Concentric Circles

Lulu Cheng Meservey has a framework for how ideas spread: concentric circles. Start at the center with people closest to you. Only when they're fully on board do you expand to the next ring.

'Each circle is going to assume that the inner circle knows better than them. If employees are not excited, people look at them and say, well, they would know. If they're not excited, why would we be?'

Skip a circle and everything breaks.

Your child learns trust the same way.

The innermost circle is you - the parent. If they don't trust you completely, they won't trust anything that follows. The next circle is immediate family. Then close friends. Then teachers and other adults. Then the wider world.

Each ring only works because the one inside it is solid.

Lulu warns: 'You can't skip a circle. If the inner circle isn't totally on board, they can actively contradict everything you say.'

When kids struggle with trusting teachers, or making friends, or feeling safe in the world - check the inner circles. Is there a break closer to the center?

You can't give them confidence in the outer rings if the inner ones aren't solid. Start at the center. Build outward. Don't skip.