The Way of the Whiteboard: Persuading with Pictures

We can solve our problems with
pictures.

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

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

quot;We're not going to come
to a conclusion on a
three-legged stool
here, missing the fourth
quot;The recovery package that leg.quot;
we're passing is only going Senator Chris Dodd, Sept.
to be one leg in, at least, a 26, 2008
three-legged stool.quot;
President Barack
Obama, January 23, 2009

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

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Obviously, we need a stool.

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It needs to be a strong stool.

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First leg.

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Visual thinking unwritten rule #1

Whoever best describes the
problem…

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problem…
is the one most likely to solve it.

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problem…
is the one most likely to solve it.

(Whoever draws the best picture
gets the funding.)
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Let‟s go to Washington.

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Pictures in politics?

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2008 © Dan Roam SOLVING PROBLEMS WITH PICTURES

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The ultimate political napkin story…

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In 1974 Laffer drew this picture:

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Which he showed to these two guys…

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… who are, of course, these two guys:

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OK, NEXT...

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For example, what does a stimulus look
like?

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

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Hey folks, where is the picture?

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The big picture is in
here, right?

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Somewhere?

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Anywhere?

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Help.

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That‟s it?

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Exercise 1: the Who is „We‟ self-assessment

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The “napkin sketch” is the future:

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Let‟s create a problem-solving napkin…

On your
napkin, dra
w a circle
and give it
a name…

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Let‟s create a problem-solving napkin…

On your
napkin, dra
w a circle
and give it
a name…

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Next leg.

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Unwritten visual thinking rule #2:

We can‟t solve a problem that
overwhelms us.

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2009 © Digital Roam Inc.


overwhelms us.

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overwhelms us.

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


We can‟t solve a problem that overwhelms us.
We need to first break it into bite-sized pieces.

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…

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talking…

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talking…

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“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
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Wal-Mart sustainability data

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I suggested a simple set of pictures.

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

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That‟s what we did.

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Then we could break that model into separate layers…

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So people could finally “get it”.
In 2005, all Wal-Mart stores combined output 20,783,368 cubic tons of CO2.

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But this is the picture that mattered…

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Last leg.

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The more “human” your picture,
the more human the response.

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The more “human” your picture,
the more human the response.

(The mind likes to look at things
that match the way we see.)
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Let‟s look at how we see:

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The 6 ways we see:

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Back to our napkin…

Now cut
our
problem
into 6
slices…

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The 6 ways we see: Who & What

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The 6 ways we see: How much

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The 6 ways we see: Where

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The 6 ways we see: When

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The 6 ways we see: How

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The 6 ways we see: Why

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The 6 ways we see: Why

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Now cut
our
problem
into 6
slices…

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The 6x6 rule

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Now cut
our
problem
into 6
slices…

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

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A portrait shows how to distinguish one thing from another:

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Let‟s draw corresponding pictures…

The 6
ways we
show…

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A chart shows how much:

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A chart shows how much:

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The 6
ways we
show…

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A map shows where to put everything:

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And shows where pieces are missing:

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Or where business perfection resides:

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The 6
ways we
show…

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When? 1969!

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When?? Better draw a timeline…

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

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The 6
ways we
show…

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

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The 6
ways we
show…

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

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

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Your visual thinking stool.

Drawing wins.
Keep it human.

Use bite-sized
pieces. 97

A last lesson…

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In 2002, the
Thomson Corporation
hired my company to
help with their brand
strategy.
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Who is who?

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Where do they overlap?

3/31/2009

Where do they all sit? (And when?)

3/31/2009

How are we going to make it happen?

3/31/2009

Why?

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(It was a $17.2 Billion Dollar Chart)

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The Way of the Whiteboard: Persuading with Pictures

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The Way of the Whiteboard: Persuading with Pictures