Problem Solving & Selling
I often talk with business owners about their business and I’ve recently started to ask them to ‘raw me a picture’ of their business and how it works or to draw a concept they are describing. I’m amazed, first at their reaction and second about their lack of ability to draw a conceptual document about their livelihood.
What started me down this path is a book I read recently, ‘The Back of the Napkin’ by Dan Roam. The book walks you through how to ‘see’ and then how to put what you see to paper. It’s an excellent book for frustrated business people that have trouble drawing out their business ideas either on a white board or the back of a napkin.
What the book also does is help you distill your ideas down into simple concepts. This allows you to rearrange the way you see things and might even help you innovate a process or help you solve a problem.
One of the most famous ‘back of the napkin’ drawings was done by Herb Kelleher, the founder of Southwest Airlines. The story goes; he was at lunch with Rollin King and drew the following on a napkin.
The Back of the Napkin
Solving problems and selling ideas with pictures.
This became the foundation of the business plan for Southwest Airlines. That is, they would fly to large cities in the state of Texas and not follow the spoke-hub system the other airlines had relied on. By focusing on specific cities, Southwest was able to create efficiencies and launch a great airline all from the back of a napkin.
I recommend you read Dan’s book. It will help you express yourself succinctly and it may help you solve a problem that’s been dogging you because you’ll be able to actually ‘see’ the problem more clearly.
