Sketching ideas on napkins and business cards

Sketching ideas on napkins and business cards

In most negotiations, professional (PowerPoint) presentations are used to visualize ideas. But what do you do when an important negotiation takes place in a restaurant or at the train station and there is no time for detailed preparations? Then sketch your ideas on a napkin or a business card!
Dan Roam shows in his books how to visualize business ideas in your head, get to the point and create freehand diagrams. And he proves that, with the exception of tax returns, pretty much every business case can fit on a beer mat.
The napkin technique is a visualization method that involves 3 steps:

• Discover idea
• Develop idea
• Sell the idea

The napkin technique is based on the elementary process of visual thinking:

• seeing
• observe
• imagine
• show

Visual thinking is a process that we go through thousands of times a day. For example, when we cross a road. You look both ways and if you see a car approaching, you stop. If the car is still a long way off, imagine whether you can make it across before it reaches you. Then show your decision by crossing the road quickly or waiting until the car has passed.
The five SQVID questions are particularly important:
Simple: simple or detailed?
Qualitative: qualitative or quantitative?
Visionary: vision or practical implementation?
Individually: individual idea or comparison with what already exists?
Delta: change or maintaining the status quo?

What the press says about the book "Explained on a napkin"

"In this book, the reader learns step by step how to solve problems using visualization. A must for anyone who wants to develop concepts or explain something to others."
Business-Wissen

Order the book "Explained on a napkin" from ExLibris
Order the workbook "Explained on a napkin" from ExLibris