Posted by Eric Wilson
Cuomo spent $25 million on ads. Most New Yorkers don’t remember seeing his campaign once.
Meanwhile, some guy named Mamdani became impossible to escape in social feeds without spending a fraction of that budget.
What’s the difference? Cuomo tried to buy attention. Mamdani earned it.
The Attention Economy Has Flipped
Fifty years ago, you could interrupt people during their three TV channels and capture attention through sheer repetition. Today, everyone has a personalized entertainment system in their pocket that’s designed to give them exactly what they want, when they want it.
You can’t force your way into someone’s consciousness anymore.
But here’s the thing: this is actually great news for people who have something real to say.
Why Authentic Content Wins
The same principles I teach about personal attention apply to getting other people’s attention:
Scattered messaging fails just like scattered personal attention fails. When you’re trying to be everything to everyone through ads, you connect with no one.
Centered authenticity attracts just like centered personal presence attracts genuine relationships. When you consistently share real value from a clear point of view, people seek you out.
Quality over quantity wins just like depth beats surface-level multitasking. One piece of content that genuinely helps someone is worth more than 100 ads they scroll past.
The Attention Compass for Content
The same four directions that scatter personal attention also kill content effectiveness:
North (Identity): Creating content to prove how smart/successful/impressive you are instead of serving your audience
South (Comparison): Copying what competitors are doing instead of developing your unique voice
West (Past): Rehashing old content without fresh insights or current relevance
East (Future): Creating content for hypothetical audiences instead of real people with actual problems
Center: Sharing authentic value that emerges from your genuine experience and expertise
What Actually Works Now
Tell stories that matter – Not case studies designed to sell, but real experiences that offer genuine insight
Solve actual problems – Address the questions people are actually asking, not the ones you wish they were asking
Be consistently yourself – Develop a recognizable voice and perspective that people can count on
Add real value – Every piece of content should leave people better off than before they encountered it
Engage like a human – Respond to comments, ask questions, have actual conversations
The Meteorologist’s Lesson
During my TV career, the most watched forecasts weren’t the ones with the fanciest graphics or highest production values. They were the ones where I genuinely helped people prepare for what was actually coming.
When I stopped trying to impress viewers with meteorological knowledge and started focusing on what they really needed to know, my ratings improved and people started trusting my forecasts.
The same principle applies to all content: people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
The $25 Million Question
Cuomo’s campaign failed because money can’t buy what people actually want: authentic connection to someone who understands their real challenges.
Mamdani succeeded because he provided that connection through content that resonated with people’s actual experience.
In the attention economy, authenticity is the new advertising budget.
The question isn’t how much you can spend to get attention.
The question is how much value you can create to earn it.
Want to cut through the noise with content that actually connects? The same principles that help you find your center can help your message find its audience. Email me at eric@theattentioncompass.com
Eric Wilson helps leaders find their center and their voice. His approach shows how authentic presence creates both personal clarity and genuine influence.