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| The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures | 
 enlarge | Author: Dan Roam
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.97
You Save: $11.98 (48%)
New (38) Used (10) from $12.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 173
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 7.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 1591841992
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.403
EAN: 9781591841999
ASIN: 1591841992
Publication Date: March 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: SATISFACTION GUARANTEED! NEW Book! May have remainder mark. Most orders ship within 1 BUSINESS DAY with ORDER CONFIRMATION.
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Product Description
A bold new way to tackle tough business problemseven 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 cant 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 everyones 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 The simple cover and concept shields a deeply powerful tool April 1, 2008
50 out of 51 found this review helpful
I saw the book on the shelf at Borders and the cover caught my attention. I read the first few pages and knew I had to read the rest.
I am a technical trainer and writer and have been teaching classes for more than 10 years now. For the last 7 years I've been using a pen tablet in my classes to draw diagrams on-the-fly while lecturing about different technology concepts. The attendees have given phenomenally positive feedback about this learning method.
Now, I find this book that not only validates the process I've been using but helps me take it to the next level. The author reveals the four steps to visual thinking and the six problem categories that we all face. He shows you how to do it with case studies and examples that are practical.
One thing that I think many will find helpful is the way the author quickly removes any fear of drawing you may have. He gives the testimony of many attendees that he has helped overcome this fear of drawing in front of others. Personally, my family plays Pictionary very regularly because I want my children to be comfortable with this process.
My favorite part was the Appendix: The Science of Visual Thinking. I found it very interesting as it presents scientific research as it relates to this simple process.
If you want a great new way to solve problems and a great way to communicate ideas, I think you'll find this book very useful.
Excellent!
You can tell your story more compellingly using simple drawings May 17, 2008
21 out of 21 found this review helpful
Most business books fall into a few broad categories, and though this one might be lumped in the category of how to do presentations, it is really much cooler than that. I guess I find it so cool because I can't really draw a straight line with a ruler. My kids are pretty good artists, but that comes from my wife's side. I am a musician. This book shows you how to use simple drawings and sketches to communicate much more effectively.
If you are like me, when you have to draw an org chart or some other image associated with business, you will follow the traditional, easy to follow model closest at hand. Dan Roam says no. He wants you to think about what it is you are really trying to say and let your mind communicate that with a fresh image that shows what it is you want to say simply and clearly.
He divides the book into four parts. In Part 1 he introduces the basic ideas of thinking in terms of compelling images, which problems are best handled with pictures and how to use images. Roam also uses four steps to teach you visual thinking: Look, See, Imagine, and Show.
Part II teaches you how to think visually and implement the rules. Part II takes you through a series of standard business issues and questions and then shows you how to tell your story in a more compelling way with images. Remember, these images are simple drawings rather than great works of art or anything that requires high powered graphics software.
Part IV draws conclusions for you. I love the chapter entitled, "Everything I Know About Business I Learned in Show-And-Tell." How compelling you find it, I don't know, but he sure makes a good point. Remember, this isn't impressionism or impulse drawings. You must think clearly about what you are trying to say and wrestle awhile to find the right image or images to tell that story. But you must find simple and clear images to show your audience so they can absorb it quickly no matter how long it took you to come up with it.
Great book with lots of good drawings to spark your imagination and very well done text.
A fresh and interesting book.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
Readit, Draw, and Solve a problem March 16, 2008
20 out of 32 found this review helpful
If you have ever scribbled on the back of a napkin or for that matter any piece of paper while explaining something to a cohort, this book might help you. Mr. Roam's main premise is that pictures on the back of a napkin are a most effective way to solve problems and sell ideas. He takes you through his process in this quick read and convincing book.
His suggestion to solve business problems with simple drawings could raise a few doubts. Drawings are not business solutions is the common wisdom. Conventional tools such as spreadsheets, deep mathematical analysis are the norm. The book more than adequately addresses the doubts and other questions about drawing pictures to accomplish business objectives.
He resolves denials like "I can't draw or I don't carry napkins in my pocket ". This is accomplished by demonstrating how we all have the ability to draw within the system he has developed. He first drew a successful proposal on the back of a napkin while eating breakfast on a train in England. In the book we are taught by leading us through the development of the complete solving/selling process.
The book is written in an easy to read conversational style and is laced with the type of drawings he proposes that are most useful in attacking the most intractable of problems. While reading the book one finds themselves thinking things like "I can do that" or "I need to remember the steps in the process so I can do them whenever I have a problem and a napkin"
We are introduced to a group of problems that have been solved using the system. In those solutions the drawings were not only on napkins but white boards or just sheets of paper. The reader begins to understand that the system is a cleverly developed method to cause one to think not only outside the box but with pictures rather than words.
He also takes care in pointing out that timing and following a sequence of steps is most important. Pictures are often said to be worth a thousand words. He gives examples that explain when one is selling the idea one has to be sure the audience is led to the conclusions that the team found while developing the solution. Just flashing a picture and saying "this is the solution" is not usually the most effective way to convince those you are trying to convince. The book takes us from puzzle (the problem) to plan (the selling of the solution) in simple and easy to follow steps.
In these days we are constantly faced with solving complex problems. The Back of the Napkin presents a thought process and method that can help solve those problems. Using the method will help sell the solution. It becomes an arsenal one wants in his tool kit. When you couple that arsenal with an enjoyable read there is little to lose and much to gain. Now where are those napkins?
One of the Top Communication Books this Decade! April 12, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book should be taught at the college level. It is an extremely well written book that captures the essence of business communication and what it should be. How many of us have sat through boring word wall presentations of list after list of speakers notes. The next time someone makes me sit through one I am going to send them this book.
The basic concepts of Visual Thinking: Look, See, Imagine, Show are helpful in providing a framework for developing your thoughts prior to starting any presentation. Then using the SQVID guide to understand what type of picture to use helps you think through the problem and finishing with the author's six ways we see and show of Who/what, how much, where, when, how, and why provides a guide for how to communicate your ideas.
I never read a business book twice but find myself studying this one. I have read over 50 business books in the last 18 months and this is at the very top of my list.
WHAT'S ON THE NAPKIN? March 26, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
This insightful book says that any problem can be solved using a picture. Author, Dan Roam, quickly warns against saying you cannot draw, because anyone can draw the simple stick figure drawings he suggests. Roam thinks visual information is much more interesting than verbal information and that even simple drawings are the most effective way to solve problems, sell ideas, or communicate information. He believes drawings help people crystallize ideas and think more creatively. The author emphasizes that communicating your ideas effectively is crucial and reminds us that a picture is worth a thousand words.
The book begins with the basics of making drawings, charts, and graphs, then moves on to the author's tools for thinking in pictures. The remaining sections of the book explain how to develop and sell ideas. The section on developing ideas provides suggested models to use to best represent types of situations.
The book presents step-by-step directions on how to clearly present a problem using a set of visual tools - as a series of pictures or a progressively-drawn picture. His basic instructions include: 1) Make the first mark by drawing a circle and label it something like me, them, you, product, company, etc.; 2) Choose a type of picture to best describe the situation from the categories a who/what portrait, a how-much chart, a where map, a when timeline, a how flowchart, or a why multi-variable xy plot; 3) Anthropomorphize your drawing since people relate to people even if they are just stick-figures with faces; 4) Use mental triggers in your drawing to make a point such as making something bigger or smaller to signify power or using the sun to orient an up or down direction; 5) Draw your picture real-time in front of your audience as a progression of your thought process and describe it as you go rather than presenting a finished drawing; 6) As you finish drawing your picture, write in or draw your conclusion. 7) Because a picture is so powerful, it is important to accurately portray the situation even though the drawing may not be artistic.
The book also presents examples of problems that have been solved using the system. The author emphasizes that you should develop your ideas and solutions and make sure the audience is moving along with you and that they are deducing the same conclusions you are presenting. You do this by making a progression of pictures or augmenting your drawing, as you simultaneously describe what you are sketching. The book clearly lays out how to get from the problem to selling the solution. Debra Lawrence, author of THE 3:00 PM SECRET: Live Slim and Strong, Live Your Dreams
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