Sherpa Alliance

Learn to draw!  That’s one of the recommendations from Daniel Pink in his book, “A Whole New Mind – moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age”.  He reminds us that, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, saying:

“What’s in greatest demand today isn’t analysis but synthesis – seeing the big picture and crossing boundaries, being able to combine disparate pieces into an arresting new whole.  One of the best ways to develop that aptitude is to learn to draw.”

That’s the power of a picture.  It engages our left-brain in the parts and our right-brain in the whole (Being Half-Brained (Left or Right)) and, therefore, our whole brain in a systems thinking and design process.  All by just drawing a picture!

In his 2008 book, “The Back of the Napkin – solving problems and selling ideas with pictures” Dan Roam reinforces the power of pictures and Visual Thinking, saying:

“Any problem can be made clearer with a picture, and any picture can be created using the same set of tools and rules – a new way of looking at problems and a new way of seeing solutions.  The basics of visual thinking have nothing to do with creating charts on a computer.  Visual thinking is learning to think with our eyes, and it doesn’t require any advanced technology at all.  There are really only three tools that we’ll need to become great at solving problems with pictures:  our eyes, our mind’s eye, and a little hand-eye coordination.  I call these our “built-in” visual thinking tools.  Somebody always says, “Wait.  This isn’t for me – I’m not a visual person”.  The people who start out by saying, “I can’t draw” almost always end up creating some of the most insightful pictures”

Pictures and visual thinking enhance our mental agility (Mental Agility – turning things upside-down, back-to-front and inside-out).  In our work, we get teams thinking visually about their Integrated Business Model and how they can draw a picture of it.  Think of it this way:

• If your business is a jigsaw puzzle (a mixed bag of funny shaped pieces – products, processes, people, markets etc, etc, etc), then what is the picture on the box? 
• At this point, many people reach for their organization chart – big mistake!  Your organization chart will often end up being a part (actually, a layer) of your Integrated Business Model but if far from the whole and puts our mental agility in a box before we even got started.  Set your organization chart to one side and think more laterally.  
• Don’t be worry that version 1 of the picture may be embarrassingly simple (which stops many people from even making a start), as version 20 will usually be really, really good.  
• Why is this so crucial?  Because, if there is a picture on the box, we can more easily arrange and optimize the pieces and discuss how the picture and pieces need to morph going forwards, by design.  If there is no picture on the box, that is a much less organized and methodical process, by accident.  Do you want your business model to be evolving by design or by accident?

So, how much are you leveraging the power of pictures and visual thinking in your business?  Are there white-boards and flipcharts in all the right places and are they well used?  How can you lead the way more, role-modeling the use of pictures and visual thinking, no matter how embarrassingly simple at first?  You won’t regret it!

That’s one of the reasons why we take such a visual approach in our work, to help you hold in mind the whole problem and whole solution of being in the driving seat of organizational agility.  Visual concepts, models and tools (Traction Planning for the Agility Advantage) to help you hold in mind the parts and the whole at the same time, as a system, recognizing that we must truly tackle the change leadership and change management challenges of systemic change - that’s how we brew up a BREAKTHROUGH! with our organizational agility.