Anything that causes you to doubt, to raise either objections or just concerns about it - and they always put the information right at the bottom of the screen so you can't really read it - every time you see a company do that, the ad becomes less effective. The communication becomes less effective.

The second most important attribute of winners, after understanding the human dimension, is knowing what questions to ask, the rhetorical nature.

If you just heard 90 percent of dentists recommend something, it's too statistical. Nine out of 10 says: Well, it's just virtually everyone. It leads you to think of that joke about the one dentist. But so much of communication.

The way you communicate an idea is different than the way you communicate a product.

The most successful people in American life are those that have had horrific failures and have come back, done it again and again until they got it right, whether it's Steve Jobs or Bill Gates or Warren Buffet.

The Old Spice ads - women love it. The guys find it annoying. It always causes a great conversation. And it makes it more fun. You know, we've been testing those visuals to see what attracts attention.

I've done reasonably well over the last 10 years because I took the strategy of language and politics and applied it to the corporate world, which has never been done before.