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[u]The Back of The Napkin[/u] is all about the process of visual thinking and using drawn pictures to convey information. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed it and have incorporated some of its suggestions into my discussions and meetings.

The book indicates that about 25% of the population are visual thinkers who love to draw pictures as part of the problem solving process. I am definitely one of them! If you come to my office with a question, 9/10 I will be at the white board before the discussion is over. If you find yourself using a white board or even pen & paper to work through your ideas, you should pick up a copy of this book.

One very tangible thing it helped me with was the concept of how to shape what you draw to your audience. For instance, I am very comfortable with high level, abstract pictures to discuss a concept, but I have some high Cs on my team that need to see a more elaborate picture with quantitative numbers on it to buy in. It helped me evolve my white board heavy style to one that resonates with the folks I am communicating with.

The web site for the book is pretty cool. It has some flash content that gives you the overview if you are thinking of picking it up.

http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com/

Enjoy,
Mike

MattJBeckwith's picture
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I've not heard of this book but it sounds interesting.

If I remember the story right, the founder of Southwest Airlines pitched the idea of SWA on a cocktail napkin depicting the three Texas airports they would serve.

Thanks for sharing.

AManagerTool's picture

I got about half way through the book and got boored and stopped. I should pick it up again. I'm a whiteboard guy already so no emergency.