the way of the whiteboard: persuading with pictures

2008 © Dan Roam THE BACK OF THE NAPKIN all rights reserved4

We can solve our problems with pictures.


We’re going to need rules.“If you take off one of the legs of that stool, the stool falls down. That's not the answer. The answer for our party and for our country is to continue to fight for all three legs of that stool.” Governor Mitt Romney, July 26, 2007

"We're not going to come to a conclusion on a three-legged stool here, missing the fourth leg." Senator Chris Dodd, Sept. 26, 2008

There are three legs to the stool of American foreign policy: Diplomacy, development and military power. We are two of those legs.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, January 22, 2009

"The recovery package that we're passing is only going to be one leg in, at least, a three-legged stool."President Barack Obama, January 23, 2009

Obviously, we need a stool.


It needs to be a strong stool.


First leg.



Visual thinking unwritten rule #1

Whoever best describes the problem…




is the one most likely to solve it.



(Whoever draws the best picture gets the funding.)


is the one most likely to solve it.


Let’s go to Washington.

Pictures in politics?

2008 © Dan Roam SOLVING PROBLEMS WITH PICTURES13


The ultimate political napkin story…


In 1974 Laffer drew this picture:


Which he showed to these two guys…


… who are, of course, these two guys:


OK, NEXT...


For example, what does a stimulus look like?

* American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law Feb. 17, 2009


Hey folks, where is the picture?


The big picture is in here, right?


Somewhere?


Anywhere?


Help.


That’s it?


Exercise 1: the Who is ‘We’ self-assessment


The “napkin sketch” is the future:


Let’s create a problem-solving napkin…

On your napkin, draw a circle and give it a name…

Next leg.


Unwritten visual thinking rule #2:

We can’t solve a problem that overwhelms us.

2009 © Digital Roam Inc. 44



2009 © Digital Roam Inc. 45



2009 © Digital Roam Inc.

We need to first break it down into bite-sized pieces.



We need to first break it into bite-sized pieces.

2009 © Digital Roam Inc.

There are only so many kinds of problems and they are all

composed of the same pieces.


Another story of a few business guys sitting around talking…


“Why can’t Wal-Mart be the company every day

that we were during those days of Katrina?” - H. Lee Scott,

Address to Wal-Mart employees, July 13, 2006


Wal-Mart sustainability data


I suggested a simple set of pictures.


What would happen if we drew out how Wal-Mart works?


That’s what we did.


Then we could break that model into separate layers…


So people could finally “get it”.

In 2005, all Wal-Mart stores combined output 20,783,368 cubic tons of CO2.


But this is the picture that mattered…

Last leg.


The more “human” your picture,

the more human the response.





The more “human” your picture,

the more human the response.

(The mind likes to look at things that match the way we see.)


Let’s look at how we see:


The 6 ways we see:


Back to our napkin…

Now cut our problem into 6 slices…


The 6 ways we see: Who & What


The 6 ways we see: How much


The 6 ways we see: Where


The 6 ways we see: When


The 6 ways we see: How


The 6 ways we see: Why


The 6x6 rule


A portrait shows who & what… your members, for example:


A portrait shows how to distinguish one thing from another:


Let’s draw corresponding pictures…

The 6 ways we show…


A chart shows how much:


A map shows where to put everything:


And shows where pieces are missing:


Or where business perfection resides:


When? 1969!


When?? Better draw a timeline…


(If you want lots of discussion, try a looping timeline)…


A flowchart adds up what + where + when to show how…


Last, a “multi-variable chart” shows why things are…

Your visual thinking stool.


Drawing wins.Keep it human.

Use bite-sized pieces.

A last lesson…


In 2002, the Thomson Corporation hired my company to help with their brand

strategy.


Who is who?


04/11/2023

How much?

04/11/2023

Where do they overlap?

04/11/2023

Where do they all sit? (And when?)

04/11/2023

How are we going to make it happen?

Why?



(It was a $17.2 Billion Dollar Chart)

the way of the whiteboard: persuading with pictures

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