strategic storytelling: how to create persuasive business presentations

StrategicStorytelling

HowtoCreatePersuasive

BusinessPresentations

DaveMcKinsey

Copyright©2014bySpeakingSherpaLLC.Allrightsreserved.ExceptaspermittedundertheUnitedStatesCopyrightActof1976,nopartofthispublicationmaybereproducedordistributedinanyformorbyanymeans,orstoredinadatabaseorretrievalsystem,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionoftheauthor.

Inadherencewiththe“fairuse”ruleofUnitedStatescopyrightlaw,thisbookmakesuseofmaterialsownedbytheUnitedStatesPostalServiceandcreatedbyMcKinsey&Company,Accenture,andTheBostonConsultingGroupforthepurposeofcriticismandcommentaryandforthepurposeofprovidingapublicgoodbyelevatingthepresentationskillsofbusinessprofessionals.ThoughIhavenodirectaffiliationwithanyoftheseorganizations,itismyhopethatthisbooksignificantlyincreasesthenumberofpeopleexposedtotheseorganizationsandtheirbestpractices.Allcompanyandproductnamesmentionedhereinarethetrademarksorregisteredtrademarksoftheirrespectiveowners.

ISBN:1500594466

ISBN-13:978-1500594466

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Contents

Contents

Introduction

Chapter1:ThePerfectStorm

Section1:PersuasiveContent

Chapter2:TheSituation-Complication-ResolutionFramework

Chapter3:McKinsey’sUSPSSituation

Chapter4:McKinsey’sUSPSComplication

Chapter5:McKinsey’sUSPSResolution

Chapter6:TheApproach-Findings-ImplicationsFramework

Chapter7:BCG’sUSPSApproach

Chapter8:BCG’sUSPSFindings

Chapter9:BCG’sUSPSImplications

Chapter10:TheSituation-Opportunity-ResolutionFramework

Chapter11:Accenture’sUSPSSituation

Chapter12:Accenture’sUSPSOpportunity

Chapter13:Accenture’sUSPSResolution

Chapter14:ThePilot-Results-ScaleFramework

Section2:Data-DrivenDesign

Chapter15:ToSlideorNottoSlide

Chapter16:Text

Chapter17:Graphs

Chapter18:Tables

Chapter19:ImagesandDiagrams

Section3:ConfidentDelivery

Chapter20:VerbalDelivery

Chapter21:Non-VerbalDelivery

FinalWords

StrategicStorytellingQuickReferenceGuide

Acknowledgements

AbouttheAuthor

Introduction

WhenI lookat thepublicspeakingbookspiledhighonmybookshelf, Inotice twopatternsandonemajorgap.

Thefirstpatternisthatmostpublicspeakingbooksfocusonkeynotecontentanddelivery.Whilethereisnostrictdefinition,keynotespeechesarehighlyrehearsed,one-way,motivational,anddeliveredwhilestandingonapodiuminfrontofanunfamiliaraudience.TEDTalksandToastmastersspeeches,presentationtypesonwhichIhavewrittenbooks,fallintothiscategory.

Thesecondpatternisthatpresentationdesignbooksalsofallintothekeynotespeechcategory.Twoofmyfavoriteauthors,GarrReynoldsandNancyDuarte, set thegoldstandard forhowtocraftbeautifulpresentations.Ifyouhavenotalready,devoureverythingtheyhavewritten.

Themotivationforfocusingonkeynotesiscompelling:Keynotesarecomplex,nerve-wrackingpresentations.Manybelieveyoucanexcelinanyspeakingsituationifyoucandeliveranexceptionalkeynote.However,thislogicisflawed.

Thetruthisthatmostpresentationsaredeliveredatworkinseeminglylowstakessituations–inthehallway,inone-on-onediscussions,andinsmallgroupmeetings.Theyare(mostofthetime)lightlyrehearsed,two-way,fact-laden,anddeliveredwhilesittingdowntoaveryfamiliaraudience.Inshort,theyarepreciselytheoppositeofkeynotespeeches.

But, aren’t there plenty of books on public speaking at work?Yes and no. The issue is thatbusiness-centricpublicspeakingbooks,asvaluableastheyhavebeentome,areoftenratheracademic.Excellent examples covering content and delivery include Stephen Lucas’s “The Art of PublicSpeaking” andBarbaraMinto’s “TheMintoPyramidPrinciple.”Excellent examples coveringdesigninclude Gene Zelazny’s classic “Say It with Charts” and Stephen Few’s essential “Show Me theNumbers.”

So,what is thegapIobservewhilestaringatmybookshelf?Iwant toreadapublicspeakingbookthatisabouttherealspeakingsituationsinwhichIfindmyselfatworkeveryday.Iwanttoreadapublicspeakingbookthatisentertaining.Iwanttoreadapublicspeakingbookthatintegratescontent,design, anddelivery.And, finally, Iwant to readapublic speakingbook steeped in theprinciplesofstorytelling,themostin-demandskillinbusinesstoday.

Ihavewonderedwhythissortofbookdoesnotalreadyexist–oratleastwhyIhaveyettofindone. Here is the best explanation I could conceive: In contrast to a multitude of keynotes readilyaccessibleonYouTube,examplesofexceptionalbusinesspresentations,especiallyonesthatarelegaltoreproduce, are nearly impossible to find in the public domain. For instance, legend has it that SteveJobs,uponhisreturntoApplein1997,wenttoawhiteboardanddrewasimpletwo-by-twogrid.Therowswere labeled “Desktop” and “Portable” and the columns “Consumer” and “Professional.” That

meeting transformed a company suffering under the crushing weight of over 300 products. Theunderlying philosophy ofminimalismnowdefines everything the company does. Since thatmeetingwas not recorded, we have no ideawhowas in the room, how themeetingwas structured, or howpeopleinteracted.Thosetypesofmeetingsarehighlyconfidentialandcompaniesonlytalkaboutthem(withrosecoloredglasses)yearslater,ifever.

Besidesgeeking-outonpublicspeakingforthepasttwodecades,Ihavealsoworkedmywayupthe ladder tobecomeaseniorexecutive inacompanywithnearly$2billion inrevenue;IcraftandIcritiquehigh-stakesbusinesspresentationseveryday.Since I cannot releasemyemployer’smaterial,non-publicpresentations,IconsideredafewoptionswhenIdecidedtoauthorthisbook.First,Itriedtowriteafictionalized taleofanewproductmanager introducinganelectronichealthcaredevice in thebusinessparablestyleofPatrickLencioni’s“TheFiveDysfunctionsofaTeam”orEliyahuGoldratt’s“TheGoal.”However,Ifoundmyselfrepeatedlyviolatingthestorytellingmaximthatexpositionshouldalwaysbe the subtext of interactionbetween characters andnever straight explanation.Fiction, or atleastmyfiction,wassimplytoocontrivedandinefficienttoexplorepersuasivebusinessstorytelling.

Whenthatattemptfailed,Iaskedmyself:Wheredothemostcompellingstrategypresentationscomefrom?Theanswer,ofcourse,isfromtoptiermanagementconsultingfirms.IstruckgoldwhenIrealized that these firms are often required to release their presentations when they serve publicinstitutions.Thegoldmine turned toadiamondminewhenI foundanengagement that involvednotone,butthreeofthetoptenconsultingfirms–McKinsey&Company,TheBostonConsultingGroup,andAccenture.

In Section 1 of this book, I deconstruct the best-practice narrative frameworks each of theconsultingfirmsfollowedtopersuadetheiraudiences.InSection2,Iextractworld-classtechniquesfordata-driven slide design. Finally, inSection3, I cover verbal and non-verbal delivery principles thatconveyauthorityandauthenticityinbusinesssettings.

Withthisbackdrop,let’sgetstarted.

Chapter1

ThePerfectStorm

Sometime during the evening of January 26, 2009, a light freezing drizzle began to fall in centralKentucky.Over thecourseof thenext twodays, as the storm’s reachbroadenedacross the state, thedrizzleturnedtorain,theraintosleet,thesleettosnow,andthesnowtoice.Whenthestormwasover,609,000homesandbusinesseswereleftwithoutpowerand35Kentuckyresidentshadlosttheirlives.12

Among the towns hardest hit was tiny Lowes, Kentucky which lost telephone, Internet, andelectricityservicefor threeweeks.Supportingapopulationofmerely98residents,PostmasterJoAnnBellandherPostmasterReliefBeckyGoinunderstandablycouldhavesuspendedmaildeliveryservicetotendtotheirownurgentneeds.Afterall,morethan200PostOfficeswereimpactedacrossKentucky.However, JoannandBeckykept their137-year-oldpostoffice runningby relyingonveryold-schooltechnologyincludingavintagefanscale,abattery-poweredaddingmachine,andanold-fashionedgasstove.3 I can only imagine they were chanting the unofficial United States Postal Service creed –“Neithersnownorrainnorheatnorgloomofnightstaysthesecouriersfromtheswiftcompletionoftheirappointedrounds”–intheirmindsastheyskatedtheirwaythroughtheirdeliveryroutes.

As the2009 icestormreleased itsgripon theCentralPlainsandMidwesternUnitedStates,aperfectstormwasformingthatwouldaffectall36,496retailpostofficeswiththeir623,128employees.4Someofthecloudsonthehorizonhadbeenvisibleasmacro-trendsforyears.Thedoublewhammyofan aging workforce and increased healthcare costs was putting a burden on retirement obligations.Additionally,theInternethadlongsincerelegatedthetraditionalmailboxtoarepositoryforjunkmail,bills,andbirthdaycards.

The anvil that broke the camel’s back –deep economic recession – could not have beenpredicted.Afteryearsofincreases,volumedroppedby25billionpiecesofmailin2009,resultinginanearly 10 percent decline in revenue. Despite pursuing aggressive cost-cutting measures, theorganizationpostedanetlossofjustunder$4billion.

Nostrangertooutsourcing,theUnitedStatesPostalServiceturnedtostrategyconsultingfirms.In exchange for a reported $4.8 million 5, Accenture, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), andMcKinsey & Company (McKinsey) each examined a different part of the problem. BCG began bybuildingamodeltoprojectmailvolumesthrough2020.UsingtheBCGmodelasaninput,McKinseycraftedasetofstrategicrecommendationsfortheUSPSmailbusiness.Inparallel,Accentureexploredthepossibilityofdiversificationintonon-mailproductsandservicestoimproveUSPSprofitability.

YoumightexpecttheremainderofthisbooktofollowachronologicalprogressionfromBCGto

McKinseytoAccenture.ThatapproachwouldbeidealifmyobjectiveweretorevealthedevelopmentoftheUSPSbusinessstrategy.However,theUSPSstrategyismerelythevehicletohelpyouunderstandthebestpractices(andlessonstoavoid)forcreatingpersuasive,data-drivenbusinesspresentations.Inserviceofthatobjective,IwillstartwiththeMcKinseypresentationsinceitis,inmyopinion,theonethatbestexemplifiesastrategicstorytellingmodel.

Section1:PersuasiveContent

Chapter2

TheSituation-Complication-ResolutionFramework

Among top-tier consulting firms, McKinsey is broadly regarded as best-in-class at constructingpersuasivebusinesspresentations.Thefirm’smaniacalfocusonpresentationstructurecanbetracedtooneexceptionalstoryteller–BarbaraMinto.

Barbara Minto has many path-paving firsts to her name. After working as a secretary at arailwaycompanyinthe1950s,Ms.Mintogrewincreasinglyconcernedaboutherjobprospectsasherboss aged intohis 70s. In response, she applied andwas among the first eightwomenaccepted intoHarvardBusinessSchoolwhenitopeneditsdoorstocoedsin1961.Upongraduationtwoyearslater,shebecamethefirstfemaleconsultanthiredbyMcKinsey&Company.InhertenyearsatMcKinsey,she developed her ‘Pyramid Principle’ for logically structuring consulting recommendations. Since1973, she has run an independent communications training and consulting firm of her own, MintoInternational.

Ms.Minto’sincrediblyvaluablecontributiontoeffectivebusinesscommunicationsinvolvedthenovel synthesis of a number of frameworks from other disciplines. At the risk of extremeoversimplification,I’llattempttosummarizetheprecursorstoherideasandmemorabletakeawaysfromherworkinafewshortparagraphs.

First, she translated elements of the scientific method including hypothesis testing, inductivelogic,anddeductivelogicintobusiness-centricthinking.Ms.Mintoadvocatesinductivelogicformostproblem-solvingexercises,stressingtheimportanceofconsideringmutually-exclusiveandcollectivelyexhaustive(MECE)setsofideas.

Second, shecombined themilitary’sbottom-line-up-front (BLUF) techniquewith journalism’sinvertedpyramidnarrativestyletocreateatop-downapproachtobusiness-centricwriting.

Third,andthethingforwhichsheismostwell-known,Ms.Mintorecast19thcenturyGermanplaywright Gustav Freytag’s dramatic story arc into the situation-complication-question-answer(SCQA)approachtodraftingintroductionstobusinesscommunications.(CommentatorswhohavenotcloselyreadThePyramidPrinciplemistakenlyrefertoSCQAandtheMintoPyramidPrincipleasoneand the same.) In my opinion, Freytag’s exposition is Minto’s situation; Freytag’s rising action isMinto’s complication; Freytag’s climax is Minto’s question; and, Freytag’s falling action anddenouementareMinto’sanswer.Ofcourse, evenFreytag standson the shouldersofgiants,datingatleast back toAristotle’s three-part structure (protasis, epitasis, and catastrophe – ormore accessibly,

beginning,middle,andend)asdescribedinhisPoetics.

Again,Ms.MintoappliedherSCQAframeworktocreatingstructured,concise,andcompellingintroductionstowrittencommunications–especiallymemosandreports.Instoryparlance,thesituationdescribestherecentcontextof“Onceuponatime…andeveryday…”Thecomplicationincludestheinciting incident and its consequences or “… until one day… and because of that…” The questioncaptures the most intense query raised in a reader’s mind in response to the complication – often“why?” or “how?” Note the question is often implied and therefore not typically written into theintroduction. Finally, the answer offers a solution to the problem set up by the situation andcomplicationinclusiveoftheclimaxandtheaftermath,or“…untilfinally...andafterthat…”

Aspresentations replacedmemos and reports, something curious happened toMinto’s SCQAframework. Instead of being used only to craft introductions, the framework became the organizingprincipleforentirepresentations.Sincethequestionwas“silent,”itgotdropped.Inaddition,theterm“answer”wasswappedwithitssynonym,“resolution.”Theresultingsituation-complication-resolution(SCR) not only has a memorable rhyme to it, but also conforms to a beautiful three-act narrativestructure.

Tothebestofmyknowledge,BarbaraMintowasnotdirectlyinvolvedintheUSPSengagement.However, the DNA of Ms. Minto’s set of pyramid principle frameworks are readily apparent inMcKinsey’spresentation.

BeforeIshowyouanyslidesfromtheirUSPSengagement,Ineedtodigressinordertoshowyou howMcKinsey consultants visualize problem solving using storyboarding techniques. This willtakealittlewhile,butIpromiseitwillbeworthyourtime.

Tip1:Definetheproblemandmakesureitisworthsolving

ImagineyouareaMcKinseypartnerandthePostmasterGeneraloftheUnitedStatesapproachesyouandasks,“Canyouhelpusreverseourdropinefficiencyasmeasuredbypiecesofmaildeliveredperfull-time-equivalent?”Beforesayingyesorno,youmusttakesometimetodefinetheproblemandtomakesureitisworthsolving.

Validatewhethertheproblemasinitiallystatedisframedattheappropriatelevel.Tomoveup,repeatedly ask what impact a problem has and then assess whether the impact is one that can beaddressedbytheclient’skeydecisionmaker.

AtUSPS,forexample,theimpactoflowdeliveryefficiencyishighworkforcecost-certainlywithintheremitofthePostmasterGeneral.Continuing,highworkforcecostisonecomponentofhightotalcost–alsowithinthecontrolofthekeydecisionmaker.Hightotalcostresultsinlowprofitability– still the Postmaster General’s responsibility. Catastrophic losses at the USPS could lead to risingnationaldebtaccompaniedbyadropinthecreditratingofthefederalgovernment.Thatfinalincreaseinthescopeofimpactisonesteptoofar,sincethePresidentandCongress,notthePostmasterGeneral,areaccountableforthenation’screditrating.Asthisexampleillustrates,theonlywaytoknowifyou

havegonehighenoughistopushyourselfonesteptoofarandthencomeback.Ifyourpathleadsyoutothetotalannihilationoftheknownuniverse,sobeit.

TheMcKinseyterminologyforthisprocessofproblemscopingiscalled“movinguptheissuetree.”Issuetreescanbevisualizedasoutlines(seeFigure2-1)orashierarchicalgraphs(seeFigure2-2).As the figures illustrate, associates are encouraged to express issues as questions in full sentenceform,sincedoingsoencouragesclearthoughtandfacilitatesclearcommunication.

AlthoughIposedalltheissuesinthisexampleas“How...?”questions,bestpracticeallowsforany open-ended question. “How…?” questions tend to be themost common since the answers offersolutions in the form of steps ormethods. “Why…” questions are the nextmost common since theanswersexplainrootcauses.Though“What…?”,“Who…?”,“When…?”,and“Where…?”arerare,usethemifappropriate.

Figure2-1:PartialUSPSissuetreeinoutlineform

Figure2-2:PartialUSPSissuetreeinhierarchicalgraphform

Tip2:Identifyconstraints

Inadditiontovalidatingwhetherornottheproblemisscopedattheappropriatelevel,articulatethemoretraditionalcomponentsofscopeincludingconstraints(alsoknownas“guidingprinciples”tothosewhopreferamorepositivespin.)Constraintsmaybeorganizational,butappear inother formssuchasfinancial,environmental,regulatory,etc.

TheUSPShasthefollowingthreeinterlinkedconstraintsgoverningwhattheorganizationisabletodowithoutseriouslyimpactingitscoremission:

1. Universal Service Obligation (USO): The USO obligates the USPS to provideuniversalserviceataffordablepricesandis“broadlyoutlinedinmultiplestatutesand encompasses multiple dimensions: geographic scope, range of products,access to services and facilities, delivery frequency, affordable and uniformpricing,servicequality,andsecurityofthemail.”6

2. PrivateExpressStatutes(PES):ThisgroupoflawsgivestheUSPSamonopolyoncarrying letters for compensation.Letters are defined asmessages directed to aspecificpersonoraddressrecordingonatangibleobject.ThePESallowsfortheexistenceofprivatecarriersaslongastheyabidebyanti-competitiveexceptionssuchasrequiringsenderspayatleastsixtimesthepricechargedforaone-ounceFirst-Classletter.

3. Mailbox Access Rule: This rule states that mailboxes can only be used for thereceiptofpostage-paidmaildeliveredbyUSPSpersonnel.

These constraints rule out certain solutions such as selling access to mailboxes to privatecouriers, limiting delivery frequency in selected geographical areas, or selling alcohol or tobaccoproducts.

Tip3:Buildoutthemutuallyexclusiveandcollectivelyexhaustivesetofissues

Itmaybe thatdeliveryefficiency is thebest lever thePostmasterGeneralhas to improve theprofitabilityoftheUSPS.However,youcannotbesureuntilyoufleshouttheissuetreebyfillinginthemutuallyexclusiveandcollectivelyexhaustive (MECE:pronounced‘me-see’)setof issues.Mutuallyexclusivemeans the issuesare independentofeachother. Inmyexperience, issuessometimesmildlyoverlap,sodonotgetoverlyhung-uponperfection.Collectivelyexhaustivemeansallpossibleissuesareincluded.

TheMcKinseybestpracticeforfillingoutanissuetreeistofullycompleteeachlevel(outside-inforoutlineform;top-downforhierarchicalgraphform)beforegoingdeeper.Thoughthehierarchicalgraphformisprettier,Iusethefasteroutlineform.

IntheUSPSexample,wehavethetop-levelkeyissueofprofitabilitydefined.Thenextstepisto

explorewhatother factors at the samegeneral level as total cost are as important in their impact onprofit.Thereisjustonemutuallyexclusiveoption–totalrevenue.Goingaleveldeeper,thecomponentsoftotalcostinclude:workforcecosts,retireebenefitcosts,capitalassetcosts,etc.Stayingatthesamelevel,thedriversoftotalrevenueincludetraditionalmailrevenueandnon-traditionalrevenue.

Howbroadandhowdeepshouldyougo?Thereisneitherasingleanswertotheidealnumberofissuesperlevelnorasingleanswertotheidealnumberoflevels.Thelimitingfactoronmostconsultingengagementsisasetoftimeconstraints,including:theoverallprojectdeadline,acontractedquantityofbillablehours,andscheduled (oftenweekly)meetingswith theclient.Workingbackward, theprojectplannerwillsetanallocationforthenumberofhoursdevotedtocreatinganissuetree.Yousimplyrackyourbrainasmuchasyoucaninthetimeyouhaveavailable.Anissuetreeisanamazingandhighlyefficient tool for uncoveringwhatmatters so you can get a lot done in very little time. If the teamincludesaconsultantorclientmemberwithdeepknowledgeorpriorexperiencewiththesameproblem,high-impactissuetreescanbeconstructedwithblazingspeed.

Tip4:Convertyourissuetreeintoahypothesistree

Within one day to oneweek of an engagement kickoff, first-timeMcKinsey clients are oftenstartledwhentheconsultingteamshowsupwithwhatlookslikeafullsetofsolutionstotheissuesthatwerejustuncovered.Theyobject,“Ipaidyouhowmuch?!Andyouwhiz-kidsalreadythinkyouhavealltheanswerswhenyouhaven’teventakenthetimetodoanyrealinvestigation?!”

Whatappearstobeasetofsolutionsismerelyasetofinitialhypotheses,proposedexplanationsthatnowmustberigorouslytested.Agoodproblemsolverwillsearchforfacts,allthewhileupdatingthehypothesis.Greatproblemsolversnotonlyseekinformationthatconfirmstheirhypothesisbutalsomercilesslyhuntfordisconfirminginformation.

Instatistics,ahypothesiscanneverbeaccepted.Rather,youronlyoptionsaretoeitherrejectorfail-to-reject thehypothesis.Statistics lovesuncertainty and this treatmentof testingyourhypothesesleavesanairofmystery.Whenyou thinkabout it,decisions inyourpersonalorprofessional lifeareprettymuchthatway,too.Youcanneverknowwithabsolutecertaintythatyouaremakingtherightorbestdecision;youdothebestyoucanwiththeinformationyouhaveatthetime.

Ahypothesistreeisasetofdecisiveanswers,representedinoutlineorhierarchicalform,totheissue treequestions.“Howcanwe improveprofitability?”becomes“Wecan improveprofitabilityby…”;“Howcanwe lower totalcost”becomes“Wecan lower totalcostby…”;andsoon.Toensureyourhypothesesare testable,make themSMART justaswedidwith theoverallpresentation title inChapter2. (So that you do not need to page back, SMART stands for specific,measureable, action-oriented,relevant,andtime-bound.)

Tip5:Prioritizeyourhypothesesforimpact

Theprocessofconstructinganissuetreeandofsubsequentlyconvertingittoahypothesistreeisanefficientformofbrainstorming.Assuch,eachmutuallyexclusiveandcollectivelyexhaustivelevelshouldbedevelopedinajudgment-freemanner.

At this stage, the teamworkingon the engagement is going to have to do a lot ofwork in a(usually)limitedamountoftime.Giventheultimategoalistohavethelargestpositiveimpactontheclient’sbusiness,youmustprioritizeyourhypotheses.When,notif,yourunoutoftime,youcanrestknowingyoureffortswereefficientlyspent.

During your first pass at prioritization, gut feel or back-of-the-envelope calculations aresufficient asyouwillhave few facts fromwhich todraw.McKinseyassists its consultantsbygivingthemthefollowingguidanceinsuchsituations:

Whenprioritizing,itiscommontouseatwo-by-twomatrix–e.g.amatrixfeaturing“impact”and“easeofimpact”asthetwoaxes.Ourfocusonclientimpactmakesitextremelylikelythatimpactwillformpartofanyprioritization.Otherprioritizationcriteriaincludeurgency(butbewarethedangerofbeingdrawnintofirefighting),fitwithvaluesandmission,strategicalignment,fitwithcapabilities,andoptionvalue.Applyingsomeoftheseprioritizationcriteriawillknockoutportionsoftheissuetreealtogether.Consider testing the issuesagainst themall,albeitquickly, tohelpdrive theprioritizationprocess.7

As we go through the remainder of the USPS presentation, we will see how McKinseyprioritizedsolutionstotheissuesfacingtheorganization.

Tip6:“Ghostout”yourstoryonpaperusingthesituation-complication-resolutionframework

Theoverwhelmingmajorityofindividualsresponsiblefordevelopingpresentationsgodirectlytodesign toolssuchasPowerPointorKeynote.While thesesoftwareproductsarevaluable, thegreatdangerinusingthemtoosoonisthattheresultingoutputisjustastringofinformation.

McKinsey is very explicit that its associates “get to paper” quickly by building a roughdraftknownasa“ghost”deck.Although“paper”isalooseterm,mostofthefirm’spresentationsreallydobeginaspost-itnotes,indexcards,orfull-sizedpiecesofpaperdividedintogrids.Eachpageinaghostdeckincludesatitleatthetopandthesketchofanexhibit,usuallyagraphortable,neededtoprovethetitle in thebody.Designing in thismannerhelps show the storyline that connects all the informationtogetherintoabusinessnarrative.

The dot-dash approach is a nice, electronic, McKinsey sanctioned design alternative tostoryboardingwith pen and paper. In a dot-dash outline, the storyline arguments are carried by dots(bullet points) and the supporting facts are sketchedoutwith indented dashes (hyphens). For clarity,expressthedotsandthedashesincompletesentences.Thedotsbecometheslidetitlesandthedashesbecomethecontentinthebodyoftheslide.

At a very high level, here is what the McKinsey USPS presentation looks like in dot-dashformat:(Note:Inafullydevelopedoutline,thesituation,complication,andresolutionareexpandedintomanydots,andeachdotmayhavemanysupportingdashes.)

• Situation:USPSisexperiencingunprecedentedlosses

- Profitsin2003to2006haveswungtosteeplossesin2007to2010

• Complication:The“BaseCase”leadstoalossof$33billionandcumulativelossesof$238billionby2020

- Withoutaction,unfavorablerevenueandcosttrendswillcontinue

• Resolution:USPSmustpursuefundamentalchangeinfiveareas

- Change must occur in: Products & Services; Pricing; Service Levels;Workforce;andPublicPolicy

Tip7:Testyourhypothesesanditerateyourstory

Problemdefinitionand thedot-dashapproachmark theendof the firstphase indevelopingapersuasive, data-driven presentation. This first phase must come before data collection and analysisbecauseknowingtheproblemyouaresolvingandthestoryyouexpecttotellguidesyoutowhatdatatoconsider.While thatmay seemobvious, I find thatmost people jump to slicing anddicingdata in amillionways to find things to say about it. Searching for problems and solutions in thisway is liketryingtofindonefishinanocean;thereissimplytoomuchinformationavailableinsideandoutsideofmostcorporations.

The data used to test hypotheses can be drawn from a wide range of sources. In the USPSpresentation,McKinseyprimarilydrawsuponfinancial(e.g.,netincome)andoperational(e.g.,piecesofmaildelivered)metrics.However,datacancome fromawide rangeofexternal sources includingcompetitors, suppliers, customers, as well as data aggregators such as governments and tradeorganizations.

When most people think of data, they think of quantitative statistics. However, McKinseyroutinelydrawsuponqualitativedatainitsengagementsandyoushould,too.Whilethisisnotabookondatacollectiontechniques, thereisonetechnique–brightspotanalysis– that issovaluableIfeelcompelledtoatleastoutlineitforyouhere.

Bright spot analysis isdesigned tohelpyou identify thebestpracticebehaviorsof thepeoplewhohavesuccessfuloutcomes.I’llillustratebywayofexample.

Imagineyouwanttoincreasetheaverageannualsalesforindividualaccountexecutivesinyour

companyby25%from$100,000to$125,000.Anaverageleaderworkingonthisgoalwouldcomeupwith and apply somenew ideas, perhaps even a best practice of a competitor.Abetter than averageleaderwouldinquirewithafewtrustedsalesmanagersastowhotheirtopperformersareandthenaskthoseaccountexecutiveswhattheydotocultivateandcloseaprospect.

Agreatleader,onewhoappliesbrightspotanalysis,doesnottrustsalesmanagerstoknowwhotheirtopperformersare.Yes,thatisblasphemy,butsalesmanagersarepeopletoo,andholdbiasesduetopersonalrelationshipsandpastperformance.Therightfirststepistostackrankaccountexecutivesby recent performance – for instance, sales over the last twoquarters.Next, divide the list into four(quartiles)orfive(quintiles)groups.Ensurethetopgroupiswelloverthe$125,000salesgoaltomakesurethereisexistence-proofforwhatyouaretryingtoachieve.Takethetimetoeliminateoutliersinthetopgroupwhomayhavebenefittedfromspecialcircumstancessuchasonemassivetransaction.Dothesame for the bottom group, again eliminating account executives that suffered due to uncontrollablecircumstances.

Nowgooutandinterviewthetoptenperformers.Ratherthanaskingthemwhattheydoorwhattheywoulddointheabstract,applyananthropologicalapproachbyaskingthemtowalkyoustep-by-stepthrougharecenttransactiontheycompleted.Howdidtheyfirstidentifytheprospect?Howdidtheymakefirstcontact?Whatresourcesdidtheybringtobearduringthesalesprocess?Whowasinvolvedinthedecision?Howdidtheyclosethetransaction?Asyouinterviewmultiplepeople,youwillstarttohear patterns. Rather than asking the ineffective question, “What are your best practices?” you arediscoveringbestpracticesbylisteningforbehaviorscommonamongsuccessfulpeople.

Most bright spot analyses stop there. However, the best go through the exact sameanthropological interview processes with the bottom performers. That step is critical because brightspotsarebehaviorstopperformersapplythatbottomperformersdonot.Onceyoufindthedelta,youcanteacheveryonewhatyourtopperformersaredoingandmaybeevenblowwaypastyourgoalofa25%improvement.

Keep in mind the tremendous potential for bias tied to knowing ahead of time whichinterviewees are top- and bottom-performers. To mitigate that bias, strive to ask open-ended, non-leadingquestionsandspendthevastmajorityoftheconversationasalistener.

For the sakeof simplicity, I havemade it seemas though the process of generating and theniteratingonastoryboardusingproblem-solving techniques is linear. In realengagements,consultantsmoveback-and-forthbetweenproblemdefinition,issuetrees,hypothesistrees,andstoryboardsastheygatherandsynthesizenewinformation.

Alsoforthesakeofsimplicity,Ihaveimpliedthatthisprocessisfullyyourresponsibilityortheresponsibility of your group. McKinsey strives to engage clients in co-creation to ensure the bestsolutionsareuncoveredandtosecurebuy-infortheresultingchangeneededtoturnrecommendationsintoaction.

Thischapterestablishedthecoreproblemsolvingandstoryboardingtechniquesusedtodeveloppersuasive,fact-basedpresentations.Now,letusdiveintoMcKinsey’sUSPSengagement,pickingupatthefirstpartofitssituation-complication-resolutionstory.

Chapter3

McKinsey’sUSPSSituation

Thesituation-complication-resolution(SCR)storytellingframeworkrequiresonlythateachofthethreecomponentsexistinthenarrative.However,presenterscanbegintheirstorieswithanyoneofthethreeinordertoaffecttheemotionsoftheiraudiences.

When listeners are extremely anxious, begin with the resolution. This is known in militaryparlanceas‘bottom-line-up-front”(BLUF)andinconsultingterminologyasstartingwiththetopoftheinverted pyramid. For this approach to have a soothing effect, youmust be reasonably certain youraudiencewilleasilyunderstandandreadilyacceptyourrecommendationasacompellingsolutiontoitsproblem.Ifnot,youmayendupdoingmoreharmthangood.Furthermore,givingawaytheendingatthebeginningkillsalldramatictensionandmakesforanextremelyboringpresentation.Duetotheriskofeitherextremetensionorzerotension,startingapresentationwitharesolutionshouldbereservedforrarecircumstances.

Ifyouraudienceisoverlycomplacent,beginwiththecomplicationtocreateasenseofurgency.Indramaticstorytelling,thiswouldbelikestartinganactionmovieinthemiddleofanintensecarchaseoratthemomenttheherojumpsoffacliffandintoahelicopterinthenickoftime.Intypicalbusinessmeetings, decision makers are not complacent. Therefore, it is unwise to increase their tension tooquicklyatthebeginningofyourpresentation.

If starting with the resolution introduces (typically) too little tension and starting with thecomplication introduces toomuch,startingwith thesituation is just right.Thesituationaddresses thequestion,“Whatisgoingonandhowdidwegethere?”Becauseitprovidescriticalcontext,thisistheconventionalwayofbeginningastrategicstoryandisthewayMcKinseybeganitsUSPSpresentation.

Tip8:Titleyourpresentationwitha“so-what”encapsulatingyouroverallobjective

McKinseychosearatherbland“what”title,“USPSFutureBusinessModel”foritspresentationas shown in slide#0 (Figure3-1). “What” titles, technicallynounphrases, lack theaudience-focusedemotionalpunchyoufindin“so-what”titlesdescribingoutcomes.Firstandforemost,titlesmustorientyour listeners toyouroverallobjective.Frankly, Iamsurprised this titleslipped throughMcKinsey’stightqualitycontrol.

If you search the web carefully, you will notice consistency in the way McKinsey titles its

presentations. For instance, “Sustaining Quality and Operational Excellence,” “Capturing the FullElectricity Efficiency Potential of the U.K.,” and “Evolving USSA’s Alpine Domestic DevelopmentSysteminPartnershipwithClubs.”Noticeallthreeexamplesbeginwithapowerful–ingverb.Thisverbform,thepresentparticiple,isusedtodescribeactionthatisstilltakingplace.

Among the three consulting firms participating in the USPS engagement,McKinsey had thejuiciestpiece–recommendingahigh-levelstrategytorestorethepostalservicetoprofitability.Hadthefirmused its ownbest practice, theymight have titled this presentation, “Evolving theUSPSFutureBusinessModel.” Using a variety of other verbs at the beginning such as optimizing, designing, ortransformingwouldhavebeenequallyeffective.

Occasionally, you will find a McKinsey presentation with other types of titles. The mostcommonalternativetothe“so-what”titleisthequestiontitle.Forinstance,theMcKinseypresentationentitled, “Quantum Leap – What Will It Take to Double Serbia’s Economic Growth in the NextDecade?”Ithinkbettereditorswouldhavedroppedtheflowery“quantumleap”andturnedthequestionintothemoredirect,“DoublingSerbia’sEconomicGrowthintheNextDecade.”

Anotherunusual(forMcKinsey)exampleIfoundwasentitled,“HowCompaniesCanCapturethe Veteran Opportunity.” Again, a good editor would boil this down to “Capturing the VeteranOpportunity.”

Figure3-1:McKinsey’sUSPSpresentationslide#0

Tip9:MakeyourpresentationtitleSMART

OntheoffchancethatyouhavenotcomeacrosstheSMARTframeworkinanyofthecountlessbooks on personal or professional goal setting, here is a quick refresher. SMARTgoals are specific,measurable,action-oriented,relevant,andtime-bound.McKinseyteachesitsassociatestoevaluatetheir

overall objective, sometimes referred to as the basic question to be resolved, using this framework.Consequently,best-practicepresentationtitlesareSMART.

Asanexample,consideragain,“DoublingSerbia’sEconomicGrowthintheNextDecade.”ItisspecificinitsreferencetoSerbia’seconomicgrowth.Itismeasurableinitsreferencetodoubling.Itisaction-oriented, an attribute that comes for free when you use a powerful–ing verb. Relevancy isaudience depending, but we can assumeMcKinsey created that presentation for Serbian officials oranotherinterestedpartysuchastheWorldBank.Itistime-boundinitsreferenceto“thenextdecade.”

An important sidenote is that the “A”and the “R” in theSMART framework are sometimesrepresentedas“accountable”and“reasonable.”Accountabilityisoftenimpliedbutcanbemadeexplicitby mentioning the party responsible for achieving the goal in the title. Similarly, reasonableness isimplicit and in the eyeof the beholder.Becauseof this fuzziness, action-oriented and relevantmakebetterchecklistitems.

So,howcouldMcKinseyhavemadeitsUSPStitleSMART?Insomeways, theywerea littlestuck because the overallUSPS projectwas called the “USPSFutureBusinessModel.”However, iftheyhadmoreflexibilitytheycouldhaveused,“RestoringtheUSPStoProfitabilityby2020,”whichwas,aswewilldiscover,theultimategoalofthispresentation.

Tip10:Useanagendaslidetoprovideyouraudiencewitharoadmap

Indramaticstorytelling,plotsaredesignedtoincludelongstretchesofrisingtension.Tobuildemotionalintensity,writerskeeptheiraudiencesguessingwithdelayedresolutionstoquestionssuchas,“What is going to happen next?” While strategic storytelling has tension, business presentationdesignersstrivetokeeptensionshortlivedbecausetheirgoalispersuasion.

Showing an agenda slide immediately after your title slide is one of the bestways to controltension.First, audiencesexpect it.Second,byknowingwhereyouaregoing, theyaremore likely toholdquestionsuntilrelevantsections.

Tip11:Keepagendaslidetitlesshortandsweetsotheycanbeignored

ThereareseveralelementstonoticeaboutMcKinsey’sagendaslideshowninslide#1(Figure3-2),beginningwiththeslidetitle,alsoknownastheslidelead.Asinthispresentation,thefirmappearsto have standardized on “Contents,” though one can find two variations. The most common is“Agenda,”whichIfindmoreappropriatewhenreferringtoaroadmapthatwillbedeliveredliveratherthan read passively. The other variation I have found is an agenda slide title that echoes the overallpresentation title. For example, in the McKinsey presentation entitled, “Achieving SustainableDevelopmentinMining,”theagendaslidetitlereads“SustainableDevelopmentinMining.”Inthecaseagendaslidetitles,adegreeofflexibilityisappropriate.Unliketitlesforcontentslides,titlesforagenda

slidesshouldbeunobtrusivesincetheaudience’sfocusshouldbeonthebodyoftheslide.Tothatend,keepagendaslidetitlesshortandsweetsotheycanbevisuallyignored.Intheory,youcouldevendoawaywiththeagendatitlealtogether,thoughthatisnotsomethingyouseeinMcKinseypresentations.

Figure3-2:McKinseyUSPSpresentationslide#1

Tip12:Limitagendastonomorethanfiveshortitems

Thesetofbulletsthatcomprisethebodyoftheagendaslideisthenextelementtonotice.MostMcKinseypresentationsIhaveseenhave“threeplusone”agendaitems.Whynotjustsay“four?”Thereason is that the first three bullets encompass the full narrative of the story. The first bullet is thesituationalbackground,referredtointheUSPSagendaslideas“RecentContext.”Thesecondbulletisthecomplication,referredtointheUSPSagendaslideas“Basecase–minimalmanagementactions.”The third bullet is the recommended strategy to solve the complication(s), referred to in the USPSpresentationas“Addressingthechallenge.”Finally,inmostMcKinseypresentations,the“plusone”islabeled “Appendix.” In the case of theUSPS presentation, aswewill explore later, the engagementteamelevated theAppendix tohigherprioritybecauseof aburning recommendation they found thatwasoutsidethecontextofthe2020strategy.

Of course, you likely already noticed the bullets in the McKinsey USPS agenda slide areextremely short–atmost fivewords.Moreover, thereareno sub-bullets.While Ihave seen the rareMcKinseyagendaslideviolatethesinglelineagendaitemrule,Ihaveyettoseethenosub-bulletruleviolated. The reason for this simplicity is that the purpose of agenda slides is merely to guide thenarrative flow, not to impart information. To that end, you will rarely find footnotes or graphicaladornmentsonaMcKinseyagendaslide.

Tip13:Addcreativitytoagendaslidedesign

There is no rule requiring agenda items appear as numbered or bulleted text. If yourpresentation, likemost strategic stories, is structured hierarchically, consider representing the agendausinganorganizationalchart.Similarly, ifyourpresentationunfolds linearly, jazz itupbyconvertingbulletedtexttoprocesschevrons.Finally,youcangetevenmorecreativewithgraphicalagendaslides.

Tip 14: Start agenda items with action verbs to signal in which mental mode you want youraudience

InMcKinsey agenda slides, I have rarely seenparallel construction applied to bullet items inwhicheachphraseorclausehas the samegrammatical structure.As Iamsomewhatofa stickler forgrammar,thischoicehasalwayspuzzledme.WhenIdesignagendaslides,Ialwaysapplyparallelism.Inparticular,Istartagendabulletswithactionverbs.Ineachsectionofapresentation,Ifinditbesttoletmyaudienceknowinwhichmodeitis.

Executives, being executives, have a natural prioritization of how best to use their time andbrainsduringmeetings.Unlesstoldotherwise,theirdefaultmodeisdecisionmaking.WhenIwantthepeople I am presenting to in that mode, I start my bullet with “Approve…,” “Adopt…,” or“Authorize…”Thesecondmodeexecutivesoperate in isproblem-solvingmode. Ifyoustart abulletwith “Problem solve…,” “Explore…,” or “Brainstorm…,” your audience knows you are seekingthoughtfulinputratherthanaquickdecision.Finally,thethirdmodeinwhichexecutivesoperateisthepassivelisteningone.Spendtheleasttimeinthisfinalmodebecauseitisnotaneffectiveuseofseniorleaders’time.Ibeginagendabulletswith“Review…”or“Evaluate…”tosignaltomyaudiencethatIamabouttoshareinformation.

Giventhissetofbestpractices,Iwouldrewritetheagendaitemsasfollows:

• ReviewUSPSoperatingenvironment

• Evaluate2020basecaseassumingminimalaction

• Approverecommendationstorestoreprofitability

• Secureshort-termfinancingtomaintainsolvency

Itisperfectlyacceptabletousethesameactionverbatthebeginningofmultiplebullets.Attheircore,businesspresentationsareaboutclarityandefficiency,notliteraryexcellence.

Tip15:Applycontrasttohighlightthestartofeachagendasection

TheMcKinseystandardforhighlightingthestartofeachagendasectioncombinesbold,blacktextandacolored,usuallyblue,boxas reflected inslide#1 (Figure3-2). I find thatusingone,oratmost two, treatments to draw out contrast is sufficient. Adding others, such as different text color,underlining,oritalicsisoverkillandmayappearamateurish.

Apresenter has twooptions for delivering this agenda slide.The short-formoption is: “Let’sbegin with the recent context” followed by an extended pause to allow the audience to read theremainderoftheroadmap.Whilethatapproachisperfectlyfine,manypresenterswillbeuncomfortablewith the required silenceandwillopt for a long-formapproachas follows: “Today,we’ll review therecentcontextdescribing thepastandcurrentprofitabilityof theUSPS.Next,we’ll explore thebaseforecast for profitability assuming minimal actions are taken to stem projected losses. Then, we’llproposeasetofrecommendationstoaddressthechallengesweface.Finally,althoughnotpartofourlong-termstrategymandate,we’dliketoshareakeyshort-termfindingwithyou.Now,let’sbeginwiththerecentcontext.”Thislong-formversionhasabitofembellishmentaroundthebulletsbutdoesnot,andshouldnot,revealtoomuchcontentnortriggertoomuchtension.

Tip16:Startthesituationwiththecurrentstateofthefundamentalissue

I find starting a business presentation is often the hardest part of the strategic storytellingprocess.Tomakethejobeasier,Ifollowafewsimplerules.First,thebeginningmustframethecurrentstate, includingrelevanthistory,of thefundamental issue.Second, thebeginningshouldrelyonfactsdrawnfrominternalorexternalinformationsources.Third,thebeginningshouldbeuncontroversialinthesensethatyouraudiencealreadyknowstheinformation,oratleastcanbeassumedtohaveasenseofit.

The beginning of a business presentation should orient the audience and not trigger strongobjections. Note that just because something is factual and uncontroversial does not mean it isemotionallyneutral.Infact,youwantamilddegreeoftensiontohookyouraudiencefromthestart.

McKinsey’sfirstsituationslide(Figure3-3)meetsallthreeoftheserules.RecallthatamountingfinanciallosswasthefundamentalproblemfacingtheUSPS.Toillustratethisissue,McKinseywiselychose to show the trend innetprofitsand losses for theorganization.Themounting losses,althoughemotionallynegative,werefactualandreadilyknownbytheaudience.


Tip17:To“owntheflow,”eachslideshouldtriggeraquestionansweredbythetitleofthenextslide

Whenyoureadthetitle“USPSisexperiencingunprecedentedlosses”inslide#2(Figure3-3),whatquestionnaturallycomestomind?Forme,asIsuspectitisformostpeople,thequestionis“Whyareunprecedentedlossesoccurring?”orequivalently,“Whataretherootcausesofthelosses?”

WhileImighthavechosentoanswerthisquestiononthenextslide,Figurexactuallyprovidesthree answers in the “Key drivers” text panel. First, revenues declined due to a number of factors.Second,non-operatingcoststofundretirementhealthbenefits(RHB)havebeenamajorfactorsincethePostalAccountabilityandEnhancementActof2006(PAEA)wassignedintolaw.Third,operatingcostsavingshasbeeninsufficient.

Thenextquestion that arises is, “What impacthaseachof these threekeydrivershadon themounting losses?”TheMcKinsey teamanswers that on slide#3 (Figure3-4), entitled, “Losses havebeendrivenbyvolumedeclines,RHBpre-fundingrequirements,andlimitationsoncostsavings.”Thewaterfallchartontheslideillustratestheimpactofeachofthethreerootcausesonthedeclineinnetincomein2009ascomparedto2006.


Figure3-5:McKinseyUSPSsituationthroughslide3

Figure3-5showthesituationpartofthestrategicstoryevolvinghierarchically.Slide2triggersa“Why…?”questionthat isansweredbyasetofreasons,orrootcauses,onslide3.Importantly,eachitem is part of a mutually-exclusive and collectively-exhaustive set summarizing at a high-leveleverythingelsetofollowinthesituation.

BarbaraMintoreferstotheenumerationinslide#3(Figure3-4)asa“keyline.”I’llusetheterm“summarynode”whichismoredescriptiveandmoreconsistentwiththetree-traversalprocesswewillexplorein thenext tip.Nearlyeverypresentationhasasummarynodeaseither thefirstorsecondineach of the situation, complication, and resolution sections; in addition, many presentations haveadditionalsummaryslideswithinsectionstointroducenewgroupsofidea.

Tip18:Expandonthesummarynodewithdepth-firsttreetraversal

Tounderstandhowtosequencetheremainingsituationslidesasyouexpandontherootcausesidentified in slide #3 (Figure 3-4), let’s turn briefly to the concept of tree-traversal from computerscience.Don’tworry,Ipromisenottogettootechnical.

Figure3-6:Depth-orderandbreadth-ordertreetraversalforthe“Jane’sDay”story

For starters, think of your presentation as a tree and each slide as a node in the tree. Treetraversalissimplytheorderinwhichyouvisitthenodesinthetree,orequivalently,theorderinwhichyoushowslidesinthepresentation.

Brilliant minds figured out two basic methods for tree-traversal, including depth-first andbreadth-first,asillustratedinFigure3-6.Traversalineithermethodbeginswiththerootnode,node#1.Indepth-ordertreetraversal,anytimeyouencountermultiplenodesatthesamehorizontallevel,yougodown first and only go acrosswhen you cannot go down anymore. In breadth-order, any time youencountermultiplenodesatthesamehorizontallevel,yougoacrossfirstandonlygodownwhenyoucannotgoacrossanymore.

Forpresentations,usedepth-first traversalsince thismethodprogressively introducesconceptsandthen“peelstheonion.”Additionally,thismethodmorecloselyapproximateshowstoriesaretold.Thisispainfullyobviouswhenyouconsidertellingasimplestoryof“Jane’sDay”ineachofthetwowaysasfollows:

Depth-order:Janewokeuponemorningandstartedherday(node#1).First,sheatebreakfast(node #2). Her breakfast included coffee (node #3) and oatmeal (node #4). Next, shewent towork(node#5).Afterwork,shemetherfriend,Constance,atthepark(node#6)andthetwowentforarun(node#7).

Breadth-order:Janewokeuponemorningandstartedherday(node#1).First,sheatebreakfast(node #2).Next, shewent towork (node #3).Afterwork, shemet her friendConstance at the park(node#4).Backwhenshehadbreakfast,herbreakfastincludedcoffee(node#5)andoatmeal(node#6).Later,attheparkafterwork,JaneandConstancewentforarun(node#7).

ReturningtoMcKinsey’sUSPSpresentation,therootnodeofthesituationisslide#2(Figure3-3) and its only child node is slide #3 (Figure 3-4), a summary node outlining three root causes.Followingthedepth-firsttreetraversalmethod,thenextslidemustexploresomethinghavingtodowithrevenuedeclines,butwhat?Onceagain,thecontentofthenextslideisalwaystheanswertothenaturalquestion triggered by the current slide. Audience members will want to know, “Why are revenuesdeclining?”

TheMECEsetofrootcausesfordecliningmailrevenuesmustconsiderchangesinpricingandchangesinvolume,preciselythetwofactorsexploredinthenextslideintheseries,asshowninslide#4(Figure3-7).Theslidethoroughlyexplainsthepricingproblem–thePAEAof2006limitedincreasesbyanchoringmailpricingtotheConsumerPriceIndex(CPI).However, theslideonlyintroducestheproblemwithmailvolumes.


Toexplainwhyactualmailvolumein2009wassignificantlybeloweventhedownsideforecast,weneedtotraverseoneleveldeeperintherevenuedeclinepartofthetreeasshowninslide#5(Figure3-8).Theshortfallisduetotwofactors.Thefirst,economicrecession,isreasonablywellillustratedinthechart.Thesecond,e-diversion(i.e.theinevitableswitchfromtraditionalmailtoemailandinstantmessaging), is mentioned only in the header and unfortunately not supported by proof in this or

subsequentslides.


Tip19:Onlygoasdeepasisneededtointroducetheproblem

Withslide#5(Figure3-8),McKinseywentasdeepasneededontherevenuepartoftheUSPSsituation.Itisenoughtoknowthatpriceincreasesarecappedandthatvolumeshavebeenhamperedbythe recession and by e-diversion. In theory, one falls endlessly down the rabbit holewith increasinglevels of granularity.Why is Standard mail, which previously had the fastest growth, collapsing sorapidly?Andon…andon…

Whilethereisnohardandfastruleonhowmanylevelstogo,Icanofferafewguidelines.Goasdeepasyouneedtointroducetheproblem.Thereisonesuccessfuloutcometoapersuasivebusinesspresentation–thedecisionmakerapprovesyourrecommendation.Tothatend,thereisnoneedtoshowoffyourknowledgeandyouranalyticalprowess. In thesituation,stopat the levelofdetailonwhichyouintendtobuildinthecomplicationandwhichyouintendtorectifyinyourresolution.Ifyoustillwant a rulewithwhich to start,McKinsey often goes two levels deep – as they did in the revenuesituationandwilldointhethirdportion,thecoststory,ofthesituation.

Tip20:Repeatsummarynodeslideswhenmovingacrossaftergoingdeep

Ifyougoverydeepdownapartofyourtree,saythreeormorelevels,youmaywanttorepeatthesummarynodetohelpreorientyouraudience.Inthisexample,thatwouldmeanrepeatingslide#3(Figure3-4)inordertosmoothyourtransitionacrosstotheretirementhealthbenefitssituation(RHB).

Tochangethefocus,addvisualemphasistothe“RHBpre-fundingrequirement”referencesintheslide.

Inthiscase,perhapssincetheyonlywenttwolevelsdeeponrevenue,McKinseydidnotrepeatthesummarynodeslidewhentransitioningtotheloneslideonpre-fundingofretirementhealthbenefitsasshowninslide#6(Figure3-9).


Asthesummarynodeslidewasnotrepeatedinthetransitiontoretireehealthbenefits,itwasnotrepeated in the transition to thecostsituation inslide#7(Figure3-10). Insuchcases, it is incrediblyimportant that theslide title reorient theaudience towhere thespeaker is inherstory.Unfortunately,“Recentreductionsinworkforceusagehavebeensignificant,butpiecesperFTEstilldeclinedin2009”feels a little out of left field. The transitional flow would have been much smoother with a titlereferencing cost savings, as in: “Cost savings have been insufficient due to lower efficiency despiteworkforcereductions.”


Slide #7 (Figure 3-10) triggers the question, “Why didn’t you reduce the workforce faster?”Slide#8(Figure3-11)providestheanswer.TheUSPSdidasmuchasitcouldbyeliminatingnon-careeremployees and reducing overtime hours. Presumably, the next round of cuts must be deeper and,althoughnotmentioned,wouldrequirepainfulcontractnegotiationswiththepowerfulAmericanPostalWorkersUnion(APWU),partoftheevenmorepowerfulAFL-CIO.


WenowhavethecompletecontextdescribinghowtheUSPSfounditselffacingunprecedented

losses. Figure 3-12 nicely summarizes the situation and also illustrates how the McKinsey teamstructured and sequenced this first act of the story.While itmaybe tempting to start thinking aboutwaystoreturntheUSPStoprofitability,wemustfirstdevelopapictureforwhatthefutureislikelytoholdifnofurtheractionistaken.

Figure3-12:FullMcKinseyUSPSsituation

Chapter4

McKinsey’sUSPSComplication

Tip21:Exploreissuesand/oropportunitiesinthecomplicationsection

McKinsey’s situation section explored the historical fact-base leading to the USPS’s profitpredicament.Thecomplicationsection,ActIIofthestrategicstory,builttensioninacontrolledmannerbyfocusingoncurrentandfutureforcesofchange.Thoughtheword“complication”carriesanegativeconnotation,theseforcesofchangecanexacerbateproblemsorexploreopportunities.Inthiscase,thevast majority of the USPS complication section, introduced innocuously enough as “Base case –minimal management actions” in slide #9 (Figure 4-1), plays to negative emotions by escalating apredicamentintoacatastrophe.

Figure4-1:McKinsey’sUSPSpresentation(slide#9)

Tip22:Builduptocontentiousorcounter-intuitiveinsights

TheUSPS complication section deviates from the bottom-line up-front approach used in thesituationsectionbecausethebasecasecumulativelossthrough2020issoextremeastobecontentious.Asaresult,theaudienceneedstobetakentherethroughabuild-upofinformationthatresonates.Ifthe

base case were merely extreme but neither contentious nor counter-intuitive, then the complicationshouldbeginwiththetop-levelforecastandthendrillintothedetails.

Tip23:Exploretheinfluenceofdynamictrendsonthefactorsdiscussedinthesituation

RecallthatthesituationultimatelydeconstructedtheleversdrivingUSPSprofitabilityintofourcomponents: the impact of volume on revenue, the impact of pricing on revenue, the impact ofretirementhealthbenefitsoncosts,andtheimpactofworkforceefficiencyoncosts.Asshowninslide#10(Figure4-2),thecomplicationsectionstartsbyexploringtheinfluenceofdynamictrendsonthesesamefactors.


Thinkingintermsofstory,profitabilityistheprotagonist.Thestrategicbusinessleversrepresenttheprotagonist’sfriendsandfoes.Allofthese“characters”wereintroducedduringActI,thesituation.Now, inActII, thecomplication,weget toseecharacterswithwhomwearealreadyfamiliarevolvethroughconflictintheformoftrends.Shrewdly,manyofthesetrends,suchase-Diversionandcappedpriceincreases,werealreadyforeshadowed.

The limitedamountofnew information in slide#10 (Figure4-2), a summarynode, eases theaudienceintoescalatingtensionfollowingthenowfamiliardepth-first treetraversalapproachtoslideorder(seeFigure4-3).

Figure4-3:BeginningofUSPScomplicationsectionexpandingonfourtrendsimpactingrevenuesandcosts

Wealreadyobserved in thesummarysection thatStandard-mailandFirst-Class-Mailvolumeshave been declining as a result of e-diversion and less advertising during the recession. Slide #11(Figure4-4)projectsthosenegativetrendsforwardin2020.


Slide#12(Figure4-5)offerstheonemoderatepieceofgoodnewsinthebasecaseoutlookforUSPS profitability. Due to inflation-driven price increases, revenue will actually increase slightlydespitethevolumedecline.Fromastorypointofview,wemovefromnegative(1.5%peryearannualvolumedecline)topositive(0.16%peryearannualrevenueincrease).However,likeanygoodstory,inActIIonestepforwardwillsoonbeoffsetwithtwostepsback.


Slide#13(Figure4-6)introducesthefirstpartofthecostcomplication.TheUSPSisobligatedto provide a universal standard of service to which Americans have become accustomed includingaccesstopostofficesnearbyandrapiddeliverysixdaysaweektonearlyanywhere.Theseservicesrelyheavilyonfixed-costcapital(post-officebuildings,sortationplants,andlargevehicles);consequently,thesecostswillnotfallasmailvolumedrops.


Theoutlookgrowsdarkerstillinslide#14(Figure4-7)asworkhoursavingsfromreducedmailvolumes and fewer post offices are offset by work hour increases needed to deliver to additionallocations.


Unfortunately,flattotalworkhoursdoesnottranslateintoflatworkforcecostsbecausewages,workers’comp,andhealth insuranceareprojected to increasemuch faster than inflationas shown inslide#15(Figure4-8).


Onseeingslide#15(Figure4-8),anaudiencemember’smostnaturalquestionis likely,“Whyarehealthbenefitsrisingsomuchfasterthaninflation?”Slide#16(Figure4-9)revealstherootcausesasacombinationofpre-fundingretireehealthbenefitsandnormalpremiumsforcurrentemployees.


Tip24:Deliverthecollectiveimpactofthecomplicationsonthefundamentalissue

At this point in the complication section of McKinsey’s USPS presentation, we know thefollowing: (1) despite volume declines, revenue will rise slightly as a result of price increases; (2)capitalfixedcostswilllikelyincreasewiththeexpansionindeliverypointsfarsurpassingthereductionin post offices; and, (3) variable wage and benefits costs, on a flat base of total hours, will likelyincreasefasterthaninflation.

So,revenueswillriseslightlyandcostswillincrease–probablymorethanslightly.But,wedonotyetknowbyhowmuchnordoweknowthecollectiveimpactoftheseprojectionsonprofitability.

Now,itistimetoputalltheinformationtogether.Again,thisbuild-upwasslowbecausewhatisabouttocomeissodireitisshocking.Infact,itissodirethatthecentralcomplicationwilltakethreemoreslidestobefullyclear.

First, slide#17 (Figure4-10) combines all of the trends together into the revenue-impact andcost-impactper piece ofmail. It feels reasonable that costs per piecewill increase 4% per year andrevenuesperpiecewillincrease2%peryear,givenallofthesimilarlyreasonableinformationdisclosedthusfar.


Slide#18(Figure4-11)buildstotheclimaxofthestory,theendofActII,inthreeparts.First,the chart on the left hand side multiplies the forecasted per-piece costs and revenues by projectedvolumes. Second, the middle chart subtracts the resulting total cost forecast from the total revenueforecasttocreatethenetprofitforecast.Notably,lossesacceleratenearlyeveryyear,eventuallyhitting$33billion!Ofcourse,theforecastishighlysensitivetoprojectedvolume;nonetheless,thelossisastillshocking$21billion,evenintheunlikelyeventtotalmailvolumeremainsflat.Third,thechartontherighthandsideshowscumulativelosseswillreach$238billionby2020,fifteentimesgreaterthanthe$15billionstatutorydebtceiling.

Figure4-11:McKinsey’sUSPSpresenation(slide#18)

Since slide #18 (Figure 4-11) proclaims catastrophe, some audiencemembers will remain in

disbelief.Theymightask,“Whatwereyourcriticalassumptionsandhowcertainareyouaboutthem?”Slide#19(Figure4-12)addressesthisquestionandclosesoutthecomplicationbyexploringpotentialupsidefactorsandpotentialdownsiderisks.Whilenotquantifyingtheimpactofeachofthese,onecanmovethenextpartofthestory,confidentthe$238billioncumulativelosssitsatareasonablemid-pointofarangeofpotentialoutcomes.


Pausetothinkabouttheeleganceofthestorytellinginthecomplicationsection.TheprotagonistestablishedinActI,USPSprofitability,wasaffectedbyfriendsandfoesmetduringherjourneythroughAct II.Notably, thestorywas tightlyedited in thesense thatevery trendhadaconclusive impactoneither revenue or cost; the trends converged to the story’s climactic moment, leaving the audiencehungrytodiscoverourhero’ssavior.

JusthowaccuratewereMcKinsey’sprojections?For2010,theyearalreadyinprogresswhenthepresentationwasgiven,thefirmforecasta$10billionlossversusanactuallossof$17.6billion.Afterthislargerthanexpectedloss,the2011retirementhealthbenefitpaymentwasdeferredinto2012.For2011, the firm forecast a lossof$10billionversus an actual lossof$8.7billion.For2012, the firmforecastalossof$15billionversusanactuallossof$30.7billion.Finally,for2013,thefirmforecastalossof$16billionversusanactuallossof$11.6billion.(Note:Actuallossesincludenetoperatingloss,retirementhealthbenefitspre-fundingexpenses,andworkers’compensationexpenses.)

Cumulativelyfrom2010to2013,McKinseyforecastalossof$51billion.Theactuallosswas$68.6billion.FirmslikeMcKinseystriveforplusorminus10%accuracy.Inthiscase,theactuallosswasthirty-fivepercentworsethanprojected.AtleastasItypethesewords,theMcKinseyforecastis,ifanything, highly conservative. Said another way, the complication facing the United States PostalServiceistrulycatastrophic.

Here, at the end of Act II of our strategic story, our protagonist, USPS profitability, teetersprecariously at the edgeof a cliff.The recommendations the organization chooses to apply from theupcoming resolution section have existential consequences; in order to survive, the USPS needs tofundamentallychangehowitmakesandspendsmoney.

Chapter5

McKinsey’sUSPSResolution

Astheagendaslide“curtain”(Figure5-1)risesonthethirdandfinalactofMcKinsey’sUSPSstrategicstory,let’stakeamomenttorecaptheactionthusfar.InActI,theUSPS–ourhero–wasstrugglingwith financial losses stemming from e-Diversion, recession, retirement health benefit funding, andlimited flexibility in reducing costs. In Act II, these forces were forecast to intensify, leading to aprojected$238billioncumulativelossby2020.Eventheglimmerofawayout,duetopotentialupsidetrendsinthegeneraleconomy,wastemperedbyequallystrongpotentialdownsiderisks.Atthispivotalmoment,theaudiencehasonenaturalquestion,“HowcantheUSPSgetoutofthismess?”


Tip 25: Explore the mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive ways to resolve thecomplication

Generally, three levels of effort can be applied to solve any problem.The first level includesstandard, low-riskactions takenasordinarybusinessprocessoptimization.Thesecond level includesradical, high-risk actions leading to fundamental innovation and change. The third level, one manydecisionmakersfailtoconsider,ismaintainingthestatusquo;thedecisionto“donothing”isindeeda

decisionandcanoftenbethebestoption.

Usingthesethreelevelsofactionaspartofbrainstormingopensupawiderangeofpossibilities.Here,Iusethetermbrainstormingbroadlytoincludesourcingandsynthesizingideasfrominternalandexternalsourceseitherviaobservationorcreativeeffort.

Tip26:Placelow-impactresolutionsintheAppendixtoshowtheyhavebeenconsideredbutruledout

As shown in slide #21 (Figure5-2), theMcKinsey team decided to include a set of standardactionsandasetofradicalactions.Ratherunfortunately,theslidemixestwoMECEwaysofparsingthesolutionspace.Onewayisstandardversusfundamentalchange.TheotherwayisactionswithinUSPScontrol and actions outside of USPS control. Based on the remainder of the resolution section, theorange outlined text box labeled “ActionswithinPostal ServiceControl” should have read “OrganicChange”orsomeotherantonymoffundamentalchange.

Notably,thestatusquofuturewasalreadycoveredinthecomplicationsection,soitneednotberepeated.Hadthestatusquo“basecase”notbeenpresented,itshouldhavebeenplacedintheAppendixbecause a decision maker might ask about it, though it is not attractive enough as a recommendedoption.


Tip27:Prioritizerecommendationsinimpact-,sequential-,oremotionalorder

Oncebrainstormingiscomplete,thestorytellermustprioritizeinordertodeterminewhichideastoputintothestoryandinwhichsequence.Thedecisionmakersintheaudiencenotonlyarejudgingthequalityofthesolutionsoffered,butalsoarejudgingthequalityofthepersonofferingtheideas.Ifoneincludestoomanylow-impactideas,onerisksleavingthedecisionmakersbothoverwhelmedwithcontent and underwhelmed with confidence. Starting with low-impact ideas will similarly destroydecisionmakerconfidence.

Choosinghowtoorderactions in theresolutionsection iscritically important.Thedefault forprioritizingsolutionsisindescendingorder,highesttolowest,ofimpactsincethisreleasestheanxietybuilt at the end of the complication section as fast as possible.However, this default does notworkwhen the actionsmust be taken in sequence (i.e., phased) orwhen the audience needs to follow anemotionalpathtoaccepttherecommendation.

In McKinsey’s USPS presentation, there are two sets of recommendations – one includingstandardactionsandoneincludingfundamentalchangeactions.Ofthetwo,themorepowerfulisthesetof fundamental change actions.The two sets are an “and”not an “or,” in the sense that both canbeimplementedtohelpimproveUSPSprofitability.Additionally,onesetneednotbecompletedbeforethenextone,sosequentialorderisnotrequired.However,fundamentalchangeisahardpilltoswallow.

Akeyprinciple instorytelling is thatcharactersalways take theminimumconservativeactiongiventhecircumstancesinwhichtheyfindthemselves.Aherowilltakeradical,life-threateningactions,butonlyiftherearenoviablealternatives.ThisprincipledeterminesorderingfortheUSPSresolution.Organizations (almost) always start fixing problems by taking standard actions. They pursuefundamentalchange(only)when thestandardactionsfail toachieve thenecessaryresults.So,due toriskaversion,McKinseystartedwithactionswithinUSPScontrol,standardactions,asshowninslide#22(Figure5-3).


Theremainderoftheresolutionsectionisstructuredusingmostifnotallofthekeyprinciples

used to structure the situation section including bottom-line-up-front messaging, story-centricprogression,anddepth-ordertree-traversal.Sincethereisconsiderablecontenthere,Ihavebrokentheflowupintotwopieces.ThehierarchyexploringstandardchangeactionsisprovidedinFigure5-4.

Figure5-4:Structureforthe“standardactions”partoftheUSPSresolutionsection

Slide#22(Figure5-3)provides thebottom-line-up-front impactof reducingcumulative lossesfrom $238 billion to $115 billion through standard actions within USPS control. That informationtriggers the question “What standard actions achieve this and how much does each contribute toreducingtheloss?”Slide#23(Figure5-5)providestheanswerwithfourgroupsofstandardactionsplusavoidedinterestduetoreduceddebt.Iwouldhavestartedwithproductivityimprovementsastheyofferthelargestimpactandsequential-andemotional-orderarerequiredhere.


Slide#24(Figure5-6),slide#25(Figure5-7),andslide#26(Figure5-8),detailthekeyactions

to achieve, respectively: product and service initiatives; productivity improvements; and, workforceflexibilityandprocurementoptimization.




Thoughnot strictlynecessary, the standardactionswithinUSPScontrolpartof the resolutionsection ends by repeating the bottom-line improvement in cumulative loss through 202o. Thisrecapitulation inslide#27(Figure5-9),a techniquecommonindramaticstorytelling,helpsbring theaudienceoutoftheweedsandbacktothemainstoryprogression.ActionswithinUSPScontrolreducethecumulativelossfrom$238billionto$115billion.Now,theaudienceisemotionallyreadytoaskthenextquestion,“AretheremoreradicalactionstheUSPScantaketochangelossestoprofits?”


Parallelingthefirstpartoftheresolutionsection,thesecondpartbeginswiththefullimpactoffundamentalchangeactionsasshowninslide#28(Figure5-10).Asillustrated,theadditionalactions,togetherwithactionswithinUSPScontrol,shouldyieldpositivenetincomewellaheadof2020.


TheremainderofthefundamentalchangepartoftheresolutionsectionisoutlinedinFigure5-11. Once again, the now familiar content organization best practices apply, including: bottom-line-upfrontmessaging,story-centricprogression,anddepth-ordertree-traversal.

Figure5-11:Structureforthe“fundamentalchange”partoftheUSPSresolutionsection

Tip28:Handleobjectionsastheyarise

Asstatedpreviously,characters instoriesalwaystaketheminimumactionrequiredtoaddressissues.InMcKinsey’sUSPSpresentation,theaudienceisprimedtoembracefundamentalchange.But,even indirecircumstances,peoplemayobject tosolutions thatare tooextreme.Tostaveoffamajorobjection, theMcKinsey team steps momentarily out of the narrative in slide #29 (Figure 5-12) toacknowledgecertainchangeswillrequirelegislativeaction.Becausesuchactionsarefarmorecomplex,

legislativechangesconsistentlyappearafternon-legislativechangesoneachofthecomingslides.


Slide #30 (Figure 5-13) is the summary node for the remainder of the resolution section. Itframesactionsintwodimensions,firstbythecategoriesalreadyfamiliartotheaudience(productsandservices;pricing;etc.)andthenbythenew,moreemotionallyintensedivisionofnon-legislativeversuslegislative.


TheUSPS’s portfolio of products and services canbe transformed inmanyways.Recall thatMcKinseywasnottheonlyconsultingfirmhiredforthisengagement.BCGprovidedthemailvolume

forecasts McKinsey used to model the base case. In addition, Accenture explored successful waysforeignpostshaveexpandedtheirofferings–severalofwhichareintegratedinslide#31(Figure5-14).Thepresentationgoesintofurtherdetailonthemostattractivesubsetofactioninslide#32(Figure5-15).



Slide#33(Figure5-16),slide#34(Figure5-17),slide#35(Figure5-18),andslide#36(Figure5-19), complete the detailed fundamental change recommendations for, respectively: pricing; servicelevel;workforce;and,publicpolicy.



Tip29:Createanepilogueforcriticalinformationbeyondthemainstoryline

Epiloguesindramaticstorytellingappearafterthemainplothasendedandservetorevealthefates of characters, wrap up loose ends, or hint at a sequel. (Note:An epilogue is different than anAppendix in that the former is presented while the latter serves only as reference material.)Whilecommoninmovies,theyarerareinpresentationsbecausethecontentinanepiloguecaneasilydiminishthepoweroftherecommendationsjustdelivered.

After the transition in slide #37 (Figure 5-20), McKinsey delivers an epilogue in slide #38

(Figure 5-21). Recall, the primary storyline in the presentation concerns intermediate and long-termactionsneededtoreturntheUSPStoprofitabilityby2020.Bythatmeasure,discussionofshort-termconcerns isoutofcontext.However, thisparticularexample illustrates thatanepilogue isacceptablewhentheinformationiscritical.Whilethereisstillariskofdilutingtherecommendationsinthemainstory, theMcKinsey teammusthavefeltaduty to informtheUSPSdecisionmakersofan imminentthreatandtorecommendfurtheroptionstoremainsolvent.Eveninthelastslide,McKinseyheldtruetothepracticeofnevershowingaproblemwithoutsuggestingaviablesolution.



For senior decision makers and general audiences, the level of detail in McKinsey’s USPSresolution is sufficient. For instance, the recommendations frame what must be done as “changedeliverylocationtocurbsideorclustermailboxes.”However,thereisinsufficientdetailtofullyrealizethebenefitsoftherecommendations.

I suspect that McKinsey also delivered a private project plan to the USPS, including thefollowing:

• Ownersofactionsaswellaskeystakeholders

• Mindsetstrategyrequiredforchangestostickintheorganization’sspecificenvironment

• Leadingandlaggingkeyperformanceindicators(KPIs)tovalidatecriticalassumptionsandmeasuretheimpactofactionstothebusiness

• Timingofkeymilestonesandcriticalactivities

• RequiredresourcesanddependenciesgiventheUSPS’scurrentandneededcapabilities

• Potential people and process risks to be actively managed along with pre-mediatedcontingencyplans

• Potentialadditionalbenefitswhichmayberealized

Chapter6

TheApproach-Findings-ImplicationsFramework

Tip30:UsetheApproach-Findings-Implicationsframeworkforinformativepresentations

The previous chapters explored the powerful situation-complication-resolution (SCR)framework approach topersuasivebusiness storytelling.At its core,SCR is ageneral three-act storystructure establishing background in Act I, challenges and opportunities in Act II, and proposedsolutions in Act III. Stanford University communications professor Matt Abrahams generalizes themodelevenfurtheras“What?Sowhat?Nowwhat?”Attheendoftheday,anysetofsynonymswilldoaslongastheproblem-solutionnarrativeremains.

Bydesign,BCG’spresentation to theUSPS is light onpersuasion andheavyon information.Thefirm’staskwastobuildamodeltopredictthe“basecase”forStandardMailvolumethrough2020.Sinceitspresentationdescribesthemodelanditsresult,BCGtransformedSCRintoapproach-findings-implications.Differentwords,samestory.

Tip31:Avoidpresentingtherandomwalkyoufollowedinyourresearchprocess

Occasionally,novicepresentersbuildapproach-findings-implicationspresentationsthatmeanderlinearly through their research process. Unless the entire point of your presentation is to detail thediscoveryprocess,asinhuntingforacureforadebilitatingdisease,avoidsharingfalsestarts,wrongturns,andrandombitsofinformation.Giveyouraudienceonlywhatitneeds,nolessandnomore,tocomprehendyourstory,decide,andtakeaction.StanfordUniversityprofessorMattAbrahamsteacheshisstudentsthistipusingthefollowingmetaphor:Tellthetime,don’tbuildtheclock.BCG,nonoviceatpresentinginsights,didnotfallintothistrap.

(Note:Manyscientificpresentationsrequirearigorousoverviewofthemethodologyresearchersused toconductanexperiment.Moreover, there isoftenasmuchvalue inrevealing tests thatdidnotworkas there is insharing tests thatdid.Theoverarching rule then, foracademiaandbusiness, is togivetheaudiencewhatitwantsintheorderitexpects.)

Chapter7

BCG’sUSPSApproach

McKinsey’soverarchingstrategypresentationreliedontwoinputsfromothermanagementconsultingorganizations. Accenture studied lucrative, non-mail products offered by postal services outside theUnited States. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the focus of this chapter, projected US mailvolumesto2020,assumingabusiness-as-usualscenario.

Thetitleslide(Figure7-1)makesitcrystalclearthataudiencemembersshouldexpecttoseearobust,ten-yearprojectionofUSmailvolumes(andhopefullynotmuchmore).

Figure7-1:BCG’sUSPSpresentationslide#0

Curiously,andcountertothebest-practiceappliedbyMcKinsey,BCGdivesdirectlyintoActIofitsstrategicstorywithoutusinganagendaslidetoserveasaroadmap.Whilethesectionintroductiondividerslide(Figure7-2)signalsatransition,theaudiencewouldbenefitfromknowinghowthestorywillunfold.Theoverallarchitectureofthepresentationisasfollows:8

• ActI:Objectivesandapproach

• ActII:Results(andbenchmarksfromotherglobalposts)

• ActIII:Implications


Slide#2(Figure7-3)outlinestheoverallobjectiveofprojectingbasecasemailvolumesto2020.Since “base case”may be unfamiliar, the phrase is immediately explained as the “business-as-usualscenario.”Thisslidecontinuestoanswerquestionsastheyarisebycovering,“OKthen,whatareyouassumingtobebusiness-as-usual?”


The natural next question is, “What approach did you use to build the forecast?” I feel it isredundant to have previewed this on slide #2 (Figure 7-3) in the block of text entitled, “Base case

forecast incorporatesextensive, recent independentresearch”since theanswer iscovered incompletedetailonslide#3(Figure7-4).TheapproachBCGusedis typicalofbest-practicestrategyconsultingengagements and includes quantitative and qualitative insights gleaned from internal and externalsources.


Slide#3 (Figure7-4) looks a lot like a summary node slide.As such, a reasonable audiencemember would expect the presentation to progress in one of two ways. First, if the approach werecovered in adequate detail, then the presentation can move directly to the results section (Act II).Second,iftheapproachhasfurthersubtlety,thenthepresentationshouldprogressthroughtheadditionalcomplexity in the approach to segmentation, interviews, industry insights, global benchmarks, andprojected revenues. In this typeofpresentation, I stress“double-clicking”on theapproachonly;anyactualfindingsbelonginthenextsection.

Atfirst,BCGappearstohavechosentoexplorethesubtletiesofitsapproach.Slide#4(Figure7-5)delvesintothefirstitemintheprogressionwithanoverviewofsegmentationintoFirst-ClassandStandardMailcategories.


Byrevealingtheactualquantitativesegmentation,slide#5(Figure7-6)violatestheruletoonlyexploredetailsoftheapproach.Moreover,the“Objectivesandapproach”section,andthusActI,endsabruptly without similar treatment of the other key findings areas, including: interviews, industryinsights,globalbenchmarks,andprojectedrevenues.


Although deeper details inBCG’s story feel somewhat incomplete, the audience does have ahigh-level sense of the approach the firm used to develop a forecast forUSPSmail volume though

2020.Now,wearereadytodiscoverwhattheyfound.

Chapter8

BCG’sUSPSFindings

BCG’sstrategicstorymovesintoActIIwiththe“Results”sectiondividershowninslide#6(Figure8-1).Here, following the bottom-line-up-front best practice, Iwould have expected the section to startwithtotalforecastedvolumethrough2020.However,thesectionactuallystartswithwhatappearstobeanotherslidefurtherdetailingtheapproachtosegmentationdetailsinslide#7(Figure8-2).


Previously, BCG segmented mail into two categories, First-Class and Standard; in slide #7(Figure8-2),packagesareintroducedasanunexpectedthirdcategory.Packagescomeandgorandomlythroughout the remainderof thepresentation. Indramatic storytelling, theanalogy isof an importantcharacterdroppinginandoutofthestorywithnorhymeorreason.

Theslidegoesontomixapples(typesofmail)withoranges(othermetrics),compoundingtheconfusion.Tomakemattersevenworse,the“Forecast”detailsonslide#7(Figure8-2)coverneartermprojectionsfortheremainderof2009ratherthanwhattheaudienceisexpecting,theforecastfor2020astheslidetitleimplies.


Slide#8(Figure8-3)givestheaudienceexactlywhatitwasexpectinghadthepreviousslidenotderailedthestory.Sincetheslidetitlediscussesadropof15%,wemustpresumethesenderperspective,ratherthantheconsumerperspectiveortheworst-casebenchmark,representsthe“basecase”volumeforecast.


Toproperlycarrythestoryforward,BCGmustanswerthemostpressingquestiontriggeredbyslide#8(Figure8-3),“Whyisthevolumeprojectedtodeclinebyatleast15%by2020?”Toanswerthisquestion the designer must choose between the Standard/First-Class Mail segmentation and thesender/consumer/worst-case scenario segmentation as dominant. BCG chose the mail segmentation.Giventhatmailcategorieswereintroducedas“characters”inActI,thiswasthecorrectpathasshown

inslide#9(Figure8-4).


Evenwithoutbeingabletoassesstheimpactofeachofthetrendsinslide#9(Figure8-4),onegets thesense that the reason for thevolumedecline isaconfluenceofnegative trends forUSPS; intotal, there are nine red down arrows compared to five green up arrows. The story continues in aneffectivemannerbyshowingtheresultofthesequalitativeforcesonthequantitativevolumesforFirst-ClassMailandStandardMailinslide#10(Figure8-5)andslide#11(Figure8-6),respectively.



Followingtheprecedingpairofslides,BCGlogicallycontinuestheresultssectionasshowninslide #12 (Figure 8-7) with a complete detail of the mix of mail types within the First-Class andStandardMailsegments.


ThenBCGshifts,forreasonsthatdefyexplanationfromanarrativeflowpointofview,fromtheStandard Mail/First-Class Mail segmentation to the sender/customer/worst-case perspectivesegmentation in slide #13 (Figure 8-8).While the sender perspective ismost likely the “base case”forecast,theresultssectionneedsthemissingcustomerandworst-caseperspectivestobecomplete.


Introducedby thedivider in slide#14 (Figure8-9), the information in the“Benchmarks fromotherglobalposts”sectionisjustanothersetoffindings;thereforethisnextsectionisstillpartofActII.


Thoughnot immediately clear how the foreignpost volume trends in slide #15 (Figure 8-10)factor into BCG’s mail volume model for USPS, the root-cause insight of broadband penetrationillustratedinslide#16(Figure8-11)isfascinating.Theessenceofthisfindingwasalreadyexpressedinslide #9 (Figure 8-4), which showed the positive and negative trends affecting USPS volume.Consequently,theentire“Benchmarksfromotherglobalposts”sectionbelongsintheAppendix.



Gettingreoriented,ActIofBCG’sstrategystorydescribedtheirapproachforprojectingUSPSmailvolumethrough2020.ThejustcompletedActIIsharedthefindingsgleanedusingthisapproach.Next,BCG’sstorymovesontoexploretheimplicationsofthosefindings.

Chapter9

BCG’sUSPSImplications

BCG’spresentationtransitionstoActIIIatthedividerinslide#17(Figure9-1).Giventhesectiontitle“Implications”–presumablyoftheprojected15%declineinmailvolumethrough2020,twoquestionsarise:Thefirst,“HowshouldtheUSPSrespond(i.e.,downsize)tothevolumedecrease?”Thesecond,“What,ifanything,canbedonetoturnthenegativevolumetrendaround?”


Iwouldneverexpectadiscussionofrevenueperdeliverypointasshowninslide#18(Figure9-2) to begin this section since it is such a leap from the core theme of volume and requires pricingassumptionsnotpreviouslyaddressed.Again,usingastoryanalogy,thisisakintointroducingamajorcharacterinthefinalactwithzeroforeshadowing–aserious“no-no”instorytelling.


The BCG team must have sensed that the shift to revenue was out of context since theirpresentationshiftsbacktovolumeinslide#19(Figure9-3).Ofall theslides in thepresentation, thisonebothersme themost.Now, Iappreciateagoodsensitivityanalysisasmuchasanyone,however,BCGalreadycoveredthreescenariosintheformofthesender/customer/worst-caseperspectives.Thentoinsertalight-weight+/-10%sensitivityanalysisheresignificantlydiminishesthecredibilityoftheworkthatwentintodevelopingthemodel.


Slide #20 (Figure 9-4) further erodes the credibility of the presentation and the model bypreemptivelyexplainingwhytheBCGforecastmayendupbeingwrong.(Fortherecord,McKinseydidthis, too.)Theseoverwhelminglynegative factors shouldhavebeen inputs into the scenarios instead,

especiallytheworst-casescenario.However,Idonotbelievethisdegreeofrigorwasappliedgiventhelocationofthisslideinthepresentation.


The statement in thewhite box at the bottomof slide #20 (Figure9-4) triggers the question,“How canwe build significant labor flexibility?” This question is answeredwith structural changesenumeratedonslide#21(Figure9-5),includingexamplesadoptedbypostsoutsideoftheUnitedStatesasdetailedinslide#22(Figure9-6).



Slide #23 (Figure 9-7)would have been better placed at the beginning of the “Implications”sectionwhereActIIIcouldhaveeffectivelyexploredtherecommendedchangestotheUSPS’sdeliverymodel,branchnetwork,andlabormodelinresponsetotheexpectedvolumedecline.Insteadbybeingplacedat theendof thepresentation, theslideendsup triggeringquestions.Dramaticstoriesonlydothatwhentheproducershavecommittedtoreleasingasequel.Ingeneral,businesspresentationsshouldbecompletelyself-containedwithallquestionsresolvedbythefinalslide.


I have hammered away pretty hard on the BCG presentation because it contains errors thatsignificantly disrupt the flow of the story. Since I do not like to criticize without proposingimprovements,InowofferthenarrativeprogressionIwouldhaveused:

• Act1(Situation-ObjectiveandApproach):

o Our objective is to forecast USPS “base case” mail volume through 2020,inclusiveofStandardMailandFirst-ClassMailsegments.

o Ourpartneronthisengagement,McKinsey,willintegratethisvolumeprojectionwithseparatelydevelopedpricingandcostprojections,tobuildanoverallviewofUSPSprofitability.

o Our approach consisted of building the overall forecast in bottom-up fashionfromforecastsforeverymailsub-segmentwithinthetwomajorsegments

o The sub-segment forecasts are based on quantitative information (e.g., time-series data models, foreign post data, etc.) and qualitative information (e.g.,positiveandnegativemacrotrends,consumerandsendersurveys,etc.).

• ActII(Complication–Findings):

o Our “base case” forecast calls for a 15%decline in totalmail volume through2020.

o The“basecase”breaksdownintothetwosegmentsasfollows…andfurtherintothesubsegmentsasfollows...

o The“basecase”forecastreliesonthefollowingcriticalassumptionsreferencedinourapproach…Violationoftheassumptionsleadstothefollowingbest-case(x%likelihood)andworst-case(y%likelihood)scenarios…

• ActIII(Resolution–Implications):

o Giventheexpected15%“basecase”volumedecline,werecommendtheUSPSmake the following structural changes to its deliverymodel, branch network,andlabormodel.

o The following key performance indicators KPIs) signal evolution toward thebest-casescenario.Inthatevent,theUSPSshouldtakethefollowingactionstotakeadvantageofthepositivemomentum.

o The following key performance indicators KPIs) signal evolution toward theworst-casescenario.Inthatevent, theUSPSshouldtakethefollowingactionstomitigatetheimpactofthenegativemomentum.

Havingseenbest-practicestorytellinginMcKinsey’sUSPSpresentationandsignificantissuesin

the narrative structure of BCG’s, we can now apply what we have learned so far to Accenture’spresentation.

Chapter10

TheSituation-Opportunity-ResolutionFramework

Each of the three strategy consulting organizations presented its findings to help the United StatesPostalServicefindapathtowardprofitabilityusingadifferentframework.

• McKinseyusedtheubiquitoussituation-complication-resolutionframework.Thisshouldbeyourgo-toframeworkmostofthetimewhenyouwanttopersuadebusinessaudiences.

• BCG used the approach-results-implications framework, a worthy alternative when yourmaterialismorefocusedonsharinginformationthanonsecuringadecision.

• Accenture, the focus of the next several chapters, used situation-opportunity-resolution(SOR),asubtlevariationonSCRthatcomesinhandywhenyouwantdecisionmakerstoactinordertocaptureasetofbenefits.

ThestorytellingfunctionofthesituationinSORisidenticaltothatofthesituationinSCR–toestablishthehistoricalcontextthatledtothecurrentstate,whethergood,neutral,orbad.

IntheSCRframework,thecomplicationcreatesnegativetensioneitherbythreateningacurrentpositive state or by exacerbating a current negative state. In McKinsey’s SCR-based story, thecomplicationisasetofforcesortrendsexpectedtoturnasignificantlossintoacatastrophicloss.IntheSORframework,theopportunitycreatespositivetensioneitherbyofferingtopropelapositivecurrentstatetohigherheightsorbyreversinganegativecurrentstate.Youcancreatejustasmuchstorytensionbydanglinga rewardforaprotagonist towinasyoucanbycreatinganobstacle foraprotagonist toavoid.

InboththeSCRandSORframeworkstheresolutionreleasesthetension.Theformerdoessobyprescribingasolutiontothecomplicationandthelatterbyshowinghowtocapturetheopportunity.

Whilenotalwaysthecase,theemotionaltoneinSCRshiftsfrompositivetonegativetopositiveas the three acts of the story unfold.Comparatively, the emotional tone inSORusuallymoves fromnegative to positive to more positive. As such, SCR tends to be more emotionally intense and isthereforethebetterchoicewhenyouraudiencedoesnotknowithasaproblem.SOR,incontrast,startsbyacknowledgingaproblemwithwhichtheaudienceisoftenalreadyfamiliarandquicklyletsinthesunshine.Since theUSPShirednot onebut three consulting firms to find apath toprofitability, theSORframeworkusedbyAccentureisanexcellentcontrastingnarrativechoice.

BeforeIdiveintoAccenture’spresentation,Ineedtostressonelast timethatSORisasubtlevariantofSCR.People familiarwithSCRoften treat thecomplicationas something thatdisrupts thesituationeitherpositivelyornegatively.Idothismyselfandencourageyoutodothesame.

Chapter11

Accenture’sUSPSSituation

Accenture’s title in slide #0 (Figure 11-1) nicely frames the pursuit of an opportunity: “IsDiversificationtheAnswertoMailWoes?TheExperienceofInternationalPosts.”

Figure11-1:Accenture’sUSPSpresentationslide#0

Tip32:Protectyourintellectualpropertyandlimityourlegalliability

Almostbydefinition,persuasivebusinesspresentationscontainmaterial,non-publicinformationvaluable to any third-party looking to gain an edge, including investors, competitors, suppliers, andeven customers. For this reason, it is a good idea to include a notice of confidentiality and non-disclosureasAccenturedid inslide#1(Figure11-2).Ofcourse, aswithall legalmatters, consult anattorney for language and required practices to adequately protect your intellectual property. Forinstance,somejurisdictionsmayrequirespecificlanguageinthefooterofeveryslide.


If your jurisdiction does not provide protection or if youwaive your protection implicitly orexplicitly, there is no need to delay the start of your story with legalese. The “deliberative processprivilege” referred to by Accenture is a common-law principle that protects information concerninginternalprocessesfrompublicdisclosureeventhoughtaxpayermoneyfundedthework.However,Iamable to reproduce theirpresentationherebecause Iobtainedpermission from theconsulting firmandfrom theUnitedStatesPostalService. Inaddition,becausemy intent is republication forcriticalandeducationalpurposes,IamprotectedundertheFairUseprovisionofUnitedStatescopyrightlaw.

I mention this because you need to be very careful about reproducing material you find.Attribution, though always required,may be insufficient.When in doubt, ask an attorney or find anunambiguouslylegalalternative.

Titled“Aboutthisdocument,”slide#2(Figure11-3)protectsAccenturefromlegalliabilitybyframingthepresentationasinformationratherthanadvice.Tothatend,thetitleof“Disclaimer”wouldbemoreaccurate.Ifindthissortofhedgedisingenuous(likefortunetellersclaimingtheirservicesare“for entertainment purposes only” or skydiving outfits requiring liability waivers). But if this tacticprovides legal protection in certain jurisdictions, far be it from me to recommend otherwise. Suchlanguageistypicallynotrequiredforpresentationsdevelopedanddeliveredinternally.


Tip33:Donotincludean“ExecutiveSummary”atthebeginningofyourpresentation

Books, plays, and movies take you on dramatic journeys. By the same token, the mostcompellingbusinesspresentationsareaformofstrategicstorytellingleadinglistenersdownacontrolledpath.To illustrate this, you findample foreshadowingbutnoexecutive summaryat thebeginningofShakespeare’sHamlet.ItwouldbemuchhardertositthroughtheplayifHoratio,oneofthesurvivorsof theensuingmassacre, recounted the taleof theDanishprince’sdemise toFortinbras, the invadingPrinceofNorway,atthebeginningoftheplayinsteadofattheend.

A business presentation simply begins with a compelling, SMART title to tell the audiencewhereyouaregoing.Executivesummariesareoftendense,bulletedlistsoftextspanningoneortwoslides.Ifyouhaveeverdeliveredone,youknowhowtedioustheyaretogetthrough.Worse,theyraisemore questions than can be answered in detail. Finally, once youdeliver an executive summary youmightaswellendthemeetingsincethereislittlemoretoshare.

Thatsaid,Icanthinkofonlytwotimeswhenanexecutivesummaryisappropriate:

• First, at the beginning of a presentation designed for reading, not for delivery. By beingincludedinadocument,theexecutivesummaryservesitspurposeofgivingreadersalltheessentialfindingswithouthavingtospendtimeondetails.

• Second, as the last slide in a presentation. In that position, it serves as a recapwhich thepresentermayverballydeliveror,asismoreoftenthecase,simplyletexistonscreenwhileansweringquestionsandwrappingupthediscussion.PuttingtheexecutivesummaryintheAppendixisanothervariationofthisexceptiontotherule.

TheMcKinseyUSPS presentation did not contain an executive summary, similarly, theBCGUSPSpresentationdidnotgiveawaythebaconeither.Conversely,asshowninslide#3(Figure11-4),theAccentureUSPSpresentationdoeshaveanexecutivesummary.

Figurex:Accenture’sUSPSpresentationslide#3

Accenture’sexecutivesummaryconsistsoftwo-parts.Thefirstpartisactuallynotanexecutivesummaryatallbutasetofthreeslidesdetailingthefirm’sobjectiveandapproachasshowninslide#4(Figure 11-5), slide #5 (Figure 11-6), and slide #6 (Figure 11-7). Although an objective can beembedded in thepresentation title and accompanying talk track, restatement is useful on adedicatedslidewhenthematerialistobesharedasareportandwhenthescopeoftheworkrequiresexplanation–bothofwhichholdinthiscase.Similarly,theapproachshouldresideintheAppendixunlessthetargetaudienceneeds it tohavesufficientcontext for thestoryandconfidence in thepresenter.Accenture’sapproach provides for both needs because it conveys comprehensiveness in methodology andthoroughnessofcoverage.


Slide #7 (Figure 11-8) and slide #8 (Figure 11-9) provide a dense and traditional executivesummary. In reading the slides closely you get the full situation-opportunity-resolution narrative incompact form. If you are going to do an executive summary, this is theway to do it. Iwould havemoved these two slides to the end of the presentation (or to theAppendix) and renamed the section“Approach and Objectives.” Furthermore, I imagine that Accenture did not include the two “KeyConclusions”slides(oratleastdidnotspeaktothem)whentheydeliveredthepresentationsincedoingsowouldhavetakentoolongandgivenawaytoomuch.



LikeMcKinsey,Accenture appears to favor theword “context” over “situation,” as shown inslide #9 (Figure 11-10). Rather than using the lone word or the similarly vague “Recent Context,”Accentureprovidesmoreclarityviaspecificitywith“InternationalPostalContext.”Bestpracticewouldhaverequiredanactionverbsuchas“Review”atthefrontofthebullettoputtheaudienceintherightmentalmodeforthesection.


Figure11-12illustratesthecompleteorganizingstructureofAccenture’sUSPSsituation.

Figure11-12:OutlineofAccenture’sUSPSsituation

Accenture’s entire situation is expertly encapsulated in the title of slide #10 (Figure 11-13):“Internationalpostsarefacingmajorchallengeswiththeirmailbusiness.”Iftheaudiencefullyacceptsthisstatement,thepresentercouldmovedirectlytotheopportunitysection.Morelikely,listenerswillwanttoknow,“Whichmajorchallenges?”Sincethissummarynodeslideframestheremainderofthesituation,itoutlinesthekeychallenges.


Tip34:Annotationsatthebottomofaslideshouldonlybeusedtotransitiontothenextslide

Sometimes the title and content on a slide trigger more than one natural question. In thosecircumstances, an annotation (also known as a call-out) at the bottom of the slide can make thetransitiontothenextslideexplicit.Thus,itcanplayacriticalroleintheflowofthestory.

Unfortunately, the annotation at the bottom of slide #10 (Figure 11-13) – “They pursuediversification as a means to structurally address their challenges” – is doing the unexpected. Theannotation rather abruptly links the challenges to the solution; or stated in the terminology of ourframework, linking the situation to the resolution. This not only jumps the gun by prematurelyleapfrogging theopportunity section, it alsobreaks thenarrative flowsince thenext setof slideshasnothingtodowithdiversificationorotherstructuralchanges.Moreover,thereisnoambiguityinwhatshould come next, a deeper discussion of the “loss of relevance” challenge. Consequently, thisannotationshouldberemoved.

Tip35:Proveboldclaims

Afterthesummarynodeslide,Accenture’sUSPSpresentationexploresthefirstchallengefacinginternationalposts–lossofrelevance.Sincethatisaboldclaim,anaudiencewillask,“Whatproofdoyouhave?”Theproof is the analysis in slide#11 (Figure11-14) showing letter volumehas recentlybecomedisconnectedfromGDPgrowth.


TheaudiencenowknowslettervolumehasbecomedisconnectedfromGDPaftermanyyearsoftrending together but does not yet know why. Slide #12 (Figure 11-15) provides the answer. ThehistoricaldriverslinkedtoGDPgrowthsuchaspopulationexpansion,increasingper-capitaincome,andincreasedmobilitystillexist;however,twoforcesareoverwhelmingthosedrivers.First,technologicaladvances such as electronic payment and digitization of information are eliminating printed account

statements and catalogues. Second, shifting consumer behavior related to environmental concerns,security,andconveniencearecompoundingtheproblemforsnailmail.


Tip36:Useellipsesinslidetitlestosupporttheflowofthestory

In slide #13 (Figure11-16) and slide #14 (Figure 11-17), the situation transitions to the nextchallenge - loss of postal monopoly. The use of ellipses (…) at the end of one slide title and thebeginningof thenext is a techniqueusually reserved for instanceswhere the second slide answers aquestiontriggeredbythefirst.Inthisinstance,however,“…as”atthebeginningofslide#14simplyindicatesthatanadditionalindependentfactorisatplay.Youcanseethisifyoureversetheorderofthetitlesasfollows:“Lowercostcompetitorsaregainingsharefromlegacypostaloperatorsinliberalizedmarkets…”“…astheeliminationofthepostalmonopolyislikelytoexacerbatethestructuraldeclineof mail volumes.” Since the two factors could be reordered, I presume Accenture discusses theshrinkingreservedareabeforelow-costcompetitionbecausetheformeristhebiggerissue.



Slide#15(Figure11-18)outlines theprofitability struggleswithwhich international posts aredealinginthefaceofrisingUniversalServiceObligation(USO)costs.Thisslideisanicestory-within-a-story,showingmitigationtacticsarenotcurbingcostsquicklyenough.

Figure11-18:Accenture’sUSPSpresentation(slide#15)

Postal services around theworld are strugglingwith loss of relevance, loss ofmonopoly, andrising costs for their Universal Service Obligation (USO). The answer to “What should posts do toaddressthesechallenges?”isthefocusofthenextActinAccenture’sstrategicstory.

Chapter12

Accenture’sUSPSOpportunity

Backonslide#10(Figure11-13),Accentureforeshadoweddiversificationintonon-mailproductsandservicesastheopportunitypostalservicesaroundtheworldmustembracetoaddresstheircommonsetofchallenges.

Thoughrigorouslystructuredandeasytounderstand,ActIIofAccenture’sUSPSdiversificationstory is rather involved. As represented in slide #16 (Figure 12-1),Accenture’s opportunity section,aptlynamed“PostalDiversification,”containsthreesubsections.Instoryterms,thinkoftheseasthreesceneswe expect to be connected together progressively by tension tied to openquestions.The firstscene,“Layoftheland,”introducesdiversificationasaneffectivemeansofaddressingthechallengestoprofitability.Thesecondsection,“Modality,”beginsbysharingthemutually-exclusiveandcollectively-exhaustivesetofdiversificationoptionsavailableandendsbyprioritizingthemostattractivesubset.(Iamnotahugefanoftheterm“Modality”sincefewaudiencememberswillintuitivelyknowwhatthatmeans; “Review diversification options” would have been far clearer.) Finally, the third section,“Challenges,”exploresstructuralchangesrequiredtosuccessfullydiversify.(Accenture’schoiceforthesub-section title is also puzzling here; “Explore diversification requirements” would have beensuperior.)


Figure12-2illustratesthestructureforthe“Layoftheland”subsection.Accentureusedthesetoftechniquesforstrategicstorytellingwithwhichwearenowthoroughlyfamiliar,including:bottom-line-up-frontmessaging,summarynodes,depthordertreetraversal,andthequestion-answer-narrativeflow.

Figure12-2:StructureofAccenture’sUSPS“LayoftheLand”subsection

Tip37:Giveeachslideanindependenttitle

Slide#17(Figure12-3)andslide#18(Figure12-4)provide thebottom-line-up-frontmessage:internationalpostsarealreadywelldiversified.Thefirstofthetwoslidesprovidesconclusiveproofbyshowingnotonlythatthemajorityofpostsderive40%ormoreoftheirrevenuefromnon-mail,butalsothatnon-mailrepresentsthemajorityofrevenueacrosstheentiresample.Thesecondofthetwoslidesrevealswhichpostsareincludedintheirsample.

Theonenit Ihave topickwith thispairof slides lies in repeating the title. Iwouldkeep theexisting title for slide #17 (Figure 12-3),minus the “(I).” Slide #18 (Figure 12-4) could havemanytitles,butthe“right’”titleshouldansweraquestionraisedbythepreviousslideandtriggeraquestiontobe answeredby thenext one.The columnchart on the left-hand-sideof theprior slide leaves theaudiencewantingtoknow,“Whichinternationalpostsareineachdiversificationrange?”Thenextslide,#19(Figure12-5),establishesthecasethatdiversificationcorrelateswithprofitability.Hence,slide#18(Figure12-4)shouldraiseaquestionthatpromptsthiscase.Iwouldgowiththetitle,“DiversificationisaGlobalPhenomenon.”(Note:Using“TheUSPSIsUnder-DiversifiedRelativetoGlobalBenchmarks”isanexcellenttitle,butnotheresincethispartofthestoryisnotabouttheUSPS.)



Just because international posts have diversified and are now deriving the majority of theirrevenuefromnon-mailproductsandservicesdoesnotnecessarilymeandiversificationisagoodthing.Toproveitisaboon,Accentureframesthethree-partcaseinslide#19(Figure12-5).


Theremainingslidesinthe“Layoftheland”subsection,slides#20to#23(Figures12-6to12-9), offer quantitativeproof that higher levels ofdiversification lead to sustainable revenue andprofitgrowthaswellasefficientuseofcapital.



Accenture’sUSPS opportunity continues in the “Modality” subsection as shown in slide #24(Figure12-10).This titlemeans thewayinwhichsomething isdoneor, in thiscontext, thenon-mailproductsandservicestowhichinternationalpostshaveturned.Again,Iwishthesectionhadbeenmoreclearlytitled,“Reviewdiversificationoptions.”


Atfirstglance, theslide#25(Figure12-11) looks likeasummarynode.Giveneverythingwehavelearnedsofar,aswellasthefactthatAccenturehasalreadyreliedonthisproventechnique,weshould expect to progress sequentially through each of the five platforms – transportation, retailservices,mail-relatedservices,emergingservices,andgovernmentservices.Alongerpresentation(orreport)woulddrillintoeachoftheareascomprisingtheplatformsindepth-ordertreetraversalfashion.

However,asshownintheoutlineinFigure12-12,Accenturekeepstheplatform→areaconceptbroadandinsteadgoesdeepwithaspecificprescription:focusondevelopingcapabilitiesinonekeyareaatatime.SinceFigure12-12providesthequestionsthatdrivethenarrativeflow,I’llsimplyleaveittoyoutobrowsetheremainingslides#26to#30(Figures#13 to#17) in the“Modality”subsectionwithoutfurtherexplanation.


Figure12-12:StructureofAccenture’sUSPS“Modality”subsection


Let’s get our bearings in the overall strategic story once more. Accenture’s situation sectionestablished that international posts face a number of challenges. The first of three opportunitysubsections proveddiversification is a profitable answer to the challenges and the second subsectionestablished how to diversify. While the end of the second subsection highlighted business-as-usualrequirements to succeed at diversification, the third opportunity subsection, ushered in by slide #31(Figure12-18),bringsstructuralrequirementstotheforefrontascriticaltosuccess.


Accenture’spresentationreturnstothesummarynodeapproachbeginningwithslide#32(Figure12-19).Thisslidesetsupthethreesub-plotlinesincludingtheneedsforresources,time,andbusinessmodelalterationsasillustratedbythesecondleveloftheoutlineinFigure12-20.


Figure12-20:OutlineofAccenture’sUSPS“Challenges”subsection

Slide#33 (Figure12-21) is the start of the first subplot and follows a linear progression intoresourceneedsfornewcapabilitiesandassets.Thequestion,“Howshouldweacquirethoseresources?”isansweredbyslide#34(Figure12-22).Thenextquestion,“Howmanyacquisitionsarenecessarytosucceed?,”isansweredbyslide#35(Figure12-23).Thesubplotconcludesinslide#36(Figure12-24)byansweringthequestion,“Whatspecificcompaniesdidleadinginternationalpostsacquire?”



Slide#37(Figure12-25)kicksoffthesecondsubplot,time.Althoughspanningonlytwoslidesascomparedtofour,thesecondsubplotisstructuredasalinearprogressionjustasthefirstonewas.Inthiscase, thefirstslideproffersAccenture’spositionthatestablishingasizeablepresenceinnon-mailmarkets will take time. Recall that the USPS is in financial crisis mode. Consequently, one wouldexpect the audience to respond, “But,wedon’t have time!What canwedogenerateprofit sooner?”Slide#38(Figure12-26)answersthatquestiondirectly–theUSPScanexpecttogenerateprofitevenduringthebuildingphase.



Thusthebusinessmodelalterationsubplotunlikethepriortwocontainsnotonebuttwothreads.Thefirstthreadisrelatedtostaffingandthesecondrelatedtogovernmentconsiderations.Assuch,theslidethatbeginsthissectionshouldserveasasummarynode.However,slide#39(Figure12-27)takestheunconventional,andIwouldargueill-advised,approachofdivingrightintostaffingconsiderations.


The problemwith skipping a summary node for the businessmodel alteration subplot is thatslide #40 (Figure 12-28) switches the narrative from staffing to government considerations with nocontext.Slide#40(Figure12-28)contendsthatpostshavesuccessfullydiversifiedwithoutneedingtoresorttoprivatization.However,thepostsneedtohaveflexibilityinadjustingtheirbusinessmodelasshowninslide#41(Figure12-29)andinrelaxingtheiruniversalserviceobligationasshowninslide#42(Figure12-30).




Theendoftheopportunitysection,liketheendofanyActII,istheclimaxofthestrategicstory.NowthatAccenturehasidentifiedtheopportunity;itistimetofindouthowtheUSPScancapitalizeonit.

Chapter13

Accenture’sUSPSResolution

In this situation-opportunity-resolution presentation, Accenture’s first Act explored the profitabilitycrisis facing internationalpostsasa resultof lossof relevance, lossofmonopoly,and risingcostsofuniversalserviceobligations.Thesecondactoffereddiversificationintoselectednon-mailproductsandservicesasthebestwayoutofthecrisisforpostsingeneral.Thefinalact,labeled“ImplicationsfortheU.S.PostalService”inslide#43(Figure13-1),describeshow theUSPS inparticularcancapturetheopportunity.


Resolutionsareordinarilyverydirect–dothis,thendothat;finalactsgenerallyrequirelittleinthewayof background context because all the characters and sources of tension are alreadyknown.However,Accenture’sUSPSpresentationissomewhatuniqueinthatthefocusshiftsfrominternationalpostsinthefirsttwosectionstotheUSPSinthethirdsection.BecauseofthatshiftweneedtoknowalittleaboutwhatisgoingonwiththeUSPSinordertoacceptthatthediversificationresolutionisthecorrectonefortheorganization.

Wealreadyknowthat thebestwaytoapplyasetofrecommendations toanewcontextusingstrategicstorytellingprinciplesistousethesituation-complication-resolutionformat!ThisispreciselywhatAccenturedoeswhentheyembedacompleteSCRasthethirdact.Itisalsounusualsincefocus

shiftsattheendofastoryare(andshouldbe)rare,buthereitworks.

Themini-situation begins on slide #44 (Figure 13-2) which serves as the now very familiarsummary node slide. The USPS is in a very unfavorable position due to low diversification anddecliningmail volumes. Slide #45 (Figure 13-3) proves the low diversification point and slide #46(Figure13-4)provesthedecliningmailvolumespoint.




Themini-complication is presented in its entirety on slide#47 (Figure13-5). To remain self-funding, the USPS needs to offset a massive, $7.8 billion loss, spun euphemistically as a “profitshortfall.”

From a storytelling standpoint, all Accenture needed to share on this slide are the near-termchallengesfacingtheUSPS.ApplyingtheSCRframework,itistooearlytodiscussdiversificationandstructuralchangeassolutions.Moreover,Iwouldeliminatethehyperboliccomparisonsto“creating13Fortune 500 companies” and “building an e-commerce business 8x the size of Amazon.com.” Inaddition,everythingweknowsofarisaboutinternationalposts.So,whybringinnew“characters”intheformofother,non-governmental industries?Ifmusicpublishing,videorental,andsoonwerethesourceofdiversificationbestpracticesmostapplicabletopostalservices,thenweshouldhaveheardalotmoreaboutthatbefore.

http://Amazon.com.


After a questionably designed mini-complication, Accenture’s USPS presentation ends on astrongnotewiththemini-resolutioninslide#48(Figure13-6).ThefouractionstheUSPSmusttaketorestore profitability through non-mail diversification mirror the international post best practicesenumeratedintheopportunitysection.


Chapter14

ThePilot-Results-ScaleFramework

Beforeexploringthevisualcomponentofstrategicstorytelling,youneedtoconsideronemorestrategicstorytelling framework, pilot-results-scale (PRS).As youmight have guessed, this is simply anothervariation on SCR where the pilot (or small test) is the situation, the results of the pilot are thecomplication,andtherecommendationtoscale-upis,well,therecommendation.

RecallAccenture’sultimaterecommendationonslide#48(Figure13-6)thattheUSPSislikelyto be most successful with diversification into either mail-related services (document management,integrated marketing, and logistics. By way of further reminder, mail-related services on slide #25(Figure12-11)includedocumentdigitization,archiving,printing,customerresponsemanagement,andarangeofrelatedservices.Logisticsincludeswarehousing,freightforwarding,andsoon.

Imagine for a moment the expected investment of time, money, and energy, as well as theexpectedreturnoninvestmentareidenticalforthemail-relatedservicesmarketandthelogisticsmarket.Moreover,imaginetheUSPScouldonlyhandleonemajornon-maildiversificationinitiativeatatime.Intheolddays,decisionmakersinthissituationwouldhave“gonewiththeirgut”andchosentheonethat “felt right.”Armies of people and truckloads ofmoneywould have been invested in building acomprehensive business plan and then building out massive infrastructure. While that still happensoccasionally,mostofthebusinessworldisrapidlymovingtowardleaninnovationtechniques.

Whiletherearesomeoutstandingbooksonthetopic(includingmyfavorite,TheFourStepstotheEpiphanybySteveBlank),I’llgrosslysimplifythewholeprocessdowntothreestepsfordesigningaminimumviable product, testing itwith real customerswhohavepaid realmoney, and integratingwhat you learn into the next design. “Piloting” is the simple name for this rinse-and-repeat process.Statedanotherway,thedaysofbuildingthewholeenchiladaandseeingiftheywillcomeareover.Theneweraofbuildingaprototype justgoodenoughtoexciteearlyadoptersandscaleup throughrapiditerationishere.

Getting back to our hypothetical scenario, imagine the USPS embraced lean innovation andcreated two project teams, one tasked with exploring mail-related services and one tasked withexploring logistics. Taking just one as an example, the non-mail services team brings an SCR topersuadeUSPSleadershiptoapproveapilotasfollows:

• Situation:We,theUSPS,arefacingafinancialcrisis.Accenturehasidentifiedmail-relatedservicesasaprofitableareafornon-maildiversification.Moreover,wearehighlylikelytosucceedbecauseofsynergieswithourexistingassetsandcapabilities.Atscale,weexpecttomake$(…)peryearata(…)timesreturnoninvestment.

• Complication: “Mail-related services” is a broad category including but not limited tointegrated marketing and document management. We have hypotheses about the sub-services our potential customers value and about the return on investment on those sub-services,butpossessnofirst-handexperience.

• Resolution: We propose a pilot to answer the following open questions (…) with thefollowingscope(…)overthefollowingtimeframe(…)andwiththefollowinghumanandfinancialresources(…).Thepilotwillbejudgedasuccessifweachievethefollowingonourkeyperformanceindicators(…).

The pilot-results-scale strategic story comes into play after the pilot is complete. Act I is areminder–Weconductedapilottoanswerthefollowingopenquestions…ActIIsharestheresultsofthepilot.Rarelydo the results fully confirmor fully refute thehypotheses you set out to test.Morefrequentlyyouwillendupconfirmingafewthings,refutingafewothers,anddiscoveringvaluablenewinsights. Finally, Act III is a request for more time, money, and energy to scale the pilot either upanothernotchor toa full-scale lineofbusiness. Just as theSCRrequest topilot, thePRS request toscaleshouldcomewithasolidbusinesscasedetailingscope,timeframe,resources,expectedreturnoninvestment,andkeyperformanceindicators.

Finally,notethePRSframeworkcanbegeneralizedtoserveasatemplateforanyprojectstatusupdate.Toooften,professionalsdeliverblandupdatestotheirsuperiorsandwonderwhypraise,raises,andpromotionsarenotforthcoming.Valuableemployeesdomorethanupdateorinform,theyleadwiththeoverarchingbusinessobjectiveandareviewofwhattheysetouttodo.Theythensharetheirresultswithoutsugar-coatingorhidinganything.Finally,theyrecommendaplanforwhattodonext.

Section2:Data-DrivenDesign

Chapter15

ToSlideorNottoSlide

Beforedivingintothenitty-grittyoftheslide-designtechniquesthatsupportstrategicstorytelling,let’spauseforonechaptertoconsiderwhenandhowtouseslides.

Just as persuasive content structure traces to a one-time McKinsey employee, so too doespersuasive content design. While his mentor Barbara Minto focused on structure, Gene Zelaznyconcentrated on design and delivery.More than 50 years after theymet, they still run in these twodistinct lanes.Mr. Zelazny’s core concepts for the visual display of quantitative information remainkeenlyrelevanteventhoughhisbookswerepublishedmorethanadecadeago.

Tip38:Useslidesonlywhentheyacceleratedecision-making

Whilethistipmayseemobvious,Ifindthatbusinesspeoplecreateslideseverytimetheydeliverapresentationwithouttakingthetimetoconsiderwhetherornotslidesacceleratedecision-making.Theurge to “build a PowerPoint deck” is so strongly ingrained that I think people have lost, or neverdevelopedinthefirstplace,theabilitytopresentwithouttechnicalaccompanimentorevenunderstandthat thereare timeswhenslidesdomoreharmthangood.Fromthepointofviewof thespeaker, theonly outcome that matters in a persuasive business presentation is approval to implement arecommendation.(Yes, thedecisionto takeadifferentandbettercourseofactionconstitutessuccess,too.)Ifslideshelpyougetto“yes,”usethem.Ifnot,don’t.

When do slides hurt? I can think of at least three instances, startingwith engaging a hostileaudiencedue to riskaversionor theall-too-commonpersonalityconflict. Ifyouputslides in frontofskeptics,theywillassumeawholerangeofnegativemotivationsincludingthepossibilitythatyoudonotcarefortheirinputorthatyouwanttoclaimallthecreditfortheultimateresults.Forcoworkers,especiallypeers,tosupportaninitiative,theymustbeinvestedfromtheearlieststagesofaprojectandthatinvestmentbeginswithdialogue,notinputonslides.

Slidesareabarriernotonlytocollaboratingwithahostileaudience,butalsotobrainstormingwith a friendlyone.Guiding theentire ideationprocesswith slides risks closingpeople’sminds, thesecondinstanceofslidesdoingmoreharmthangood.

Therearethreeappropriateusesforslidesduringabrainstormingsession:

• The first is toclearlyestablish theproblemyouwant solved.Theproblemdefinitionmayincludetheultimateobjectiveaswellasanyguidingprinciplesorconstraintsineffect.Anydebateoverwhichproblemtosolveandwhetheritisworthsolvingtobeginwithshouldberesolvedlongbeforeyouassembleagroupofpeopleinaroom.Youmaygosofarastoestablishthecurrentstate(situation)andthedesiredstate(opportunity)sothatideationcanfocusonbridgingthegap(resolution).

• Thesecondistosharetheproceduretobeusedforthebrainstormingsession,includinganygroundrules.

• The third is foron-the-fly captureof ideas. It doesnotmatterwhether themeeting scribecaptures information electronically, onwhiteboards, orgiant piecesofpaper stuck to thewall,thepointistogivetheaudiencethevisualconfirmationitneedstoconfirmitsinputmatters.

The third instanceofwhen the excessiveuseof slides candomoreharm thangood isduringcorporate training. Since this book is about persuading higher-ups to approve recommendationspackagedasstrategicstories,corporatetrainingisbeyondthescopeofthisbooksoIcannotgointotoomuch depth about it, however, Iwill say that the best framework I have seen for training is to takestudentsthroughthe“seeone,doone,teachone”cycle.Slidesarefineduringthe“seeone”phase,butshould be avoided during the other two phases, except perhaps to set-up the exercise. As in thecollaborationandbrainstormingcases,trainingsuccessdemandsdialogue.

Thesituation-complication-resolutionframework,aswellasthevariationsIhavediscussed,isapersuasiveconceptbasedonstrategicstorytellingthatworksinanyformofcommunicationincludingconversations, slide-less presentations, presentations with slides, emails, written reports, and so on.Choose the rightmedium for themessage based on your objective and the bestway to engage yourspecificaudience.

Tip39:Thelargertheaudience,thesimplertheslides

Eveninthemanyinstanceswhereslideshavethepotentialtoacceleratedecision-making,manyspeakersmakethemistakeofdesigningslidesthatarefartoodenselypackedwithcontent.Sometimesthishappensbecausethespeakerwantstoshowoffhowmuchtheyknowandthevastamountofworkdone.Other times, speakers createdense slides that function as speaker notes.Either reason is poor;slidesmustbedesignedassimplyaspossibleinserviceoftheaudience.

NoticethatIadded“inserviceoftheaudience.”Whenseekingtopersuadeahighlytechnical,detailorienteddecisionmakerone-on-one,thenextremelydenseslidesarelikelythebestchoice.Ontheother hand, when delivering a keynote address to thousands, then slides with vivid, full-screenphotographsareasuitablechoice.

Intheforthcomingchapters,Iwillfocusondesigningslidesforthetypicalbusinessaudienceof

five to fifteen people, give or take a few on either end. For such groups, slides with clear titlessupportedbylighttomoderateamountsofinformationareappropriateandeffective.

Tip40:Thecontentinthebodyoftheslidemustunambiguouslyprovetheslidetitle

Toprove “unprecedented losses” as shown in slide#2 (Figure15-1),McKinsey appropriatelyincludedachartwithten-yearsoffinancialhistoryplustheexpectedlossinthecurrentyear.Acolumnoftextaddressing“Keydrivers”forthelossessupplementsthechart.Indeed,fourconsecutiveyearsofmulti-billion dollar losses qualifies as unprecedented, though a sticklerwouldwant proof this neverhappenedinthelonghistoryoftheUSPS.Anextremesticklerwouldwanttoseethatgreaterlosseshadnotbeenexperiencedbyothernationalpostalservices,either.


Tip41:Matchthedesigntreatmentintheslidebodytothemessageinthetitle

Tosupportagivenmessage,aspeakercandrawfromarangeofdesigntreatments, including:text,graphs,tables,diagrams,andimages.Thougheachofthesefivetreatmentshasinfinitevariations,eachformtypicallyservesaspecificfunction.Textisbestsuitedfordrawingattentiontokeyinsights.Graphsconveytime-seriestrends,composition(includingrankandshare),distribution,andcorrelation.Tablesareanalternativetographswhenprecisionisrequired,thequantityofdataisminimal,orwhendata is non-numeric. Diagrams illustrate processes and relationships. Finally, images function inoppositeways. Either they pair nicelywith emotional speeches, or they convey extremely complex,often technical, information that would otherwise take a thousand words to explain (just imagineassemblingfurnitureusinganinstructionmanualwithoutimages).

Tip42:Designeachslidesothatitcanbecoveredinthreeminutesorless

Presentation design softwaremakes it easy to includemultiple design treatments on a singleslide.Ifyoufindyourselfaddingmultipleinstancesofonetreatmentormixingtreatments(exceptingtext) on a single slide, there is a good chance you are loading toomuch on it and should considerpresenting the information in two ormore slides. It takes nomore, and possibly even less, time topresentthesamecontentspreadacrossmultipleslidesasitdoestoreviewallofthecontentonasingleslide.Youraudiencewillthankyouforthisbecauseslidechangescreateenergybyengagingthevisualcortexandsignalingprogresstowardtheend.

Perhapsthebesttestofwhetheryouhavetoomuchcontentonaslideisifittakesyoumorethanthreeminutestodeliverwhatisonit.MostofthebusinessmeetingsIattendrangefromthirtyminutesto one hour. To ensure an on-time ending, I recommend creating enough slides to fill twenty-fiveminutesofcontentfora thirty-minutemeetingandfiftyminutesofcontentforanhour-longmeeting.Theextratimeservesasabufferforlatecomersonthefrontend,forsummarizingactionsanddecisionson thebackend, and forhandlingquestions.Also, tomyknowledge,noonehaseverbeen firedforchronicallyendingmeetingsearly.Applyingthethree-minute-per-sliderule-of-thumb,createsatmost8contentrichslidesforahalf-hourmeetingand16foraone-hourmeeting.Ifyoutendtolingerontitleslides, agenda slides, and divider slides, a practice I do not recommend, then include them in yourcount,aswell.

Tip43:Useanimationsparingly(ifatall)

Inadditiontomakingcontentoverloadtooeasytoperpetrate,presentationdesignsoftwareinthewronghandscanallowforthetriumphofstyleoversubstance.Specifically,speakersshouldusebuildsandslidetransitionssparinglyifatall.

Builds reveal slidecontentprogressivelyeither“onclick”orafterauser-specified timedelay.Onecouldsimulateabuildbyaddingcontentonepieceatatimetoasequenceofslides,butthatposesthechallengeofkeepingeverythingidenticalduringupdatesandedits.

Inspecialcircumstances,buildsaidstrategicstorytelling.For instance, imagineyouwanted toshow a four-step process leading to a single outcome. If each step requires detailed explanation, itbehoovesyoutouseabuild.Icanthinkofseveralotherreasonablygoodopportunitiestousebuilds,includingbutnotlimitedto:

• Startingwithacauseandthenrevealingitseffect

• Showingthehistoryofatime-seriesandthenaddingaforecast

• Showingthefullslidecontentandthenaddingtransitionquestiontextatthebottom(thisismostusefulwhentheslidecontenttriggerssimultaneousquestionsorwhenthequestionisnotobvious)

Mybiggest objection to builds is that they draw attention away from the speaker every timecontent is revealed. Inmostcircumstances, it isbetter toshowallof thecontent, letpeoplementallyprocessit,andthenallowtimefortheireyestoshiftbacktoyou.

Buildshaveotherdisadvantages.First, theydelaydiscussionsince listeners,outof respect forthespeaker,waitforallofthecontenttoappear.Second,byallowingcontenttoappearanddisappear,buildsallowdesignerstolayercontent.Ifyourslidedoesnotlookgoodwhenallcontentelementsareshown,youareprobablyabusingthebuildfeature.

Justasbuildsdrawattentionawayfromspeakers,sotoodoanimatedslidetransitions.Asarule,Ineverusethem.Theyareparticularlyunprofessionalinsmallerbusinessmeetings,preciselythetypeinwhichyouaremostlikelytofindyourself.Ifyoumustuseaslidetransition,keepitsubtleandshort.From-rightwipes,wherethenewslidecoverstheold,isthebestchoice.Smoothfades,wherethenewslideappearswhiletheoldslidedisappears, isalsoanacceptablealternative.Avoidspecialvariationsonthesetwotransitions,aswellasallothertransitiontypes,unlessyouareatrainedprofessional.Itisalso important to keep transitions to a half-second; less than that is too abrupt andmore is boring.Finally,eschewsoundsattransitionsunlessyouareinsecondgradeandthewholepointistodazzletheotherkidswithyourPowerPointprowess.

Tip44:Layoutbodycontentfromleft-to-rightandtop-to-bottom

Lookcloselyatdramatic storytellingandyouwill find three-partnarrativestructures repeatedlikefractals.Theoverallstoryhasabeginning(ActI),middle(ActII),andendActIII).Eachacthasabeginning,middle,andend,too.ThemaindifferencebetweentheoverallstoryandanindividualactisthattensionisleftunresolvedattheendofActIandActII.Next,eachActismadeupof(typically)fivetotensequencesandeachsequencecontainsanumberofscenes.And,youguessedit,sequencesandsceneshavetheirownthree-partstructures.

Ibringallthisupbecausethesesameprinciplesapplytopresentationdesign.Astrategicstoryhasthreeparts:thesituation,thecomplication,andtheresolution–usuallyinthatorder.Eachparttellsits own partial story with tension left unresolved at the end of the situation and the complication.Similarly,eachslideneedstobeviewedasasceneandshouldtellastoryallitsown.

Layingastoryonaslidefromleft-to-rightandtop-to-bottomisthestylethatmirrorsthemannerin which English language speakers read. McKinsey placed the financial history chart as the firstelementintheupperleftbecauseitisthestrongestproofofunprecedentedlossesandbecauseitisthebeginningofthestorytheslidesreveal.

Tip45:Maintainstrictdesignconsistency

Inorder toeffectivelyexecutewith the formover function theme Ikeepharpingon, strive to

maintainstrictdesignconsistency.Fromslidetoslide,stickwiththesame:

• Fonts,inclusiveoftype,slide,andcolor

• Alignmentandplacementofelementssuchastitles,charts,andtextboxes

• Colorsandtexturesusedinimages,charts,etc.

Every design element - colors, fonts, etc. – has meaning. Sometimes these meanings areculturallypredetermined,suchasthecolorredsignalingdangerinWesternculturesandgoodfortuneinEasterncultures.Moreoften,however,designelementstakeontheirownmeaningfromthefirsttimeyouusethem.Forinstance,whenyoushowarevenuetrendlineusingasolidblacklineforhistoricalnumbers and a dashed grey line for forecasted values, your audience subconsciously expects aconsistenttreatmentinallfuturetrendlinegraphs.Ifyouchangetheformatting,orworsereverseit,youslowcomprehension.

Beforemovingon tobestpractices forusing text instrategicstories, Iofferonemorecaveat.The ease of use and bells and whistles in presentation design softwaremakes it very easy to over-design.Keepyourstoryfront-and-centerandrememberthatgreatdesignisbestwhenitisnotnoticed.

Chapter16

Text

Textisthemostusedandmostabuseddesigntreatmentvenindata-drivenpresentations.Fortunately,McKinsey,BCG,andAccentureappliedafullarrayofbestpracticesthatyoucanleverageinyourownstrategic stories. In this chapter we will start with a simple bulleted list and progress toward morecreativelydesignedtextslides.Throughitall,bearinmindthatdazzlingdesignisonlyvaluableinsofarasithelpslistenersmakeinformeddecisions.

Tip46:Maximizecontrastbetweenthetextandthebackground

ThefirstthingtonoticeaboutAccenture’sslide#7(Figure16-1)isthedegreetowhichthetextstandsoutagainstthebackground.Blacktextonawhitebackgroundissofamiliarthatwedonoteventhinkofitasadesignchoice.Yet,itisachoice;achoicethatconnotesneutralityandsimplicity.


Whitetextonablackbackgroundhasjustasmuchcontrastasthereverse,asshowninFigure16-2. However, white text is harder to read. Even the bold “International posts are already well-diversified” stands out much better in black text than in white. Consequently, white text on a dark

backgroundshouldbereservedforinstanceswhenyouwanttodrawattention,aswhenusinglabelsortitles.RecallBCG’spresentationinwhichtheorangeslidetitlesworkednicelyagainstthedarkgreenbackground,butthewhitebullettextinthebodyagainstthesamebackgroundultimatelygrewtiresome.

Figure16-2:FirstbulletfromAccentureslide#7,textandbackgroundcolorsreversed

Tip47:Usesolidcolorsforslidebackgrounds

Whileweareonthesubjectofeffectivebackgrounds,noticethatAccenture’sslide#7(Figure16-1)hasasolidbackground.Anypatternorimageinthebackground,nomatterhowsubtle,drawsthereader’s eye away from the text and makes it less readable. If a textured background has criticalmeaning,byallmeansuseit,butifitispurelydecorativeeliminateit.Onceagain,I’mgoingtofaultBCG–thistimeforembeddingitscompanylogoinamassivefontintothebackgroundofeveryslide.TheUSPSpaidforthispresentationtoaddressitsplight,sothisseemsaninappropriatedesignchoice,conveyingnosmallamountofhubris.Incontrast,Accentureplacedadiminutiveversionofitslogointhe slide footer, a best practice of maximizing readability while gently reminding the reader of theslide’screator.Thebottomrightand thebottom left are the subtlest locations toplacea logo. (Note:Footersshouldalsoincludepagenumbers,unlessyouaredeliveringakeynotepresentation.)

Tip48:Uselarge,standardfonts

Unlessyouareanexpertdesigner,useexactlytwostandardfontsinyourpresentation,oneforslidetitlesandoneforbodytext.

Slidetitles,criticalastheyare,demandattentioninalarge,bold,high-contrast,sans-seriffont.Standardsans-seriffontslikeAriel,Helvetica,andCenturyGothiclackthelittletailsthathelpconnectletters. Throughout the USPS presentation, Accenture used standard capitalization for slide titles. Iprefer title capitalization (“Key Conclusions” instead of “Key conclusions”), but either stylistictreatmentwilldo.Sinceslide titles shouldbestatedascomplete sentences, theymayspanup to twolines.

Body text should be in a more readable serif font since there is usually much more of itcomparedtotitletext.StandardseriffontsincludeTimesNewRomanandGeorgia.

Usefontslargeenoughtoberead.Ifyouprojectyourpresentationonascreen,wordsmustbelegibletopeopleseatedinthebackoftheroom.Inmostcases,thismeanstitletextofatleast36pointandbodytextofatleast24point.Goaslargeaspossiblewhilemaintainingtheroughly12-pointdelta

between the two.Accentureappears tohavedippedbelowthis fontsizeconsidered theminimumforprojectedpresentations.Giving the firm thebenefit of thedoubt, perhapsAccenture’spresentation isreallyareportintendedforclosereadingand,therefore,warrantsthissmallersizefont.

Tip49:Keeptextshort

Theopeningbullet inAccenture’s slide#7 (Figure16-1) ismucheasier to read than the finalbullet.Thereason,obviously,islength;theinitialbulletpointspanstwolinesoftextascomparedtotheclosingbullet’sfourlines,sixifyouincludethesub-bullet.

But,brevityisnottheonlyreasonthefirstbulletiseasiertoread,becauseitalso“leadswiththelead”placingthemostimportantinformationatthefrontofthetext.Eventhoughtheotherthreebulletsuseboldfacetypetopulloutkeywords,noneareaseasytocomprehendasthefirstbulletpoint.

As complete sentences, all of the bullets follow the best practice of applying parallelconstruction,howevercompletesentencesaremoresuitableforreading,notpresentingtoanaudience.

Tip50:Applyaconsistentformattoyourslideheader

Touncoverotherbestpracticesforusingtextinstrategicstories,let’sturntoMcKinsey’sslide#24 (Figure 16-3). McKinsey presentation slide headers use one or more of the following threeelements,including:sectiontitles,slidetitles,andslideheadlines.


The first element is the section title, here.Thisoptional element ismost usefulwhenused inlongerpresentationstohelptheaudiencestayfocusedandnotlosetrackofwhereyouareinthestory.Ifyou use a section title, allow it to drift into the background by giving it a very light treatment asMcKinseydidwith“ActionswithinPostalServicecontrol:Productivity”inasmall,light-orangefont.

McKinseyviolates theruleof totalconsistencybyvarying thecolorof thesection titleas thestoryprogresses.Breakingaruleisalwaysacceptablewhenithelpstheaudiencefollowthestoryasitdid in this presentation. The color shifts even suit the emotional tone of the content. The situationsectioncarriesthelight-greysectiontitle“RecentContext”conveyingfactualandemotionalneutrality.Thecomplication section carries the red section title “BaseCase” conveying trouble. The resolutionsectiontitlestartswithlight-orangefor“ActionswithinPostalServicecontrol”signalingthatattentionis required, then shifts to green for “FundamentalChange” underscoring that these final actionswillrestoretheUSPStofullfinancialhealth.

Thesecondelementistheslidetitle,sometimesreferredtoasalead.Thiselementisrequiredasitcontains theprimary informationcontent in theslideandcarries thenarrative. InMcKinsey’sslide#24(Figure16-3), the title is “The ‘ActionswithinPostalServicecontrol’ case includesproductandserviceinitiativesabovethebaselinetogrowvolume.”I’llcovermoreonthecontentofwell-articulatedslidetitlesinthefollowingtip.

Thethirdelementistheheadline.Theseareoptionallyfoundinslideheadersbelowthetitleandarecompletesentencesthatprovideanadditionallevelofdetail.Whilenotfoundinthispresentation,theyarecommoninMcKinseypresentations.Slideheadlines,beinglessimportantthanslidetitles,areusuallyinmoderatelysmaller,slightlylowercontrastfonts.

This isagoodplace tomention thatyoudonotnecessarilyneed tohaveaslideheader.Usedsparingly, slides lacking headers draw attention to themselves. Although rare in everyday businesspresentations,slideswithlargeimagesaremorepowerfulwhentheydonotcontainheaders.Dramaticslideswithonlyafewwordsoftextdonotneedheaderseither.

Tip51:Crafteachslidetitleasa“so-what”

Eachslidetitle,likethetitleofthepresentation,shouldreflecta“so-what”ratherthana“what.”Inthecaseofthisslide,aninferior“what”titlewouldbe“ProductandServiceInitiatives.”Thoughabitlong, McKinsey’s “The ‘Actions within Postal Service control’ case includes product and serviceinitiativesabovethebaselinetogrowvolume”isawell-crafted“so-what.”

One of the guiding principles in creating strategic business stories is having your audienceperformaslittlecognitiveworkaspossible.Donotmakethemfigureoutwhatyouaretryingtosay;insteadusea“so-what”titletotellthemwhatyouaresaying.Thatway,individualscanfocusalltheirmentalenergyonmakingadecision.Ifyouarepinchedfortime,youcanreadthroughthetitlesonly,oneaftertheother,andstillgivethecompletepicture–anicesidebenefit!

Ingeneral,Idonotrecommendusingquestionsasslidetitlessincetheymaketheaudiencedo

thework.Theactualtitleissuperiorto“WhatactionswithinUSPScontrolcanincreasevolume?”Onereasonableexceptionisaskingaquestioninthetitleoneslideandthenansweringitinthetitleofthenextone,butusethistechniquesparingly.

Abetteralternative is tospana titleacrossmultipleslidesusingellipses.For instance,“USPSshould pursue volume boosting initiatives…” followed on the next slide by “… by taking criticalactionsleadingto~$2billionofincrementalnetincomein2020.”Thisapproachhelpsapresentationfeelmorelikeacohesivestory.

Tip52:Convertbulletlistsintocolumns

Bylabelingandgroupingthekeyactions,McKinsey’sslide#24(Figure16-3)isvisuallymoreinteresting than Accenture’s slide #7 (Figure 16-1), despite the blue box surrounding the latter’sstandardverticallist.Accenturegainsbacktheupperhandinslide#19(Figure16-4)byconvertingintocolumnsinformationthatotherwisecouldhavebeenrepresentedasablandlist.Thistechniqueiscalled“chunking”andwastaughttomebypresentationdesignguruNolanHaims.

Figure16-4:Accenture’sUSPSopportunityslide#19

In the hands of an expert designer, “chunking” is quite elegant with blocks of text placedcreativelyratherthansimplyinboringrowsorcolumns.Whilenotreachingthelevelofartisticuseoftext onewould find in a professionally designed advertisement,McKinsey’s slide #10 (Figure 16-5)addsadditionalvisualvarietythroughtheuseofchunking.Readingtheslidefromoutsidein,therearefourchunksoftext,oneeachforvolume,price,USOobligation,andworkforcecostslaid-outinagrid.Next,noticethateachchunkhasitsown“so-what”–volumeis…decliningsteadily;priceis…risingbutcapped;andsoon.Finally,theinnermostlabelsummarizestheconfluenceofthefourtrends.Thisisan effective and visually pleasing format to convey the impact ofmultiple forces on a business and

anyonecandesignit.


Tip53:Userealquotesthatyouobtaineddirectly

Let’snowturnourattentiontohowtobestusequotesinbusinesspresentations.Mostproblemsolving processes that culminate in strategic storytelling include qualitative interviews of keystakeholders, including customers, suppliers, fellow employees, etc. Among the three management-consultingfirms,onlyBCGgetscreditforincludingsuchquotesinitspresentation.InBCG’sslide#13(Figure16-6),all fivequotesprove the title“Senders tellus that theysee theiruseofmaildecliningsharply.”Moreover,allsourcesappearhighlycredible.


Designers have at least three optionswhen including quotes in a strategic story. The first, asillustratedinBCG’sslide#13(Figure16-6),istheoverwhelmingforceapproach.Thesheervolumeofdiverse,highlycrediblesourcesquotedmeanstheaudiencecangetthemessagewithoutreadingeveryquote in detail. The second option is to add contrast to one of the quotesmost representative of thegroup.Thethirdandmostradicaloptionistoshowonlythemostrepresentativequote.Ninetimesoutof ten, I follow the third approach, relying on the principle that less is more, even with extremelyanalyticaldecision-makers;Iwouldratherincreasetheoddsthatmyaudiencereadsonepowerfulquotethanoverwhelmthemwithvolume.

Finally,applythehighestethicalstandards toquoteselection.Ifyouinterviewenoughpeople,somebodyisboundtomaketheperfectstatementtosupporttheargumentyouwanttomake,butifthatonestatement isanaberrationyouhaveaduty todisregard itasanoutlierand insteadshareaquotesupporting the majority opinion. Additionally, if you show multiple quotes representing different,possibly conflicting, findings, ensure the physical space occupied by quotes supporting each findingmatchestheprevalenceofeachtypeofstatementacrossallinterviews.

The sourcematerial I drew from for this chapter was extremely text-dense because all threepresentationsweredesignedforareadertocomprehendevenintheabsenceofanexpertspeaker.Mostbusinesspresentationsdonotneedto“travel”inthismannerandshouldhavesignificantlylesstextperslidethananyoftheexamplesinthischapter.

Fortunately,theexamplesgraphicallyinvolvedinthenextchapterofferready-to-adopttemplatesforanydata-drivenpresentation.

Chapter17

Graphs

Thephrase“data-drivenstorytelling”immediatelyconjuresvisionsofgraphsdancingacrossascreen.Inthischapter,wewillexplorethefollowingtypesofgraphs:trend,composition(includingrankandshare),distribution,andcorrelation.Alongtheway,Iwillinterweavegeneralgraphdesignpracticesasweencounterthem.

Tip54:Usecolumnchartsfortrenddatawithuptotenvalues

Afterframingitsstorywitha titleslideandanagendaslide,McKinseyimmediatelyturnedtotrend data (also referred to as time-series data) in slide #2 (Figure 17-1) to establish the USPS’ssituational context. AlthoughMcKinsey could prove the slide titlemessage of unprecedented losseswithoneoftheothertreatmenttypes,itisreasonablysafetosaythatacolumnchartrepresentingthetrendoffinancialperformanceovertimeisthemostcompellingchoice.

With a limited time-seriesof around tenvalues, a columnchart (alsoknownas averticalbarchart)ismosteffective.Columnchartsareelegantandeasytoreadaslongasthecolumnsandlabelsarenotsqueezedtoocloselytogether.


McKinsey pushed the upper boundary with eleven data points in the trend chart in slide #2(Figure17-1).Inordertolegiblysqueezeinthatnumberofvalues,thedesignerstookthefairlyunusual,thoughacceptable,stepofremovingtheleading“20”fromthex-axislabelsfortheyears2001to2009.

Tip55:Titlegraphswitha“what”ratherthana“so-what”

Myrecommendation forusinga “so-what” to title theoverall presentationandeach slide canapply tomanydifferent typesof titles,howevergraph titles arenotoneof them.Graph titles shouldmerelyexplainthefunctionofthegraphbecauseitisthevisualrepresentationthatmatters.

Thebestpracticefortitlinggraphtitlesistodescribethey-axisfollowedbythex-axis.Inatrendchart, “y over time” or “y versus x” is sufficient. In other types of charts, good choices include,“Dependenceofyonx,”“Relationshipbetweenyandx,”and“Comparisonofyacrossx.”

Giventhisbestpractice,whydidn’tMcKinseylabelthetrendchartinFigurex“Netprofit/lossover time”?While thepresentationdesignercertainlycouldhave,minimalismtrumpsallelse inslidedesign.Sinceitisobviousthex-axisistime,dropping“overtime”isareasonablechoice.

Tip56:Removeallunnecessaryelementsfromgraphs

Compare the net profit/loss chartMcKinsey actually designed to the one inFigure17-2. Theactualversionismuchmoreprofessionalbecauseitremovesalltheunnecessaryelements.

Figure17-2:Netprofit/losstrendchartwithtoomanygraphicalelements

Whilethereisnostrictdefinitionof“necessary,”considertheelementsthatMcKinseyremovedin order to apply the design principles ofminimalism, clarity, and low audience cognitive load. Byremovingunnecessaryelements,thedesignercreatedwhitespaceforinformationrichannotations.First,they-axislabeldisappearssinceitisexplainedinthetitle.Second,theverticaly-axisanditshorizontalgrid lines are removedasprofit values areprovidedaboveandbelow the columns.Third, thex-axislabelisdeletedasitisclearthevaluesareyears,arareexceptiontothebestpracticeoflabelingeachaxis with its units of measure. The horizontal x-axis itself remains because there are positive andnegative profit values and it is useful to know where zero is; however, the x-axis tick marks areremovedsincewhite-spaceissufficienttoseparateeachbar.Fourth,thelegendvanishedasthereisonlyonecategoryofvalues.

Tip57:Usechartannotationsinthebodyofaslidetoexplaincriticalinflections

The net profit and loss chart contains three annotations, including two call-outs and oneembedded“micro”table,toexplaincriticalinflectionsinthedata.

From2002to2003,theUSPSshiftedfromalossof$0.7billiontoaprofitof$3.9billion.Anyreasonable observer would want to know why, as that root cause might offer a solution to theorganization’s current woes. The annotation “No rate increase 2003-2006” does little to explain thepositiveshift in2003, thoughperhaps itaddresses thedecliningprofits through2006.Assuch,I findthiscalloutambiguousandwouldreplaceit.

Thecall-out labeled“PostalAct2006signed into law”andtheembedded“RHBpre-funding”table work together to explain the losses commencing in 2007. The Postal Accountability andEnhancementAct (PAEA)of2006called forpre-fundingof retirementhealthbenefits (RHB);as theembeddedtablereveals,thesecontributionsareasignificantrootcauseofsubsequentlosses.

Asafinalnoteonthistopic,Irecommendnumberingannotationsinordertoguidetheaudiencethroughtheflowofyourstory.Thispractice isespeciallycritical ifyouneedannotationsreadinanyorderotherthanleft-to-rightortop-to-bottom.

Tip58:Applyhighcontrasttochartdatathatdirectlysupportstheslidetitle

Thenetprofit/losschartappliesuniformformattingtoallcolumns(exceptthe2010forecastwithwhichwewilldeal in thenext tip).Toreinforcetheheader, theslidedesignermighthaveshadedthelargelossesincurredbetween2007and2010withadifferent,perhapsdarkred,color.

Designerstypicallyapplyhighcontrasttojustasingleelementinachart.Inadditiontousingamoredramaticcolor,otheroptionstodrawtheviewer’seyeincludearrowsandenclosures(forinstance,puttingarectangularoutlinearoundacolumn).

Tip59:Useamoresubtletreatmentforforecastdata

Whenatrendchartcontainsamixofactualandforecastdata,useamoresubtletreatmentontheforecastdata to indicate that it isanestimate.McKinsey’sslide#2(Figure17-1)usesadashed, lightbluerectangleforthisandevengoesonestepfurtherbyincludingafootnoteregardingthesourceofthedata.

Tip60:Footnotesources,criticalassumptions,anddetailstoogranularforthebodyoftheslide

Footnoteall sources to increase thecredibilityof thedata.Thispracticealsobenefitsyouandyourteamwhenyouqualitycheckyournumbers.

When chart data is obtained through quantitative modeling rather than direct measurement,documentcriticalassumptionsinthefootnotes.Tobelieveyourestimates,audienceswillwanttoknowthatyourassumptionsarereasonablyconservative.

Attimes,anaudiencemembermayquestionatadeeperlevelofgranularitythanwhatyoushowonaslideoronthesubsequentslide.Tohelpyouanswerthistypeofquestion,placegranulardetailsinafootnote.Forinstance,inthenetprofit/losschart,youmightexpectaquestiononthetwocomponentsofprofit,revenuesandcosts.Ifyourdataistoodetailedforafootnote,includeitinanappendixslideattheendofyourpresentation.

Tip61:Designstackedcolumnchartstoshowanoveralltrendanditscomponents

ThestackedcolumnchartinMcKinsey’sslide#6(Figure17-3)isaconvenientwaytoshowanoverall trendanditscomposition.Theoverall,highlyvolatiletrendisasdiscernableasitwouldbeifthecomponentswerenotbrokenout.

Showing any extra information comes at a cost. Besides making out the overall trend, theaudiencecanaccuratelyinterpretonlythetrendinthecomponentadjoiningtheaxis.Hence,selectingwhichcomponent toplacewhere isan importantdesigndecision.WhydidMcKinseyput“Employerpremiums”andnot“PAEAscheduledpre-funding requirement”against thex-axis?Becausedoingsoshowsregularemployerpremiumsaresmallandstableascomparedtothepre-fundingrequirement.


When reading the trend in both components simultaneously is important, then the clusteredcolumnchartshowninFigure17-4isthebestchoice.Thischange,too,comeswithacost–gainingtheabilitytodiscernbothtrendssacrificestheabilitytoseetheoveralltrend.Thereisnorightorwrong;choosethestylebasedonthemessageyouwanttoconvey.

Figure17-4:GraphfromMcKinseyslide#6convertedtoclusteredcolumnstyle

In a column chart, the columns for each category - each year in this example - should beseparatedwithwhitespacetoaidviewercomprehension.Withinacategory,allowcolumnstotouchbutnot overlap. (There is a type of overlapping column graph called a bullet chart but it is complex todesignandoftenevenmorecomplextocomprehend).Also,avoidcolumnbordersasthereareplentyofways tovisuallydistinguisheachseries. I findcolorprovides thebestcontrast forcolumns, soavoidpatternsaswell.

Tip62:Orientandorderlegendsthesamewaydataseriesareoriented

Standard,singledata-seriescolumnchartsdonotneedalegendsincethegraphtitleconveysthemetricandunitofmeasure. Instackedorclusteredcolumncharts,orientandorder legends thesamewaydata seriesareoriented.McKinsey’s slide#6 (Figure17-3) illustrates this best practicewith thelegendlabelsstackedinthesamedirectionandinthesameorderasthedataseries.Toshowwhythismatters,Iintentionallyviolatedthisruleinmyclusteredcolumnchart(Figure17-4).Thelegendinthatchart would have been much easier to read if “PAEA scheduled pre-funding requirement” wereimmediately to the right of, rather than below, “Employer premiums.”Space permitting, you can doawaywith legends instackedandclusteredcolumnchartsbydirectly labeling thecomponents in therightmostcategory.

Tip63:Uselinechartsorscatterchartsfortrendsexceedingtenvalues

Withlargersetsof time-seriesdata,a linechart ispreferablewhenthereisaclear trendandascatterchartworksbettertohighlightvariability.

Inkeepingwithoneoftherecurringthemesinthisbook,useeveryopportunitytohighlightthekeymessagewithsimplificationandclarification.Startingwith linegraphs, leaveoff symbolsunlesstheyprovideinformationcritical to thestory.Ifyouhavemultiple timeseries,differentiatelineswithcolorvariationasafirstchoiceandwithlinestyle(e.g.solidversusdashed)asasecondchoice.Shifttoscatter plots, choose symbols that are easy to distinguish such as circles, squares, triangles, plus (+)signs,orXs.Next,enlargesymbolsandremovethefill.

Avoiding certain graph types that are inherently challenging to interpret. The area chart forexample, the line chart cousin of the stacked column chart, has the same limitation as its relative –namely that one can perceive volatility in the total and in the component touching the x-axis at theexpenseofcorrectlyinterpretingtheothercomponents(seeMcKinsey’sslide#11-Figure4-4).

Tip64:Sticktoonesetofaxespergraph

Thestandardconventionfordesigninggraphscallsforputtingtheindependentvariableonthex-axisandthedependentvariableonthey-axis.Bywayofrefresher,anindependentvariableistheinput,cause,orstimulus.Timeistheprototypicalindependentvariable.Adependentvariableisoutput,effect,orresponse.

The choice of variables determines the units ofmeasure on the axes:Time - the independentvariable-measuredinyears.Revenue-thedependentvariable-measuredinbillionsofdollars.Whileitshouldbedoneonlyinrarecircumstances,itispossibletohavethisonesetofaxessupportmultipledependentvariables;bothrevenueandcostcanappearonthesamegraph.

It is alsopossible to adda secondaxis,most commonlya secondy-axis asAccenturedidonslide#11(Figure17-5).Thoughagoodreasontodothismustexist,Ihavenotbeenabletocomeupwithone.


With two y-axes, the viewer needs to spendmental energy figuring outwhich axis describeswhichdataseries.IntheleftmostgraphinAccenture’sslide#11(Figure17-5), thepoint is toconveythat internationalpostshaveexperienceda steadydecline inmailvolume since2002.Accenturehadtwo other options available rather than using two y-axes. First, the firm could have just chosen oneseries;Iwouldhavechosenthegrowthcurvesincethatbestsupportsthepoint.Second,thefirmcouldhavesplitonechartintotwo,butthatistheinferiordesignchoiceheresincethereisnotenoughroomtotelltheremainingtwopartsoftheslide’soverallmessage.

Thetwo-axisproblemisasymptomoftryingtocramtoomuchinformationintotoolittlespace,thusplacingamentaltaxontheaudience.Forthissamereason,strivetoavoidanytypeofchartthatdemandseffort tocomprehend.Myfavoriteexampleofagoodideagonebadlyisthebubblechartinwhichdataisrepresentednotasapoint(orothersimplesymbol)butasacirclewhosearearepresentsyet another, usually independent, variable. For instance, imagine a graph with time on the x-axis,revenue growth percentage on the y-axis, and the area of each data point representing total marketcapitalization.Justbecauseyoucandosomethingdoesnotmeanyoushould.

Tip65:Maintaindesignconsistencyacrosssimilargraphsinapresentation

Eachgraphcontainsalanguageuntoitsownconsistingofvariablesandtheirunitsofmeasure,dataseriesformatting,axisorientation,meaningsofcolors,labeling,etc.Assuch,eachtimeaviewerencountersagraph,youneedtospendafewextramomentsexplaininghowtoreadthatgraphsothe

viewercanunderstandsubsequentgraphsmoreandmorequickly.Hence,itiscrucialtomaintaindesignconsistency across similar graphs throughout a presentation to avoid switching languages on youraudience.Sowhenpossible,placegraphsondifferentslidesratherthancrammingmultiplegraphswithmultiplelanguagesonthesameslide.

The left and right graphs in Accenture’s slide #11 (Figure 17-5) illustrate best- and worst-practice design in action.Byway of best practice, the two graphs are visually aligned and consumeapproximatelythesamearea.Moreover,thex-axisineachgraphisidenticalineverywayincludingthetimespanof1998to2007,thephysicalwidth,thefont,andtheconventionofusingonlythelasttwodigitsoftheyear.Unfortunately,thisiswherethebestpracticesend.

They-axesinbothgraphsappeartomeasurethesamedependentvariable,letterpostvolumesinbillionsofpieces.However,therearemanydifferencesthatmayconfuseaviewer:

• Theaxislabelsaredifferent;onereads“LetterPostvolumes”andtheother“Volumes.”

• Althoughtheaxesarethesameheight,onerangesfrom0to120andtheotherfrom0to126.

• Mailvolumesarerepresentedbycolumnsintheleftgraphandbyalineintherightgraph.

• Theword“growth”confusesmattersandshouldberemovedfrombothannotations in therightgraphtocorrectlyread“Actuallettervolume”and“Lettervolume@GDPrate.”

Tip66:Donotdistortgraphs

Presentershavearesponsibilitytodesigngraphsthatfaithfullyrevealtheinsightsintheirdata.Viewersmustneverbemanipulatedintodrawingspeciousconclusionsfromdistortedgraphs.

ThebiggestworstpracticeinAccenture’sslide#11(Figure17-5)isthebreakthatoccursinthey-axis.Lookingclosely,eachtickmarkappearstosignaladifferenceofsevenbillionpieces.However,theplacementofthisbreakallowsthefirsttickmarktospan105billionpieces!Breaksareamethodofzooming inon thedataandhave theeffectof increasing theperceivedvolatility in thedata.The leftgraph,whosey-axis follows thebestpracticeofstartingatzeroandcontinueswithoutbreaks, showsthatmailvolumebetween2002and2007hasactuallybeentrendinginaverytightrangebetween106.6and 105.7 billion pieces, amere 0.8% difference. By zooming in, the graph on the rightmakes thechangeseemmuchmoredramatic.

Breaksarenottheonlywaytousegraphstomanipulatethemessage.Stretchingthewidthofagraph decreases the appearance of growth and volatility and stretching the height of a graphaccomplishes the reverse. For axes with positive and negative values, placing the zero crossinganywhereotherthanthemid-pointcausesdistortions,too(seetheYOYgrowthaxisintheleftgraphofslide#11–Figure17-5).

Mostnumerical transformationsaredifficult tocomprehendbypeopleother thanexperts.The

bestexampleisthelogarithmictransformationusedforsemi-logandlog-loggraphs,whichdecreasesperceivedgrowthandvolatility.

Othertransformationsliveinmoreofagreyarea.Anybusinesspersonshouldbeabletoquicklyunderstandagraphofprofitovertime.Convertingthegraphtocumulativeprofitovertimebyaddingthe profit for a given year to the sum of all prior profits adds complexity and must be explainedcarefully so that it is notmisinterpreted.The same goes fornormalized profit over timewhere eachvalueisdividedbyabaselinevalue(typicallythefirstone)aswellasforprofitgrowthovertime.

Tip67:Piechartsareacceptableforcompositionsnapshotsofuptofivecategories

Let’snow turnourattention tobestpractices fordesigningcompositioncharts. Just like trendcharts,compositionchartsdisplayactual,rankedvaluesornormalized,sharevalues.Sincecompositionchartscanonlyfocusononesnapshotatatime,Iliketothinkofcompositionchartsasawaytozoominonasinglecolumnofastackedcolumnchart.

PiechartssuchastheoneinMcKinsey’sslide#8(Figure17-6)areanacceptablecompositionchartoption.Manypresentationgurusvehementlyobjecttopiecharts,butIfindthemusefulincertaincircumstancesasdetailedbelow.


ThestackedcolumnchartontheleftsideofMcKinsey’sslide#11(Figure17-6)doesanicejobofshowingthe-12%reductioninworkhours.However,thenatureofthechartmakesitverydifficulttoanswerthenaturallytriggerednextstoryquestion,“Howmuchofthereductioncamefromeachofthethreesources?”That,ofcourse,iswherethepiechartontherightcomesin.

McKinsey’spiechartiseasytoreadforfivereasons:

1. Everysliceusesthesamecolorshadeasthecategoryintheleftgraph.

2. Everysliceisclearlylabeled.(Avoidlegendsinpiechartsbecausetheyrequiretoomuchworktointerpret.)

3. Therearenotmanyslices.(Piechartsworkbestfortwotofivecategories.)

4. Theslicesareplacedinclockwise,descendingorder.

5. Everyslicecontainstheactualnumberandpercentcontributionofreducedhours,makinginterpretationinstantaneous.

Tip68:Considertreemapsasanalternativetopiecharts

Presentationgurushatepiechartspartlybecausetheyaresooftenabused;Ihavetoadmitthatrainbowwheelsdonotdoitformeeither.Nonetheless,gurusalsorevilethemevenwheneverydesignbestpracticeisfollowedbecausethehumanbraincannotdetectsmalldifferencesintheareasofsemi-triangularslices.

Treemapsareanelegantalternativetopiechartsandmitigatetheperceptionproblembysizingrectangulartilesinproportiontotheirdatavalues.BCG’sslide#5(Figure17-7)isanice,albeitbusy,application of a treemap. Though decades old, treemaps are still part of most presentation designsoftware packages. To create one, you may need an add-in, a standalone software tool, or a lot ofpatiencetodoityourselfbycalculatingrectanglesizes.


Tip69:Relyonbarchartstodepictcomposition

Barchartsareafoolprooftypeofgraphfordepictingcompositioninclusiveofshareandrank.While column charts can serve the same function, bar charts allowmore space for labels, which isimportantbecausetextshouldalwaysbeorientedhorizontallyforbetterreadability.

AccenturereliedheavilyonbarchartsinitsUSPSpresentation,forexamplethechartontheleftsideofslide#35(Figure17-8).


Thebiggestchallenge indesigningbarcharts is figuringouthow toorder thecategories.Theshort answer is that categories shouldbeordered in theway that ismost logical to viewers and thatsupportsyourmessage.Ofcoursethatshortanswerdoesnothelpyoumuch,sohereisa longerone.Determine if sorting indescendingvalue from top tobottomworks.This is thebest approach ifyouwanttohighlightthelargestvalueoroneofthevaluesinbetweenthelargestandsmallest.Ifyouwanttohighlightthesmallestvalue,sortinascendingvaluefromtoptobottom.

Insteadofsortingbyvalue,sortlabelsindescendingalphabeticalorder(asAccenturedid)ifyouexpectpeopletolookupparticularcategories.

Iftheaudienceisaccustomedtoaparticularlogicalorderingoflabels,suchasbyregionacrossacountry,sequenceinthemanneritexpects.

Tip70:Usewaterfallchartstoshowthecumulativeeffectofchanges

Thoughitlookslikeacolumnchart,thechartinMcKinsey’sslide#12(Figure17-9)isactuallya

waterfall chart used to show the cumulative effect of expected volume and price changes of USPSrevenue.Togetfrom$68.1billionin2009to$69.3billionin2020,theUSPSfacesdecreasesof$11.8billionfromvolumedeclineand$3.8billionfromamixshift,decreasesthatareoffsetbyanincreaseof$16.8 billion from a price increase. ThoughMcKinsey did not do so, I prefer positive changes andnegativechangestobeshownindifferentcolorsforeasyinterpretation.

Waterfallchartsshouldonlybeusedtoexplainchangesfromonelevelorbalancetoanother-the samewayas thisMcKinseyexample.Mostpresentationguruswouldargue,and Iagree, that theway Accenture used the waterfall on the right side of slide #35 (Figure 17-8) is incorrect. TheAccenture chart should be converted to a standard bar chart with the bar for the total removed andaddedbackasanannotation(n=166).


You will likely need to purchase a third-party plugin to design waterfall charts as mostpresentation design software does not yet include native capability. I recommend ThinkCell forWindowsandAplorisforMac.

Tip71:Usedistributionchartstoshowthefrequencywithwhichphenomenaoccur

Distributiongraphsshowingthefrequencywithwhichphenomenaoccurindefinedrangesareaspecial enough case of composition graphs to deserve to stand on their own. Here, we rely on thedistribution graph on the left side ofAccenture’s slide #17 (Figure 17-10) to uncover best practicesincluding:

• Using ranges equal in size (Accenture broke this rulewith 0%and>60% since the otherranges span twentypercentagepoints.Separating0%addsvaluehereand inmanyother

instances,butthe>60%binfeelssloppy.)

• Limitingthenumberofrangestonomorethanten

• Avoidingoverlapinrangelabelstopreventambiguity(SinceAccentureused<20%,thenextlabelshouldread20%to<40%,andsoon.)


Tip72:Usecorrelationchartstoillustratetheinterrelationshipbetweentwovariables

BCG’sslide#16(Figure17-11),showingtheinterrelationshipbetweenmailvolumegrowthandhouseholdpenetration,isanoutstandingexampleofacorrelationchart.Thevariablethatappearstobetheindependentvariableisonthex-axis;thevariablethatappearstobethedependentvariableisonthey-axis.Sinceaninterrelationshipispresent,thegraphincludesatrendlinethatdoesnotextendbeyondtherangeoftheactualmeasurements.

Notethat trendchartsareaspecialcaseofcorrelationchartsrevealingtherelationship, ifany,betweenadependentvariableandtime.


The chart title – “Total mail CAGR as function of 2008 broadband penetration” (underlineadded)-isthehonestwaytorefertocorrelationsinceinterrelationshipdoesnotimplycausation.Thatisworthrepeating–correlationdoesnotimplycausation–becauseanyactualcauseandeffectmustbevalidated through othermeans. Until that happens, acceptable language includes “as a function of,”“pointsto,”or“is(not)relatedto.”

ThegraphalsoincludestheannotationR-squaredequals0.57,andmeansthatthelinearmodelexplains57%ofthevariationinthedata,aratherhighpercentagepointingtoastronginterrelationship.

The graph types in this chapter comprise the full-set I recommend for designing data-drivenpresentations.Whilesoftwareallowsyoutobuildmoreexoticcharts(bubbles,doughnuts,radars,etc.),Iurgecaution.Thesamewarningappliestothree-dimensionalchartsofallkindsbecauseitissoeasytoaccidentally or intentionally distort the data. Stick to the basics and use only charts that are easy tounderstandandenhancethestrategicstory.

Chapter18

Tables

Usingtables inpersuasivebusinesspresentations is rarebecause,unlikewell-designedgraphs,tablesdemandvastamountsofanaudience’smentalenergytograspthe“so-what”.Asproof,BCG’sandMcKinsey’sUSPSpresentations(ifyoucountMcKinsey’sslide#23inFigure5-5asatable)eachcontainsasolitarytable.OnlyAccenture’spresentationcontainsseveraltables,furtherconfirmingmysuspicionthatitspresentationisreallyareportintendedtoberead.

Tip73:Relyontableswhentheaudienceneedsexactvalues

Viewerscan rapidlydiscern trendsandpatterns fromawell-designedgraph.Thedownsideofthisbenefitisthatitisnearlyimpossibletodeterminethevalueofadatapointwithanyrealprecision,especiallysittingtenormorefeetawayfromascreen.Ifonlyafewprecisevaluesmatter,stickwithagraphandjustadddatavalueannotations.However,whentheaudienceneedstoknowalargernumberofvalueswithprecision,tablesareyouronlychoice.BCGmusthavefeltexactvaluesforrealrevenueperdeliverypointwerecritical totheaudiencesinceitdevoteditsonlytableforthispurposeinslide#18(Figure18-1).

BCG’stableillustratestwoadditionalbenefitsofusingtables.Thefirstbenefitistheabilitytosimultaneously show detailed data and summary statistics. In the table, the First-Class Mail andStandardMailnumbersarethedetail.Therearetwoformsofsummarystatistics,theTotalMailvaluesaswellasthe’09-’20changepercentages.(Itisoddthatfirst-classandstandardmaildonotsumtothetotal;asabestpractice, thedetailshouldfootwiththesummary.)Thesecondbenefit is theability tomixdatawithdifferentmeasures,here“averagepiecesperdeliverypointperdeliveryday”and“real(inflation-adjusted)revenueperdeliverypointperday(current$).”


Tip74:Usetableswhenyouneedtocombinetext,data,orimages

Tables are also the only optionwhenyouneed tomix text, data, and images as illustrated inAccenture’s slide #37 (Figure 18-2). The formatting of this table allows us to explore several tabledesignbestpracticesasfollows:

• Leftalignwordsandphrases;rightalignnumbers;centerimages(includingicons,pictures,Harveyballs,checkboxes,etc.)aswellassinglecharactersoftext

• Numbersshouldcontaincommasandequalprecisionbeyondthedecimalpoint.

• Numbers should be rounded to the simplest number of digits while preserving requiredaccuracy.

• Data symbols such as percent signs and dollar signs are optional, provided the rows andcolumns are unambiguously labeled. For extra clarity, add at least the symbol to thetopmost(orleftmost)valueinthecolumn(orrow).

• Avoidorminimizetheuseofgridlines.Inslide#37,Accentureusedalignmenttoeliminateverticalgridlinesandusedultra-thin,lightcoloredhorizontalgridlines.


Tip75:Prioritizetheorderoftableinformationfromtop-to-bottomandleft-to-right(inWesterncultures)

Table information should be ordered theway audiencemembers’ eyes scan the slide, top-to-bottomandleft-to-right.Accenturecloselyadheredtothisbestpracticeinslide#37(Figure18-2).Theslidetitlecommunicatesthecoremessageoftheslide–“Establishingsizeablemarketpresence…takestime…” From a storytelling point-of-view, the table must prove the message. Hence, from top-to-bottom, the first and second rows immediately address when specific international posts began todiversify.Theremainingrowsprovideextradetailwith“Comments”relegatedtothebottomwheretheybelong. From left to right, the four “Sizable diversification areas” get preferential treatment in bothlocation and shading.ThoughAccenture didnot need to do this, switching the text in the “Businessservices”columnwouldfurtherdeemphasizethislastarea.

Finally,notethateyesnaturallygravitatetoobjectsincloseproximity.Tousethisphysiologicalprincipletoyouradvantage,spacerowsverycloselytogetherifyouwantpeopletoreadtop-to-bottomfirst,andspacecolumnsverycloselytogetherifyouwantpeopletoreadleft-to-rightfirst.

Chapter19

ImagesandDiagrams

Neither imagesnordiagrams featureprominently inpersuasivebusinesspresentations,but fordifferent reasons. Images, particularly vivid emotional images prominent in keynotes, are consideredtoolightweight.Diagramsareperceivedastooabstract,toocomplex,ornotdata-driven.

Forallthesereasons,imagesanddiagramsarenearlyabsentfromthethreeUSPSpresentations.Nevertheless,theriseofthegraphicallyelegantspeakingatvenuesliketheTEDConferenceislikelytoinfiltrate strategic storytelling at work, so now is the perfect time to assimilate best practices fordesigningimagesanddiagrams.

Tip76:Ensurethatimagesaddconstructivelytoyourstory

Images,morethantextortablesorgraphs,arethefirstelementsonaslideyouraudiencewillnotice,soitisyourdutytoensureallimagesaddconstructivelytothestoryyouaretelling.Ifnot,leavethemoff.

Manyyearsago,officesupplystoresstockedshelvesfilledwithCD-ROMsofclipartimages.These types of images became so popular that thousands of them ultimately came bundled withpresentationdesignsoftware.Today,mostpeopleovertheageof10wouldnotdreamofincludingaclipartimage,andcertainlynotinapersuasivebusinesspresentation.

Andyet,themorethingschange,themoretheystaythesame.Themodernversionofrandomlyplacing clip art on a slide is randomly copying andpasting images from the Internet that literallyormetaphoricallyrepresentaconcept.AsmuchasIappreciateMcKinsey’sstorytellingandexpertgraphdesign,slide#13(Figure19-1)exemplifiesthemerelydecorativeuseofimages.


Tip77:Puttextonimageslidesratherthanimagesontextslides

The lasting legacyofclipart is thatpresentationdesignersgotused toputting imageson textslides rather than text on image slides. Since none of the three USPS presentations do this, I willillustratebyredesigningthe“DeliveryNetwork”partofMcKinsey’sslide#13(Figure19-1).Despitethe fact that my resume has the word “marketing” on it, I was trained in semiconductor physics.Consequently,mydrawingabilitystartsandendswithequationsandstickfigures.So,ifIcandothis,anyonecan. (Givingcreditwherecredit isdue, I learnedmanyof these techniques from the talentedpresentationguruNolanHaims).

Tip78:Obtainroyalty-freeimageslicensedforcommercialuse

Tostart, Ineeda royalty-free image.Sincemyphotographyskills areaspoorasmydrawingskills,mygo-tosourcesarepaidstockphotorepositoriessuchas123RFandiStockPhoto,bothofwhichhave great search capabilities and reasonable prices. As a free alternative, most search engines(includingGoogleandBing)allowyoutofilterforimagesthatarefreetousecommercially.

Toensureimagesarecrisponthescreen,trytoobtainPNGfilesratherthanJPEGs.Fornovices,stock photo size choices can seembewildering.You need the image resolution tomatch at least thescreenonwhichyouarepresenting;purchasingahigherresolutionimageisawasteofmoney.SincetechnologyischangingfasterthanIcanwrite,findouttheresolutionofthescreenonwhichyouintendtopresent.AsIwritethis,projectorsincorporateconferenceroomsaregoingthewayofthedinosaurandbeingreplacedby720pflatpaneldisplayswitharesolutionof1280pixelsx720pixels.

It isworthtakingamomenttothinkaboutwhatsortofimagetouse.Ialreadyknowtoavoidcheesy, posed stock photos such as a group of beautiful, ethnically diverse, impeccably dressedbusinesspeople jumping in the airwhile smiling and holding hands.Recall,McKinsey’smessage onslide#13is that theUSPSisstrugglingtopaythefixedcostofdeliveringtoalmosteveryaddressinAmerica.Theright imageshouldevoke the toneofhard timesandofdeliveringmailunprofitably toremotelocales.Figure19-2,whichIlicensedfrom123RFfor$10,capturesthesentimentperfectly.

Figure19-2:Photoofvintagemailboxesinaruralsettinglicensedfrom123RF

Tip79:Resizeimagestofilltheentireslide

Asabestpractice,imagesshouldfilltheentireslide.Unfortunately,theimageIlicensedhasanaspectratioof3:2andmostpresentationsoftwarehasanaspectratioof4:3.Thismeanstheslidewillhavehorizontalbars in theslide’sbackgroundcolorat the topand thebottomof the imagewhen thephotoextendsfromtheleftedgetotherightedge.

Togetridofthehorizontalbars,Ifirstmaketheimageoversizedsothatitextendsfromthetopoftheslidetothebottom.SinceIamverycarefultomaintaintheaspectratiosoastonotdistort theimage,thephotoisnowtoowide.Tofixtheoverhang,Icroptheimageonthemorevisuallydenseleft-handsidetopreserveneutralpartsofthephotoforplacingtext.TheresultisshowninFigure19-3.

Figure19-3:Mailboximageresizedandcroppedtofillaslidewitha4:3aspectratio

TheremainingissuewithFigure19-3isthattheredoesnotseemtobeenoughneutralspaceintheskyatthetoportheroadattherighttopacetext.Acleverandnotoverlycomplexfixistostretchanunimportantpartof the image. Ifyouhavesophisticated imagemanipulationsoftware,whichIdonot,thisisprobablystraightforward.HereishowIstretchedtheroadnativelyinPowerPoint:

• Copytheoriginalimage

• Pastethecopiedimagedirectlyontopoftheoriginalimage

• Cropleftsideofthepastedimagetojustpasttheblack,rightmostmailbox

• Crop the right sideof theoriginal image to the samepoint, just past theblack, rightmostmailbox

• Stretchthepastedimagebydraggingitsleftedgeevenmoretotheleft

• Move the original image to the left so that its right edge alignswith the left edge of thepastedimage

• Croptheleftsideoftheoriginalimagesothatitalignswiththeleftslideoftheslide

Theresultofallthiscopying,pasting,cropping,anddraggingisshowninFigure19-4.Thisisabitofadistortion,butasmallpricetopay.

Figure19-4:Mailboximagewithstretchedroad

Tip80:Placehighcontrasttextonimages

Whitetextusuallyprovidesthehighestamountofcontrastwhenplacedonanimage.However,textofvirtuallyanycolorwillfailtostandoutontheimageinFigure19-4sincethephotoisneitherbrightnordarkandcontainsahugevarietyofcoloreveninthemoreneutralareas.

Inthefinalversionofthe“Deliverynetwork”slide(Figure19-5),Iusedtwotechniquestohelptext stand out on the image. The slide title uses the easier of the two techniques, a textbox with asemitransparentbackground.

To allow the delivery network text pop, I darkened the right side of the image using anothercleverbutnotoverlycomplex technique.Althoughartistically imperfect, it ismore thanadequateforstandardbusinesspresentations.Thetrickisasfollows:

• Createaborderless,blackrectanglethatcoverstheentirerighthalfoftheslide

• Changethefillfromsolidtoalineargradientwitheachendsettoblack(atthisstage,youwillstillhaveablackrectangle)

• Settheangleofthegradienttozerodegrees

• Settheleftsideofthegradientto100%transparent

• Settherightsideofthegradientto40%transparent

The size and location of the rectangle, as well as the precise setting, will of course changedependingontheimageandwhereyouwishtolocatetext.

Figure19-5:Finalversion“Deliverynetwork”slide

Tip81:Sticktoasinglemetaphoricalsystemacrossallimagesinapresentation

I seemanypresentationswhere the designer clearly searched for a successionof phrases andincluded a sequence of rich, but disconnected metaphorical images; disembodied hands shaking tosymbolizetrust,ablueskytosymbolizeinfiniteopportunity,andsoon.Thisisthevisualequivalentofmixingmetaphorsandisabig“no-no.”

Instead,adhere toa singlemetaphorical systemacrossall images inapresentation.Givenmychoiceforthe“Deliverynetwork”slide,Ishoulduseonlyimageswithanostalgic,rural,late-Fallfeelinamutedpalette.Note,ifeverythingisperfectexceptforthecolor,thereisagoodchancetherecolorfeatureincludedinallpresentationdesignsoftwarepackageswilldoagoodenoughjob.

Tip82:Usediagramstorepresentprocesses,relationships,andgeospatialinformation

Despitetheexistenceofcountlessstandardandcustomdiagrams,noneofthethreemanagement-consulting firmsusedevena singleone in theirUSPSpresentations.However rare, thereare severaldiagramsthatareextremelyusefulforconveyingcertainmessages,including:

• Chevronlists:Toillustratesequentialprocessesofflows

• Organizational charts: To illustrate any hierarchical relationship, not only those amongpeople

• Venndiagrams:Toillustrateoverlappinginterrelationshipsbetweensamesetsofitems

• Network diagrams:To illustrate structural, but non-hierarchical interrelationships betweencomponentsinasystem

• Maps:Toillustratethedistributionofdatabygeospatiallocation

Inthischapter,Iintentionallydidnotsharetipsonusingvideosincethismediaisnotoftenusedin persuasive business presentations.While I am smart enough not to say this will never happen, Iexpect itwillbeawhileuntilvideofinds itswayinto theboardroomfor threereasons.First,videos,especially longer ones, allow decision-makers to zone out. Second, videos make presentations feeloverlyproduced.Third,whenvideosfailduetoequipmentglitchesitreflectspoorlyonthespeaker.Usevideosparingly,ifatall,untilattitudeschangeandtechnologiesimprove.

Section3:ConfidentDelivery

Chapter20

VerbalDelivery

Tip83:Engageyouraudienceinintelligent,authenticconversation

When I write about verbal delivery in keynote speaking, I focus heavily on word choice,repetition,humor,vulnerability,volumemodulation,pacing, andothermethods to ensurea speaker’svoicematchestheemotionaltoneofhisorhercontentfrommomenttomoment.However,thisdegreeof emotional variation and precise language would come off as too over-the-top when delivering apersuasivebusinesspresentation.Instrategicstorytelling,yousimplyneedtoallowyourknowledgeandyourauthentic,confidentbeliefinyourideastoflowintoyourconversation.

Here, I stress the word conversation even though I have loosely used presentation andstorytellingthroughoutthisbook(andwillcontinuetousethosethreewordsinterchangeably).Businesspresentationsdesignedtodriveadecisionshouldneverbememorizednorreadoffslidesorascript.Togainagreement,getthepeopleintheroom-particularlythedecision-maker(s)–talkingearlyandoften.Seek input frequentlybyaskingopen-endedquestions.Actively readbody languageasyouwould inordinaryconversationandaskforconfirmationtoresolveconfusionorobjectionsbeforetheyfester.

Whileyouneednotknoweverything,youmustactivelyfacilitatetodrawknowledge,anecdotes,andstoriesfromtheexpertsintheroom.OneofthebestpiecesofadviceIeverreceivedfromoneofmymanagerswastobecomfortableredirectingadifficultquestionbacktotheaudience(thistakesgutsbutworkslikeacharm.)

Tip84:Projecttheverbalauthorityofapeer

Whenpresenting, speakersget to choose the levelof authority theycommand independentofrank.Thismeans that tosecureapprovalforabusinessrecommendation,behaveasarespectfulpeer.More juniorpeoplecanraise theirauthorityby:usingpauses toeliminatefillerwords,feelingfree toask questions, slowing verbal pacing, and increasing vocal projection. More senior people must bemindful not to interrupt others, deliver monologues, or speak in a tone that leaves no room fordisagreement.Finally,oneparticularlyimportantbutoftenforgottenpracticebyalllevelsofpeopleistoverballyacknowledgingotherswithintheorganizationthathelpedwithspecificpartsoftheanalysis.

Tip85:Takeeveryopportunitytoholdtheaudience’sattentionwhenpresentingoverthephone

Anydiscussiononconfidentverbaldeliveryduringbusinesspresentationswouldbeincompletewithoutbestpracticesforholding theaudience’sattentionduringaconferencecall.First,standwhilespeakingand increaseyour expressivenessby imaginingyouare talking to themost seniordecision-makerontheline.Second,keeppeopleontheir toes(andoutof theiremailandInternetbrowser)byaskingquestionsofspecificindividuals.Justgivethoseindividualsfairwarningbysaying,“HeyJane,Ihaveaquestionforyou…”Aftersheunmutesherphoneandacknowledgesyou,askyourquestioninaway thatdoesnotassumeshehasbeenpayingattention.Using this technique intermittentlyduringacallwillensureeveryonestaysengaged.Finally,useslides.Infact,usemoreslidesthanyouwouldinaface-to-facepresentationasslidechangesdrawattention.

Chapter21

Non-VerbalDelivery

Tip86:Manageyourfear

Evenafterworkingonmypublicspeakingfornearlytwodecades,Ihavetoadmitthatmanagingspeakinganxietyiseasiersaidthandone.Istillfeelmyheartbeatingquicklyandbeginbreathingmorerapidlybeforeanimportantbusinesspresentationorkeynotespeech.Onmyjourney,Ihavefoundthefollowingbestpracticesliberating.

First, accept that speaking anxiety is perfectly natural and normal. Faster breathing and rapidheartratepumpoxygenatedbloodtoyourbrain,helpingyouperformatahigherlevel.Theextrabuzzhelpsyoubetter recall informationandanswerquestionsmore rapidly.Letgoof theexpectation thatfearevergoesawayandredirectthatnervousenergyintoyourperformance.

Second,accept thatyoudonotneedtoknoweverything.Allyoucandoisprepareaswellasyoucangiventhe timeandresourcesavailable toyou.Asmentionedearlier in thischapter, therearemanyotherexpertsintheroomtoturntoforsupport,hopefullyincludingyourboss.

Third,releaseyourexpectationsregardingthelong-termconsequencesofagivenpresentation.Anxiety, by definition, is rooted in uncertainty. If you start thinking about the impact any singlepresentationwillhaveonyourlikelihoodofreceivingaraiseorapromotion,thenyouarefuelingyourfear. Focus on getting to the best answer to solve the immediate problem or capture the immediateopportunity,eveniftheanswerisnotyourexactrecommendation.

Fourth,rehearsewithinreason.Sincebusinesspresentationsareguidedconversations,rehearsetointernalizethelogicandoff-slideanecdotes.Additionally,Irole-playoraskacolleaguetorole-playthe other individuals I expect to be in themeeting so that I can formulate answers to questions andobjections.AfterIrole-play,Ipre-syndicatethepresentationwithasmanyofthekeydecisionmakersandinfluencersasIcan.Thisisalsoagoldenopportunitytoconfirmthedecision-makers’expectationsforthemeeting.Iknowfromexperiencethatnothinglowersstressaswellasgoingintoameetingwiththedeckalreadystackedheavilyinyourfavor.

Fifth, arrive early to remove the uncertainty of tools and technology. Test your slides inpresentationmodetomakesureeverythingdisplaysasdesired;thisisextra-criticalifyourpresentationincludesaudioorvideo.Ifyourmeetingrequiresflipcharts,makesurethepensareworking.Last, ifyouwillbestandingratherthansitting,findabasepositionoutsidetheprojector’s-andtheaudience’sline-of-sighttothescreen.

Tip87:Projectthenon-verbalauthorityofapeer

Thepreviouschapteroutlinedbehaviorsthatprojecttheverbalauthorityofapeer,buttocarrythemoff,thosebehaviorsmustalsobecomplementedwithnon-verbalbestpracticesaswell.

More junior speakers have a number of options at their disposal to increase their authority,starting with how formally they dress. In addition, more authoritative people give the illusion ofoccupyingmore physical space through using larger gestures and by reducing interpersonal distance(forinstance,movingtowardthepeoplewhoaskquestions).

Whereyourseatislocatedandhowyousitinitalsomatter.Imaginethe“powerintheroom”thelasttimeyouwereinabusinessmeeting.Shewasprobablyseatedattheheadorneartheheadofalongrectangulartable,showingherhands,andmaybeevenleaningalittlebackinherchair.

Thewaypeople takenotes isalsoamajor signof respectandauthority.Havinga scribe takenotes projects more seniority, especially if you are standing while presenting. If you take notes, bemindfulofthetoolsyouuse.Inmostcorporateenvironments,pen-and-papernotebookssignalthemostseniority,followedbytabletcomputers,andlastlynotebookcomputers,whichcreateaphysicalbarrier.

Finally, take pride in your slides. Developing a presentation takes tremendous research,synthesis,anddesignwork.Toensureyouneverhavetorushthrough,orworse,skipslides,makeeveryslidecountanddeletenonessentialmaterialorputitintheappendix.

FinalWords

Theultimatemeasureof successofapersuasivebusinesspresentation iswhetherornot thedecisionreachedattheendofmeetingisthebestoneforyourcompanyandstakeholders.IhopeIhavemadeitclearthatstrategicstorytellingismostlyaboutwhatyoudobeforeyouactuallyspeaktoagroup.Whiletraditional intelligence (IQ)playssomerole, Ibelieveemotional intelligence (EQ)playsa fargreaterrole.HighEQ,whichcanbedeveloped,iswhatmakesyouamorepersuasivepublicspeaker.

Unfortunately, social networking and always-on media have conspired to rob businessprofessionals of verbal communication ability, especially young people joining the workplace. Theupsideofthismodernplagueisthatindividualssuchasyou,whochoosetomastertheskillsofstrategicstorytelling,cangainamassiveadvantageintheworkplace.

Being a more persuasive speaker is the fastest way to transform your ideas into positiveoutcomes.And,positiveoutcomesleadtothetrappingsofcareersuccess–raisesandpromotions.Thefutureofyourcompanyandyourcareerareinyourhands.

StrategicStorytellingQuickReferenceGuide

SECTION1:PERSUASIVECONTENT

Tip1:Definetheproblemandmakesureitisworthsolving

Tip2:Identifyconstraints

Tip3:Buildoutthemutuallyexclusiveandcollectivelyexhaustivesetofissues

Tip4:Convertyourissuetreeintoahypothesistree

Tip5:Prioritizeyourhypothesesforimpact

Tip6:“Ghostout”yourstoryonpaperusingthesituation-complication-resolutionframework

Tip7:Testyourhypothesesanditerateyourstory

Tip8:Titleyourpresentationwitha“so-what”encapsulatingyouroverallobjective

Tip9:MakeyourpresentationtitleSMART

Tip10:Useanagendaslidetoprovideyouraudiencewitharoadmap

Tip11:Keepagendaslidetitlesshortandsweetsotheycanbeignored

Tip12:Limitagendastonomorethanfiveshortitems

Tip13:Addcreativitytoagendaslidedesign

Tip14:Startagendaitemswithactionverbstosignalinwhichmentalmodeyouwantyouraudience

Tip15:Applycontrasttohighlightthestartofeachagendasection

Tip16:Startthesituationwiththecurrentstateofthefundamentalissue

Tip17:To“owntheflow,”eachslideshouldtriggeraquestionansweredbythetitleofthenextslide

Tip18:Expandonthesummarynodewithdepth-firsttreetraversal

Tip19:Onlygoasdeepasisneededtointroducetheproblem

Tip20:Repeatsummarynodeslideswhenmovingacrossaftergoingdeep

Tip21:Exploreissuesand/oropportunitiesinthecomplicationsection

Tip22:Builduptocontentiousorcounter-intuitiveinsights

Tip23:Exploretheinfluenceofdynamictrendsonthefactorsdiscussedinthesituation

Tip24:Deliverthecollectiveimpactofthecomplicationsonthefundamentalissue

Tip25:Explorethemutuallyexclusiveandcollectivelyexhaustivewaystoresolvethecomplication

Tip26:Placelow-impactresolutionsintheAppendixtoshowtheyhavebeenconsideredbutruledout

Tip27:Prioritizerecommendationsinimpact-,sequential-,oremotionalorder

Tip28:Handleobjectionsastheyarise

Tip29:Createanepilogueforcriticalinformationbeyondthemainstoryline

Tip30:UsetheApproach-Findings-Implicationsframeworkforinformativepresentations

Tip31:Avoidpresentingtherandomwalkyoufollowedinyourresearchprocess

Tip32:Protectyourintellectualpropertyandlimityourlegalliability

Tip33:Donotincludean“ExecutiveSummary”atthebeginningofyourpresentation

Tip34:Annotationsatthebottomofaslideshouldonlybeusedtotransitiontothenextslide

Tip35:Proveboldclaims

Tip36:Useellipsesinslidetitlestosupporttheflowofthestory

Tip37:Giveeachslideanindependenttitle

SECTION2:DATA-DRIVENDESIGN

Tip38:Useslidesonlywhentheyacceleratedecision-making

Tip39:Thelargertheaudience,thesimplertheslides

Tip40:Thecontentinthebodyoftheslidemustunambiguouslyprovetheslidetitle

Tip41:Matchthedesigntreatmentintheslidebodytothemessageinthetitle

Tip42:Designeachslidesothatitcanbecoveredinthreeminutesorless

Tip43:Useanimationsparingly(ifatall)

Tip44:Layoutbodycontentfromleft-to-rightandtop-to-bottom

Tip45:Maintainstrictdesignconsistency

Tip46:Maximizecontrastbetweenthetextandthebackground

Tip47:Usesolidcolorsforslidebackgrounds

Tip48:Uselarge,standardfonts

Tip49:Keeptextshort

Tip50:Applyaconsistentformattoyourslideheader

Tip51:Crafteachslidetitleasa“so-what”

Tip52:Convertbulletlistsintocolumns

Tip53:Userealquotesthatyouobtaineddirectly

Tip54:Usecolumnchartsfortrenddatawithuptotenvalues

Tip55:Titlegraphswitha“what”ratherthana“so-what”

Tip56:Removeallunnecessaryelementsfromgraphs

Tip57:Usechartannotationsinthebodyofaslidetoexplaincriticalinflections

Tip58:Applyhighcontrasttochartdatathatdirectlysupportstheslidetitle

Tip59:Useamoresubtletreatmentforforecastdata

Tip60:Footnotesources,criticalassumptions,anddetailstoogranularforthebodyoftheslide

Tip61:Designstackedcolumnchartstoshowanoveralltrendanditscomponents

Tip62:Orientandorderlegendsthesamewaydataseriesareoriented

Tip63:Uselinechartsorscatterchartsfortrendsexceedingtenvalues

Tip64:Sticktoonesetofaxespergraph

Tip65:Maintaindesignconsistencyacrosssimilargraphsinapresentation

Tip66:Donotdistortgraphs

Tip67:Piechartsareacceptableforcompositionsnapshotsofuptofivecategories

Tip68:Considertreemapsasanalternativetopiecharts

Tip69:Relyonbarchartstodepictcomposition

Tip70:Usewaterfallchartstoshowthecumulativeeffectofchanges

Tip71:Usedistributionchartstoshowthefrequencywithwhichphenomenaoccur

Tip72:Usecorrelationchartstoillustratetheinterrelationshipbetweentwovariables

Tip73:Relyontableswhentheaudienceneedsexactvalues

Tip74:Usetableswhenyouneedtocombinetext,data,orimages

Tip75:Prioritizetheorderoftableinformationfromtop-to-bottomandleft-to-right(inWesterncultures)

Tip76:Ensurethatimagesaddconstructivelytoyourstory

Tip77:Puttextonimageslidesratherthanimagesontextslides

Tip78:Obtainroyalty-freeimageslicensedforcommercialuse

Tip79:Resizeimagestofilltheentireslide

Tip80:Placehighcontrasttextonimages

Tip81:Sticktoasinglemetaphoricalsystemacrossallimagesinapresentation

Tip82:Usediagramstorepresentprocesses,relationships,andgeospatialinformation

SECTION3:CONFIDENTDELIVERY

Tip83:Engageyouraudienceinintelligent,authenticconversation

Tip84:Projecttheverbalauthorityofapeer

Tip85:Takeeveryopportunitytoholdtheaudience’sattentionwhenpresentingoverthephone

Tip86:Manageyourfear

Tip87:Projectthenon-verbalauthorityofapeer

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to the elite groupof individualswhohave dedicated their professional lives tosharing techniques for delivering persuasive business presentations, including: BarbaraMinto, GeneZelazny, Stephen Few,NolanHaims,MatthewAbrahams, andEdwardTufte. Similarly, I have beenheavilyinfluencedbythoughtleadersinthefieldofkeynotepresentationsincludingNancyDuarteandGarrReynolds.

Thisbookwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithouttheencouragementofmysuper-agent,JackieMeyer,andtheskillsofmybrillianteditor,PJDempsey.

Lastandmostimportant,thankyouIrene–youaretheloveofmylife.IwishIwouldwriteaswellasyoudoandIamfortunateyou“volunteer”toeditmyfirstdrafts.

AbouttheAuthor

DaveMcKinseyworked in a consulting firm for over sixteen years and is now awriter andbusinesscommunicationstrainer.Pleaseusethecontactformspeakingsherpa.comtoreachhim.

http://speakingsherpa.com

1http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/?n=jan_2009_ice_and_snow2http://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/January_2009_Central_Plains_and_Midwest_ice_storm3http://about.usps.com/news/state-releases/ky/2009/ky_2009_0313.htm4https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-facts/decade-of-facts-and-figures.htm5http://money.cnn.com/

2010/03/02/news/economy/usps/6http://about.usps.com/universal-postal-service/usps-uso-executive-summary.pdf7IanDavis,DavidKeeling,PaulSchreier,andAshleyWilliams.“TheMcKinseyApproachtoProblemSolving.”AMcKinsey

publishedstaffpaper.2007.8BCG’spresentationalsohasanextensiveAppendixnotincludedhere

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_2009_Central_Plains_and_Midwest_ice_storm

http://about.usps.com/news/state-releases/ky/2009/ky_2009_0313.htm

http://about.usps.com/universal-postal-service/usps-uso-executive-summary.pdf

strategic storytelling: how to create persuasive business presentations

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