Way of the Whiteboard

We’re going to need rules. 2008 © Dan Roam THE BACK OF THE NAPKIN all rights reserved “ 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

Visual thinking unwritten rule #1 2008 © Dan Roam THE BACK OF THE NAPKIN all rights reserved (Whoever draws the best picture gets the funding.) Whoever best describes the problem… is the one most likely to solve it.

Pictures in politics? 2008 © Dan Roam SOLVING PROBLEMS WITH PICTURES

2008 © Dan Roam SOLVING PROBLEMS WITH PICTURES

Unwritten visual thinking rule #2:

We can’t solve a problem that overwhelms us.

2009 © Digital Roam Inc.

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.

“ Why can’t Wal-Mart be the company every day that we were during those days of Katrina?” 2008 © Dan Roam THE BACK OF THE NAPKIN all rights reserved - H. Lee Scott, Address to Wal-Mart employees, July 13, 2006

Visual thinking unwritten rule #3 2008 © Dan Roam THE BACK OF THE NAPKIN all rights reserved The more “human” your picture, the more human the response. (The mind likes to look at things that match the way we see .)

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

How much? 06/08/09

Where do they overlap? 06/08/09

Where do they all sit? (And when?) 06/08/09

How are we going to make it happen? 06/08/09

Way of the Whiteboard

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Notes on slide 1

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