The Find: Got a complex business problem? Of course you have to run the numbers, but one author argues that you should also sit down with a pen and paper and spend some time doodling.- The Source: An interview conducted by venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki with Dan Roam, author of The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures, for the Sun Microsystems blog.
The Takeaway: One day in 1967 Rollin King and Herb Kelleher sat down for a few drinks at the St. Anthony’s Club in San Antonio. Rather than simply sipping a couple of cold ones as planned, King used a bar napkin to draw an idea — a simple triangle connecting Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. The result? The world’s most profitable airline — Southwest.
You might think this anecdote has nothing to teach managers but the brilliance of Southwest Airline’s founders, but as Kawasaki finds out in this interview, author Dan Roam believes that the story of the business world’s most famous napkin doodle reveals something far more useful: the often ignored power of visual thinking in business.
Roam admits that managers are often sceptical for two reasons: many of them draw like kindergarteners and the dependence of Wall Street on quanitative thinking. No one expects the stock market to start running on smily faces and stick figures any time soon, but anyone who can draw these simple shapes has all the artistic skills needed to employ the power of visual thinking. Roam argues it is not a matter of painting like Picasso but of really seeing a problem:
I’m not saying visual thinking is the only way to think nor am I saying that it always the best way. What I am saying is that any problem can be made more clear through the use of a picture, and it is always worthwhile to sketch out a problem — if only for a minute — just to see what emerges.
And the time for these skills is now. Why? With globalization and the explosion in information technology the world is getting more complex. Visual thinking (literally sketching out your business problem) can simplify and clarify the issues you face. As Roam says, “there’s more data out there in more forms and languages than ever before, and there’s a greater need for businesspeople to make good decisions quickly and communicate their thinking to others.” Roam claims that learning to employ visual thinking can help managers:
- Make better decisions faster
- Communicate decisions and visions more effectively
- Help their teams execute those decisions more efficiently through the use of “interactive, team-created timeline tools”
If you’re intrigued, the full interview is fascinating and well worth a read. Or, check out this BNET Video Book Brief with author Dan Roam.
The Question: Give it a try and sketch a problem facing you or your business. How’d it go?
(Image of The Back of the Napkin by marklarson, CC 2.0)
