I usually do Extraordinary Business Book Club interviews by Skype, but today I drove the 45 minutes or so to Liphook, deeper into Hampshire, to meet Ross Lovelock of Scquare. Despite the lovely leafiness of Liphook, or maybe because of it, the internet is apparently dial-up slow. So we sat in Scquare’s meeting room overlooking Liphook’s high street, trying to ignore the traffic noises, and chatted face to face about planning, strategy, acronyms, writing and more. I know I can’t see every interviewee face to face, but it’s a great treat when I can.
On the wall of the meeting room hung this gorgeous visualisation of the Scquare methodology – I asked Ross for permission to share here. Why?
1. It’s true. I’ve been in every one of these ‘missing parts’ situations myself, but never articulated it so neatly.
2. It’s beautiful. I talk a lot about the power of creating models and visualisations of ideas, and this is a perfect example. No fancy drawing required, but a compelling, elegant, powerful way of conveying a complex idea on a single page. Imagine having that pinned to your wall as a page of text – just not the same, is it?
We’re wired for pictures, and so is the social web. Use scrappy back-of-a-napkin ones to help you think, then beautify them and use them – as infographics, images, presentations or whatever – to get your message out there.