Yesterday's
post about Venn diagrams led me to a blog that I seem to be the last person on the planet to discover:
Indexed. Jessica Hagy posts a napkin-style framework everyday. Sometimes funny, sometimes with a valuable insight about life or an unusual way of looking at things. Here is an example:
Venn diagrams, but
especially 2x2's, are very popular among McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and other management consultants. "We have put the world into 4 buckets, so now we understand it".
For solving problems they are great, and I have used hundreds of them in my 17 year (oops) as a management consultant. All issues are on the map, how we can we move from one box to another?
But take a step back and think when you want to use these frameworks in a big keynote presentation. To illustrate my point: look at the drawings on the Indexed blog, and check which ones do you get in a second. Tricky isn't it?
My advice: use these 2x2 frameworks only
- if you want to show movement of dots in the boxes. For example you can use the same framework in a few slides to show changes in strategy, or the positioning of a company
- if you want to highlight how your company/idea differentiates itself from the competition (by being in the top right box).
If you just need a structure to list 3 items, try to find a simpler way to visualize things.
Still, add Indexed to your RSS reader, it's great fun.
"). Don't let others book time into your calendar automatically.
Alongside the launch of his book Tribes
, marketing guru Seth Godin has set up a social network of people interested in all things marketing and leadership. I have been a member since its launch. Initially I thought it was a smart marketing technique to increase the sales of his book (* smiling *), but it turned out differently. I got to know many interesting people around the world, contributed in many discussion and received useful input on my projects.
Venn diagrams, but especially 2x2's, are very popular among McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and other management consultants. "We have put the world into 4 buckets, so now we understand it". 
A neat concept, and the Venn diagram is the right framework to visualize it.
The chart is simple, but it actually takes the reader a few seconds to internalize it. If you want to use something like this in a stand-up presentation, some modifacations to the slides are required:
that uses this effect brilliantly.)
I do realize that creating a standard PowerPoint template for large corporations that have thousands of employees, most of them not skilled in PowerPoint, that have to produce documents that look vaguely consistent in format is a challenge.
Interestingly, this concept is very similar to the "lead" in the ancient McKinsey exhibit format. 
Another problem that would be solved by this is to make the information captured in a presentation searchable. In particular large knowledge firms (such as management consultants) struggle with archiving the knowledge that is hidden in PowerPoint presentations with little text.
See how the composition of the image creates an enormous depth of field. Although it might clash with a minimalist approach to design, I would put the message in a big bold title on top of the image if I were to apply something like this in PowerPoint. Over-communicating is better just to make sure that everyone gets the point.
If you use mini-dialogues:
There are different phases in VC due dilligence. The 60 second look, the first 15 minute meeting, the first hour spend, sitting through a pitch and finally the complete "turn everything upside down" check on the company.
