p.3 What's the most daunting business problem you can picture?... What if there was a way to more quickly
look at problems, more intuitively understand them, more confidently address them, and more rapidly convey to others what
we've discovered? What if there was a way to make business problem solving more efficient, more effective, and - as much as
I hate to say it - perhaps even a bit more fun? There is. It's called visual thinking, and it's
what this book is all about: solving problems with pictures.
p.11 [After giving a speech featuring a simple diagram conceived first on the back of a napkin] I thought
about all the problems that that simple napkin sketch had helped solve: First, simply by drawing it, I had clarified in my
own mind a previously vague idea. Second, I was able to create the picture almost instantly, without the need to rely on any
technology other than paper and pen. Third, I was able to share the picture with my audiences in an open way that invited
comments and inspired discussion... The lesson for me was clear. We can use the simplicity and immediacy of pictures
to discover and clarify our own ideas, and use those same pictures to clarify our ideas for other people, helping
them discover something new for themselves along the way.
p.13 I worked with four very different companies... The problems were hard to see and their solutions were
nearly invisible. That's where visual thinking came in: Any problem can be made clearer with a picture... Here's what I hope
you get from this book - a new way of looking at problems and a new way of seeing solutions. I want you to be able
to read this book... and immediately start solving problems with pictures.
p.14 Because pictures can represent complex concepts and summarize vast sets of information in ways
that are easy for us to see and understand, they are useful for clarifying and resolving problems of all sorts
p.20 Visual thinking is learning to think with our eyes, and it doesn't require any advanced technology
at all.
p.31 Visual thinking is not a talent unique to selected individuals, or limited only to people with years
of dedicated study... visual thinking is an ability in which we are all innately gifted. The proof is in... our amazing
abilities to look, see, imagine, and show.
p.41 Imagining can be thought of in one of two ways: It is either the act of seeing
with our eyes closed or the act of seeing something that isn't there.
p.53 It's worth emphasizing these orientation, position, identification,
and direction steps [the author is discussing what happens when we attempt to participate in the sport of
bowling] because they are just four of the key tasks that our looking system automatically takes care of for us.
p.73 While looking is about collecting the raw visual information that is in front
of us, seeing is about selecting what's important.
p.97 Imagining is simply another approach to seeing... The only real difference is that
when we imagine, we're letting our mind's eye see things that aren't actually there.
p.129-130 Showing is not only our chance to wrap up our ideas so that we can share
them with someone else, this step is also when we invariably make our biggest breakthroughs - but only if we've
already looked, seen, and imagined well. Showing is where it all comes together.
p.135 The most efficient way to show a particular visual category (who/what, how much, etc.) is to just
flip around the way we see it in the real world. If we see where based on objects' spatial relationships to each
other, we can represent it by drawing those objects in a similar spatial position. If we see when by noting an object's
change over time, we can represent it by drawing the same object as it appears at different times.
p.249 All good pictures do not need to be self-explanatory, but they do need to be explainable.
It's a rare problem-solving picture of any sort that can carry a clear message, convey powerful meaning, and inspire deep
insight without at least a caption... the point isn't to replace all the words; the point is to use a picture to
replace those words that are more effectively conveyed, understood, and remembered visually.
p.252,256 what we all really need is a reliable problem-solving toolkit that we can take with us
anywhere; something that we can pull out of our pocket at a moment's notice to help us look at problems, see what
makes them tick, imagine ways to solve them, and then show our solutions to somebody else. We need a universal visual
thinking toolkit... above all it has to be memorable... In two minutes you've captured your own idea, shown it to
others, and passed it along. That's how visual thinking works, and that's how to solve problems and sell ideas with
pictures.
