framing with other tools
No single tool carries a message on its own. Framing works best alongside these.