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The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures

  • Book
  • 2008
  • #Business
Dan Roam
@DanRoam
(Author)
www.amazon.com
Hardcover
4.3/5 210 ratings
Hardcover Paperback
See on Goodreads
3.96/5 13.5k ratings
1 Recommender
2 Mentions
1 Collection
A bold new way to tackle tough business problems—even if you draw like a second grader When Herb Kelleher was brainstorming about how to beat the traditional hub-and- spoke airlin... Show More

A bold new way to tackle tough business problems—even if you draw like a second grader

When Herb Kelleher was brainstorming about how to beat the traditional hub-and- spoke airlines, he grabbed a bar napkin and a pen. Three dots to represent Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Three arrows to show direct flights. Problem solved, and the picture made it easy to sell Southwest Airlines to investors and customers.

Used properly, a simple drawing on a humble napkin is more powerful than Excel or PowerPoint. It can help crystallize ideas, think outside the box, and communicate in a way that people simply “get”. In this book Dan Roam argues that everyone is born with a talent for visual thinking, even those who swear they can’t draw.

Drawing on twenty years of visual problem solving combined with the recent discoveries of vision science, this book shows anyone how to clarify a problem or sell an idea by visually breaking it down using a simple set of visual thinking tools – tools that take advantage of everyone’s innate ability to look, see, imagine, and show.

THE BACK OF THE NAPKIN proves that thinking with pictures can help anyone discover and develop new ideas, solve problems in unexpected ways, and dramatically improve their ability to share their insights. This book will help readers literally see the world in a new way.

(From Goodreads)

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ISBN: 1591841992

ISBN-13: 9781591841999

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Shane Parrish @ShaneAParrish
  • Curated in 40 Books that Improve your Ability to Make Decisions
Shane Parrish @ShaneAParrish
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Have you ever had a hard time expressing a complex idea to someone? In this book, author Dan Roan suggests using fewer words and more pictures. He shows how a few simple drawings done the right way can clarify any problem or sell any idea to your audience — whether that’s one person or a full auditorium.
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