HBS is well-known for its “case teaching” method. The classes are almost never in lecture format. Instead, students are given cases to read before each class. (See the sidebar for explanation of what a case is.) During class, the professor will use questions to lead a group of 80 people into discussions of the case. You may be called on by the professor or you may raise your hand to volunteer to tell the class your views. Usually, over 50 percent of your grade is based on such class discussion participation. Therefore, you must work very hard to get the opportunity to speak—and when you get airtime, you must speak very well to have any chance of getting the top grade.
HBS has an official explanation of what a case is and how it is taught:
“Typically, an HBS case is a detailed account of a real-life business situation, describing the dilemma of the ‘protagonist’—a real person with a real job who is confronted with a real problem. Faculty and their research assistants spend weeks at the company that is the subject of the case. The resulting case presents the story exactly as the protagonist saw it, including ambiguous evidence, shifting variables, imperfect knowledge, no obvious right answers, and a ticking clock that impatiently demands action. Though every case is different, nearly all center on one overarching question: What should the protagonist do? In their two years at HBS, students study more than 500 cases—500 chances to join their classmates to test themselves against the rock-hard realities of life in business.”1
HBS is extremely competitive. When you get to speak, you will only have about a minute or two before other people will try to interrupt you with their viewpoints. At least 40 hands will be raised as soon as people think they can attack your point or when they think they have a better point (if you are simply a boring speaker) or even when you are still in the middle of your speech. Whatever point you make, you must also be prepared to think on your feet to defend your views when you are challenged by the professor or your classmates. I have had classes when a student had to go on the defensive against the professor and 79 other students!
You discuss two to three cases, each for an hour to two, every day for two years. People, especially professors, often joke that HBS has such a system so that professors do not have to prepare for class since there is no lecture. Also, professors are never wrong in such a system, as they only facilitate class discussions and never have to lecture on their own views. In reality what the case teaching method highlights is that most business situations have no obvious right or wrong answer. The key skill is to be able to analyze and evaluate the situation and the options. Most importantly, you must be able to articulate and defend your analysis and your views intelligently and succinctly; and you must be good on your feet.
In business, you need to be articulate to get a good job, attract investors, motivate your staff, negotiate with your suppliers, and sell to your customers. Ability to speak in a logical, persuasive, and confident manner is invaluable. “Brilliant but inarticulate” may be a description that would apply to a nuclear scientist but not to any of the head honcho business types we see in business school. They are all brilliant and articulate. If they are not articulate when they enter HBS, they will be when they graduate.
I have found three techniques particularly useful in helping me articulate logically, persuasively, and confidently: structured logic, storytelling, and detailed practice.
This technique involves using logic to structure facts and data to make a point. Structured logic helps both you and the audience. It helps you because it forces you to think clearly and logically. It ensures your point makes sense. It helps the audience because it is easy to follow and understand.
Structured logic comes in two types, deductive and inductive. Deductive logic looks like this:
A = B, B = C, therefore A = C. “A = C” is the “so what,” the logical conclusion.
Inductive logic looks like this:
A, B, and C lead to D as the “so what” or conclusion. A, B, and C are “parallel,” which means they are different arguments supporting D and they do not bear a cause-and-effect relationship with each other.
Thinking and speaking (and writing) in bullet points is often very helpful in organizing data into logic. The bullet points should either be deductive or inductive. For example:
Here, the point is deduced from the data and facts.
Alternatively, I could argue that I like Milo (the point induced from the list of data and facts) because:
People who speak well often have very tight logic. Tight logic means three things. First, the data and facts should clearly support the argument. Second, any given argument is either deductive or inductive and not a mix of the two. The following is an example of loose and relatively ineffective logic:
I like Milo because:
Third, for a single argument, it is usually more effective to have only three to five bullet points than to have a long laundry list. In the HBS classroom, you have no other choice. Each time you speak, the professor and your fellow classmates usually have patience for only one or two arguments, each supported by one or two (at most three) bullet points. It is not uncommon for a long deductive argument to get cut off by the professor’s, “Where is this argument going? What is your point?” (A similarly long inductive argument is apt to get cut off with: “You have made your point. Let’s move on to someone else.”)
In consulting, we have a “rule of three.” This rule of thumb is to have three bullet points for each argument, for a number of reasons. Too many bullet points can confuse and overwhelm the audience. It is generally believed that people tend to remember at most three things, not more. With too many bullet points, I usually find it possible to group some of them together or to eliminate some of the less important ones. Fewer than three bullet points will make it seem that the supporting data is rather thin. Of course, three is only a rule of thumb. It is not uncommon to have a range of two to five.
Structured logic can be used to make a simple, single argument, but it can also be used to organize more complex arguments. In the following example, a more complex argument, the central question is “How many favorite pets do I have?” There are five levels of argument, distinguished by Roman numerals, indentation, and bullets.
| I have three favorite pets (“so what” or conclusion induced from below) | I |
| (i) Milo the cat. I like Milo because (“so what” or conclusion induced): | II |
| • he is fond of me. I know this because (“so what” induced) | III |
| – he kisses me whenever he sees me | IV |
| – he does not let anyone hug him except me | IV |
| – he runs away whenever my mother and dad try hug him | V |
| – he screamed last time my school friends tried to hug him | V |
| – he scratched the postman who tried to hug him | V |
| – he purrs whenever I call his name | IV |
| • he is gentle | III |
| • he is clean | III |
| (ii) Kilo the dog. I like Kilo because (“so what” deduced): | II |
| • my father bought Kilo for me | III |
| • I like everything my father bought me | III |
| • So I like Kilo | II |
| (iii) Silo the fish (and so on through the argument.) | II |
I have been taught two types of storytelling. While they look mutually exclusive, they are actually complementary. I will first explain each of them and then how they can be interwoven.
The first type is what I term “factual storytelling.” It was taught to me in my consulting days and what I typically use in my presentations. Basically, it just means using structured logic to solve whatever strategic, investment, or operational issue I was given. It is similar to the previous five-level example of pet preferences, except for having more levels with more complex quantitative and qualitative analyses and arguments.
The second type, I first learned when I was involved in a media start-up in 1999 and 2000. I was the chief executive officer. My chief operating officer was a retired movie director. I was preparing a presentation to potential investors. I rehearsed it in front of him and a few of my key managers. My COO dozed off after the first half of my slides. I did not mind as he was in the company because of his creative mind, not for his business sense. At the end of the rehearsal, I asked everyone for their comments. The Coo woke up and commented, “It is so boring. Why don’t you tell a story?” I said, “But this is a story.” He answered, “This is not a story.”
I did not think much about that incident until I was interviewing to hire a new sales manager. The interviewee was a lady whose résumé was only marginal. I had my usual list of questions. I asked her to describe her latest achievements. Instead of giving me a list such as the number of new clients she signed or the number of staff people she oversaw, she told me,
My last company was almost in bankruptcy. The sales manager and assistant manager both left for better opportunities. The CEO was so busy fighting off bankers and creditors that he had no time to organize the remaining, totally demoralized sales force. I was the only experienced person left. The other four left on the team were all young and inexperienced. I could have found another job but I did not want to leave the rest of the team behind. The company would definitely fall apart very quickly with no sales team and everyone would lose their jobs very soon. So I stayed on and worked hard. We worked out a strategy of focusing on the long-term clients as the sales cycle would be shorter. The company declared bankruptcy last month. But I felt I tried my best. My CEO thanked me in tears when he gave me my severance check.
I was very moved by the story. First, it was more interesting and engaging than the typical self-touting laundry lists most interviewees would give. Second, the story, if really true, told me a lot about this person—she is loyal to her company, considerate to her staff and colleagues, and able to handle a crisis. The image of the CEO in tears handing her the check was vivid. I did not hire her in the end because there were other people more qualified, but she definitely left a strong impression. She was bottom of my list before the interview but within the top five after.
I did not put the COO incident and the memorable interview together until I read a Harvard Business Review article a year or two later. The article, titled “Storytelling That Moves People—A Conversation with Screenwriting Coach Robert McKee,” has the following introduction in bold print:
“Forget about PowerPoint and statistics. To involve people at the deepest level, you need stories. Hollywood’s top writing consultant reveals the secrets of telling them.”2
In the article, McKee explains, “I know the storytelling method works, because after I consulted with a dozen corporations whose principals told exciting stories to Wall Street, they all got their money.”3
After I read the article, I had a revelation. This is another kind of storytelling. In my mind, I call it “emotional storytelling.” It is not just factual. It is like anecdotes but used in a more extensive, organized, purposeful, and dramatic way. I did more research to understand its key success factors. I found that a good emotional story in business has a lot of similarities with the kind of age-old classics like “Beauty and the Beast” or “Cinderella” that we tell our children and that they love listening to over and over again:
A beginning tailored to entice the audience. “Once upon a time in a faraway place lived a beautiful young lady” attracts the attention and imagination of young children. In the same way, the most powerful emotional business storytelling deliberately starts with a beginning that catches attention of the target audience, such as “my last company was almost in bankruptcy” to an interviewer or “either we change the way we do business or we may as well fold the company today” to a group of executives. Great stories start with a dramatic momentum that can be built on rather than with unnecessary and boring details. For example, “Cinderella” does not start with how Cinderella’s father chose his new wife and the interviewee did not start with what the company did or how she first joined it.
An engaging and exciting middle. Great fairytales are full of suspense and emotional ups and downs, with the hero or heroine fighting and then overcoming antagonists and obstacles. The bigger the difficulties and the greater the suspense, the more interesting the story. Cinderella had no clothes, no carriage, and a rigid deadline. She had lost her shoe. Cinderella was sad, then happy because of the fairy Godmother, then scared again when the clock struck 12. The interviewee faced an employer going bankrupt, saw her superiors resign, and was left with a weak team. Both of these examples have a central character: Cinderella and the interviewee. Audiences generally identify more with people and characters in the stories than with abstract discussion.4 When there is no one central character, characters can be woven into the body of the story. For example: “In the next 10 minutes, I will show you five reasons why our business will disappear within five years if we continue with business as usual.” Then, one reason could include the story of how a big customer was disappointed and another reason could include the story of how a group of salesmen felt helpless.
A strong conclusion that drives the message home. When the audience realizes that the story is about to finish, their attention generally goes up. Fairytales usually end with a glamorous, happy ending with the good getting rewarded and the evil defeated: “And the Prince and Cinderella lived happily ever after” while the evil stepmother and stepsisters were left to gnash their teeth in frustration. In business, stories should end with a purpose, such as reinforcing a message or defining the course of action against current challenges. The ending should tie the story up “without wandering, but without being too abrupt . . . (and not) merely summarize what you’ve said so far.”5 The interview example demonstrated an effective ending: “My CEO thanked me in tears when he gave me my severance check.” It brought the story to an end concisely and smoothly, reinforcing the message that she had made sacrifices for her last company that would make any boss thankful.
The two kinds of storytelling, rational and emotional, actually reinforce each other. An emotional story with no facts will not be credible, and will not drive any significant business decisions and actions. On the other hand, a factual story with no emotion can be dry (see how my COO fell asleep), easy to forget, and weak in creating a deep buy-in in the audience, as explained by sociologist Andrew Greeley: “(Emotional) storytelling is so powerful because it short-circuits dull, factual discourse. Storytelling makes a leap from the imagination of the storyteller to the imagination of the listener, from the memory of the presenter to the memory of the hearer, from his life to the lives of his audience, from his stories to their stories.”6
Therefore, nowadays, I always try to combine the two. I will weave emotional stories into factual stories. I will also try to weave facts into emotional stories.
I once had coffee with my favorite professor at HBS. I told him, “I really enjoy your class. The discussions are always guided to review the key learnings with a ‘wow’ effect. Your jokes are always funny, insightful, and memorable.” He answered, “Thank you. I practice hard, especially my jokes.” I thought this was another one of his jokes. But I later learned that he was serious.
It was a relief for me to find out that even speaking gurus practice and rehearse to ensure smooth delivery of their lectures, presentations, or key arguments. I have made a good number of presentations and boardroom arguments in my career. I would consider myself an experienced speaker. But I am still obsessive in my practice. I rehearse aloud as if I am really making the presentations. This helps make sure I know each word I am going to say. I practice where I would pause. I practice jokes so they are inserted appropriately with the punch line delivered at the right time. Last time I made a 10-minute presentation to a client’s board of directors, I spent more than two hours just practicing aloud. I even practice aloud before important phone calls, rehearsing how to open, deliver, and close the conversations.
Before I finish this chapter, a small digression on two points I learned not from HBS but from having spent years working for a U.S. consulting firm and working with native English-speaking clients:
Non-native English accent—get rid of it. When I first joined the consulting firm about 10 years ago, I had a hard time getting to work on good projects. So after a few months, I went to talk to the vice president in charge of staffing. I still remember his exact words. “Maybe it’s your accent. You know you do not speak like an American. You have that British plus California plus Chinese accent.” I was shocked. I never even knew accent was an issue. I had top grades at Stanford and had many American friends. I interviewed and got all the job offers I wanted. Nobody ever told me about an accent problem. I went back and told some of my fellow junior colleagues. They were all appalled (or at least appeared appalled) by this borderline racial discrimination incident. One of them told me I should file a formal complaint with senior management. I did not launch the complaint, but I became much more conscious in trying to speak like an American. It was hard work, as accent is an ingrained habit. It takes much time and effort to change. Also even different parts of the United States have different accents. New York English sounds slightly different from Boston English, which sounds different from Los Angeles English.
Over the years, I have seen many cases of discrimination against people who do not speak with a perfect native accent. Even though few people would ever admit they discriminate against non-native English speakers and most know very well a non-native accent has nothing to do with intelligence, unspoken discrimination does exist. You can go to Amazon.com and find many books documenting such discrimination. Therefore, if possible, when you train yourself to speak well and you know you may have to deal with native English speakers, try to work on your accent. There are books you can read and tutorials you can attend. I also urge parents to expose their children to native English at a young age. The older a person is, the more difficult it is to change an accent.
Non-English languages—the more the merrier. I speak only English, Mandarin, and Cantonese. This is one of my biggest regrets in life. My son, who is only four years old, has been trained in seven languages. I believe, if possible, it is always good to learn many languages. First, people, especially in the United States (HBS included) and Asia, tend to have immediate respect for those who can speak many languages. Second, languages can open doors to many career options: diplomatic, high fashion (French), video game animation (Japanese), and many others.
This is a real-life story: I know a man who worked for a Fortune 100 company in its U.S. headquarters. He was an average middle manager. Then one day, he was called to a meeting with an executive several levels his superior. He was told the company was about to sign a major joint venture in Japan and they needed a representative in Japan to ensure communication with the partner. He was chosen because he was the only one in the firm who could speak Japanese. Things happened very fast after that. He ended up with a major promotion, an enviable expatriate package, and an important job. This is more or less because he was the only one in the company who could speak Japanese. This example is always on my mind when I mentor young people to learn as many languages as they can. I also advise parents to expose their children to many languages before the age of six. Research has shown that children can learn languages very easily without an accent then, and find it much harder later.
Visual aids are important tools for rational storytelling. And even though visual aids can be product samples, mockups, three-dimensional models, and video, the most common type still seems to be PowerPoint slides.
With the case study method, neither professors nor students have to make many full PowerPoint presentations at HBS.7 Therefore, the skills I have are from my consulting days. I have used these skills a few times at HBS, once for a full presentation and occasionally for presenting supporting evidence for my class comments. Some of my HBS friends have found the skills useful. Therefore, even though I did not learn these skills from HBS, I thought it would be useful to discuss them here.
Three key skills go into making effective PowerPoint slides:
One easy and effective way to organize the slides is to follow structured logic. Using the example “I have three favorite pets” from the “Structured Logic” section of this chapter, the first slide would look like Figure 3.1.
Sometimes, you may put some overview slides like a table of contents or discussion of the context up front. But this slide is the first “content” slide. With this slide, you have established the structure of your presentation. It is clear where you are going.
The rest of the presentation flows from this first slide. Each of the points on the first slide becomes a section of the presentation. For example, the first section to follow will be on Milo, possibly with the next slide looking like the one shown in Figure 3.2.
Figure 3.1 PowerPoint Introduction Slide
Figure 3.2 PowerPoint Section Slide
Each of these points, in turn, becomes a data slide, a word slide, or a subsection. For example, see Figure 3.3.
For longer presentations or presentations with more complex logic, it is often useful to put icons in the top left or top right corner of each slide to help the audience follow the flow. For example, see Figure 3.4.
In these figures, the first slide is the conclusion of the whole presentation. The first slide of the first section is the conclusion for that section. Unless there is a reason why the audience has to be kept in suspense, I usually prefer to start business presentations with the conclusions. Whether people agree with the conclusion or not, declaring the conclusion up front helps the audience understand and follow the structured logic. It is also easier in case the presentation has to be cut short or rushed as a result of digressions or emergencies. Even when the structured logic is deductive, I will still show the conclusion first and then the logic leading to the conclusion.
Figure 3.3 PowerPoint Subsection Slide
Figure 3.4 PowerPoint Introduction Slide with Orientation Block
There are two major types of slides: text slides and data slides (which feature little or no text). The key to a data slide is the art of using the most appropriate charts or graphs to analyze and display data. All standard graphs and charts, such as scatter, bar, stacked bar, and so on, can be useful depending on the data and analysis. Instead of going through a laundry list of basic charts, here are four of the nonstandard ones that I have found most useful in my career for generating insightful analysis and impressive visual aids:
A matrix is a powerful analytical tool and visual aid. Especially at the two-by-two level, which is the most common choice, it is simple yet very effective. It can be applied whenever the outcome of a certain issue depends on two critical factors or drivers, with each of them having two key options, categories, sets of outcomes, parameters, or whatever.
Example One: Figure 2.1 sets out the basics of the interests involved in the Sky/BSB negotiation for control of British satellite television, where the financial consequences depended on the decision by Sky and BSB. Each company had binary options: fight or exit. Hence a 2 × 2 matrix is an effective way for analyzing and displaying the situation.
Example Two: Perhaps one of the best-known two-by-two matrices is the growth-share matrix first published by Bruce Henderson, founder of BCG, in the 1970s. The matrix is still widely described in business books and taught in business schools. Though it was not explicitly taught at HBS, it was referred to in many discussions. However, it must be noted that its application to today’s business could be tricky and sometimes subject to debate beyond the scope of this book. I include it here as a classic example of the two-by-two format rather than as a business concept.
Figure 3.5 Henderson Growth-Share Matrix
The matrix was first intended to be used by multi-business corporations to view their portfolio. The matrix says that free cash flow of a business is driven by two key factors: market growth and relative market share of the business.8 Conceptually, it looks like Figure 3.5.
If a business has high relative market share in a low-growth market, it is expected to be a “cash cow” because it generates cash in excess of what is needed to maintain market share. If a business has high market share in a high-growth market, it is a “star” because even though it will require cash to sustain its growth, it will eventually become a cash cow when growth stabilizes. Low share and low growth indicates a “dog”—a poor prospect—as cash generated is more than used up to maintain share. Lastly, low share, high growth is a question mark as it can become star, cow, or dog.
Figure 3.6 illustrates the matrix with data.
To make this scatter graph into a two-by-two matrix, the graph needs to be divided into four quadrants by adding two lines: a horizontal line dividing high growth from low and a vertical line dividing high share from low. This can be tricky and depends on factors including industries, geographies, company situation, and judgment, all of which affect cash generated and cash needed for reinvestment. However, as a rule of thumb, a relative market share of 2x is considered high and stable (at least for fast-moving consumer goods) and a market growth of 10 percent or above is generally considered high.
Figure 3.6 Data for a Growth-Share Matrix
* Relative market share is drawn on log rather than linear scale so that equal distances represent an equal percentage increase (for example, the distance between 10× and 1× is the same as the distance between 1× and 0.1). It addition, the smaller numbers can be displayed clearly.
It is often useful to add a third dimension to scatter graphs. The size of each data point on the graph can be drawn to scale relative to the importance of that point. For growth-share matrix, this is often the revenue size, as shown in Figure 3.7.
I have found that this added dimension is useful not just for two-by-two matrices but also for scatter graphs in general. Knowing the relative importance of the different data points helps you prioritize and make decisions. In addition to revenue size, net profit size or contributions or other relevant quantities can also be used. The choice depends on what data you can get, and of that range of figures, what best indicates importance. However, it must be noted that it is the area of the circle, not the radius or diameter, that should be drawn to scale to for the measure in question. This is because the circle area gives the visual impact of the relative size of the various data points. Using radius or diameter will greatly exaggerate differences.
Example Three: This third example is described in detail in Appendix A of this book. It is a two-by-two matrix I designed for a client to monitor the success (and failure) of tenants in the shopping mall properties of a company. It turns out that retail tenant success is driven by sales per square foot of store space and the rent the store owner pays as a percentage of monthly sales. The higher the former and the lower the latter, the more successful the tenant is, as shown in Figure 3.8.
Figure 3.7 Three-Dimensional Matrix
I use this as a third example because it demonstrates how the two dividing lines, vertical and horizontal, can be drawn based on company and industry characteristics as well as creativity. I used dots instead of drawn-to-scale circles here because the intended user seemed likely to find the additional dimension (circle size) too complicated. Also, the tenants tracked on the matrix were very similar in size.
Example Four: Beyond two-by-two, you can have two-by-three or three-by-two or three-by-three matrices and so on. As an example, Figure 3.9 shows one of the best-known three-by-three matrices, the industry attractiveness-business strength matrix developed jointly by General Electric and McKinsey and Company back in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Again, I use this example here not to explain how to apply this specific theory but to illustrate how three-by-three matrices can be used. But three is about the limit. People do sometimes use four-by-four or even larger matrices, but I find such matrices too complicated. You will usually have better ways to analyze and display the issue when a large matrix suggests itself.
Figure 3.8 Setting the Matrix Dividers
* These have low sales but rent is still quite low for the tenant’s overall financials. The tenant has healthy financials but may not be maximizing the sales (hence rental) potential of the space it is occupying. Therefore, it is important to understand the reasons behind its place on the chart.
Figure 3.9 Three-by-Three Matrix*
* Placement of businesses within the matrix provides an analytic map for managing them. For businesses above the diagonal, a company may consider pursuing strategies of investment and growth; those along the diagonal may be considered for selective investment; those below the diagonal may be best sold, liquidated, or run purely for cash.
The key here is practice. Next time you are trying to solve a complicated issue or writing a presentation to articulate your thoughts, I strongly encourage you to consider putting the ideas in a matrix. Even if eventually you find that it does not apply well, the practice will help you master this versatile tool.
Moon charts are useful when you have a list of items and need to rank them. For examples, see Figures 3.10 and 3.11.
The moons are circles that are shaded differently to symbolize different rankings. The examples show two of the possible applications of moon charts:
Figure 3.10 Moon Chart 1: Slide Evaluation Criteria
Source: Expert interviews.
Figure 3.11 Moon Chart 2: Customers’ Purchasing Criteria
Three points to note when using moon charts:
) or other symbols instead of the moons. In general, I prefer using moons because I feel they have a strong visual impact. They are especially appropriate where rankings are somewhat subjective rather than hard data.Sometimes in addition to full moon, half moon, and blank moon, charts can also have quarter moon and three-quarters moon when more rankings are necessary. When the full moon is defined as top ranking, the different shadings make it easy for the audience to see if top ranking is almost achieved (three-quarter shading) or not (no shading or one-quarter shading).
However, there are also times when other symbols are more appropriate. In Figure 3.11, if the consumer survey had asked the consumers to rank each criterion on a scale of 1 to 5, then it would be more appropriate to use 1 to 5 instead of moons on the “moon chart.” Similarly, if you are presenting to an audience who is used to checks or certain symbols or who might find moons difficult to understand (an example could be factory workers in a developing country), then other symbols may be preferable to moons.
Figures 3.12 and 3.13 present two examples of cascading charts.
A cascading chart is useful in displaying how quantitative values such as revenues, costs, headcount, and the like sum up to a final number. It is especially useful if additions and subtractions are both involved. It is difficult to display such complexity with other forms of charts, such as pie charts or stacked bar charts.
An area chart is useful when you have three variables of interest, say, x, y, and x multiplied by y. Figure 3.14 presents an example.
In this example, the chart displays headcount and average cost per head by job category. Moreover, the chart also displays the total headcount cost of each job category, which is represented by the area of each box:
Figure 3.12 Cascading Chart 1: Project Cost
Figure 3.13 Cascading Chart 2: Project Profit
| Area of each box | = value on x-axis multiplied by value on y-axis |
| = headcount multiplied by average cost per head by category | |
| = total headcount cost for each category |
Figure 3.14 Area Chart
Hence by using this format instead of bar or scatter chart, you can show an additional third variable of interest to the analysis. In this example, it may be important to know that while factory workers are the most numerous, their cost per head is so low that their total cost is smaller than that of the supervisors (can be seen by comparing the areas). Hence the organization may be described as “top heavy.”
When using these four charts (and any other chart types) as visual aids and analytical tools, keep the following points in mind:
A chart is valuable only if it helps you make a point. It is sometimes tempting to show a chart where rare data could be displayed or where the data are so cleverly manipulated that the display would impress any intellectual. However, it is important to keep in mind that the chart is a means to an end. Any chart that does not help make your point is of no value and must not be included as a visual aid.
Each chart should be put on a PowerPoint slide with a title at the top and a data source at the bottom. In consulting, the rule is that the title should
Novices are often tempted to use descriptive titles like “REVENUE CALCULATION” or “MARKET GROWTH” because those are easy to do. This is not “wrong”—but best practice is to use the title to tell the audience the “so what”: why they are looking at the chart. This practice has two benefits. First, it forces a discipline on the author of the slide; you have to think through the “so what” of the chart and how the slide fits into the rest of the story. Second, it allows the audience a fast and simple way to understand the significance of the chart. Figure 3.12 also illustrates this kind of title.
Sometimes, the title cannot fully explain the point. This can be because the point is too complex. In such cases, a subtitle can be added below the title or a short text can be added to the bottom of the slide. Figures 3.15 and 3.16 show how to do this. It’s best to stick to the title when feasible, because it is most direct. But these two techniques are available for use when necessary.
Putting the source on a slide is important for three reasons. The first is the credibility of the data. The second is just in case the audience asks in the middle of your presentation. The third is for future reference in case you or someone must find the data source at some future date. If raw data from the sources have been manipulated or adjusted, some people will put “analysis and estimates” after the list of sources to indicate this fact. Figure 3.16 also illustrates the use of a source note; it illustrates a complete slide with title and source. It should be noted that similar title and source rule applies to text slides.
Figure 3.15 Use of Subtitle
For important or complicated charts, it’s usually best stick to the rule of one chart per slide. However, it may sometimes be necessary to put multiple charts on the same slide. This can be done as long as the charts all work to make a point simple enough for the audience to understand and absorb quickly and easily. Figure 3.17 is an example.
Figure 3.16 Use of Explanatory and Source Notes
Source: Internal accounting data; analyst reports; analysis.
Figure 3.17 Multiple Charts on a Slide
Source: Internal accounting data; analyst reports; analysis.
The graph and chart examples I’ve presented so far are simply references. Visual aid design is often about creativity. The key is to know the point you want to make and then design an effective way to show the supporting data to make the point. Figure 3.18 is an example of a visual aid I have recently used that I have not used before. This is the foot traffic pattern for a grocery store. The data is collected by hiring part-time staff to stand at each aisle for two hours to record the actual traffic.
This chart looks somewhat messy and raw. But it is indeed an effective chart because the point is not to show the details but to show that certain sections have much heavier traffic than others.
For data graphs and charts, the format chosen is largely driven by the data and analysis needed. For text slides, however, the format is more a personal choice and personal style. My style is one of “less is more.” This style fits me because the PowerPoint presentations I do are mostly visual aids to a verbal presentation rather than stand-alone documents. Therefore, it is not necessary to “cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s.”
Figure 3.18 Hand-Drawn Traffic Pattern
Source: Shopper interviews 9–11 a.m, September, 24 2008.
By “less is more,” I mean:
First, minimize the number of text slides. I try to use pictures whenever possible. For example, Figure 3.19 shows a slide from my recent presentation to a client who was considering entering a new market. Instead of a narrative slide, I used a picture of a jigsaw puzzle.
Since there was no data or analysis involved, I could have used a simple text slide. But I decided to use a jigsaw picture for two reasons. First, it conveys the message that all four components are necessary and must work closely together. Second, it is visually more interesting and more memorable, especially important because the audience included sales managers and technical managers who could be overwhelmed by an overly analytical presentation. In general, whenever I have to write a text slide, the first thing I do is to think if I can draw a picture instead. If not, I go ahead and write the text. After I finish, I still keep looking at the text slide to see if I can put it into a picture.
If text is necessary, economize on the number of words on each text slide. I always use bullet points and subpoints. I find that in addition to helping enforce the discipline of structured logic, the natural breakdown provided by bullet points largely reduces the need for conjunctions and articles. Within each bullet point, I also spend a lot of time and effort to try to use the fewest number of words. For example, instead of “the project will be high in cost and low in risk,” I may just write “high cost, low risk.” Or instead of “we expect government to give us full support,” I will write “expect full government support.”
Figure 3.19 One Picture Equals
Remember to make bullet points under the same argument parallel, especially for inductive arguments. Parallel bullet points mean the bullet points have a similar, if not identical, grammatical structure. Figures 3.20 and 3.21 illustrate two types of parallel bullet points. In the first one, each bullet point starts with a verb. In the second, each starts with an adjective.
Figure 3.20 Parallel Construction: Verbs
Figure 3.21 Parallel Construction: Adjectives
Making the bullet points parallel helps you make sure that the points are congruent with the logic. Parallel construction also makes it easier for the audience to understand and absorb the points.
Training yourself to speak well also means knowing when it is time to say no more. There are at least two situations when it is better to shut up than to continue to speak, no matter how eloquent you are as a speaker:
Even people who are very good at speaking can find themselves saying the wrong thing. I still remember this scene. It was the first week of HBS, and one of my classmates was making a comment. He started well enough, but then his speech began to go wrong. Almost everyone in the class raised a hand to argue against him. Knowing something was not right, he started to “fine-tune” his point “I did not mean that. . . . What I meant was. . . . ” But somehow the more he tried to talk himself out of it, the worse it became. Then the professor quietly walked up to him, looked him in the eye, and said to him in front of the class, “Rule #1 in speaking—when you are in a hole, stop digging.” The whole class laughed, but this advice had so much truth that I remember it to this day.
Sometimes it is important to quit while you are ahead. In some situations, especially when your goal has already been achieved, the less you say, the less risk you have of saying something wrong. I learned this during my high school years, when history was my favorite subject, and I encountered the story of Kondraty Ryleyev. Ryleyev, a 19th-century Russian revolutionary, demanded modernization of the country. Eventually, he was arrested and sentenced to be hanged. On the day of the execution, as the trapdoor opened and Ryleyev dangled, the rope broke and he fell to the ground. At the time, such an event was seen as a sign from above to pardon the criminal. As Ryleyev stood up, he shouted out to the crowd something like this: “You see, in Russia they do not even know how to make rope!” The Tsar was almost signing the pardon when he heard what Ryleyev had said to the crowd. The Tsar was so infuriated that despite the general pardon rule, he decided to hang Ryleyev again the next day to “prove the contrary.”
Notes
1. Discussion of case study available online: www.hbs.edu/mba/academics/howthecasemethodworks.html; access date: January 16, 2008.
2. Bronwyn Fryer, “Storytelling That Moves People: A Conversation with Screen-writing Coach Robert McKee,” Harvard Business Review (June 2003); 81(6): 51–5, 136.
3. Bronwyn Fryer, “Storytelling That Moves People: A Conversation with Screen-writing Coach Robert McKee,” Harvard Business Review (June 2003); 81(6): 51–5, 136.
4. Michael Hateetersley, “The Managerial Art of Telling a Story,” Harvard Management Update (January 1997), No. U9701D.
5. Bronwyn Fryer, “Storytelling That Moves People: A Conversation with Screen-writing Coach Robert McKee,” Harvard Business Review (June 2003); 81(6): 51–5, 136.
6. Andrew Greeley, Furthermore (New York: Forge Books, 2000).
7. This was true at least during my time there, 1997 to 1998. There have been some changes since then, and students may now be required to do more team projects, hence more presentations.
8. Relative market share is the company’s market share relative to its biggest competitor. For example, if a company has 30 percent market share and its biggest competitor has the same, its relative market share is 1 ×. If the biggest competitor has 60 percent of market share, then the company’s relative market share is 0.5 ×.