Carl Stormer's JazzCode

Pyramid Principle summarized: Give your most important point first.

Barbara Minto´s Pyramid Principle shows how we organize our ideas in pyramids with increasing levels of abstractions going up the pyramid and increased degree of detail as we move down in the pyramid.  

Several people have asked me, so here it is: a high resolution summary of the Pyramid Principle.  I have found that the most common mistakes made when using the principle has to do with how we group, conclude and introduce the material:

1. A failure to group horizontal ideas in a logical fashion;
2. A failure to synthesize the meaning of a grouping on a lower level;
3. A failure to contextualize the material properly in a story format

Failure #1: A failure to group in a logical fashion

• Not same kind of idea (e.g. Asia, Africa, Angola, or mixing action and situation ideas)
• Ideas not in logical order (e.g. middle, end, beginning). Proper order is either ranking, timeline, system or strategic
• Ideas not MECE.  You either have gaps or overlap in your partition. 

Problems with groupings tend to cascade; if you try to group ideas that are not logical the same (e.g. coffee and "hot drinks") on the same horizontal level, it becomes impossible to determine logical order, and impossible to figure out if the ideas are MECE.  

Failure #2:  A failure to synthesize the meaning of a grouping

• Use intellectually blank statement (IBS) instead of synthesis. (e.g. "Outlook" instead of "the outlook is positive")
• Synthesis is not supported by grouping on the level below (wrong synthesis)
• Synthesis is only extracted from some of the grouped ideas on lower level (too narrow) , or synthesis extracted from ideas not on the level below (too wide)

The value of starting with a good conclusion is increasing as more data is becoming available to all.  

Failure # 3: A failure to contextualize the material properly in a story format with a clear conflict/trigger:

• Situation is a complication. Your audience don´t agree with the situation (e.g. "We all agree that global warming is caused by humans" might not be something your adience will agree to.)
• Wrong or missing complication.  Your audience disagree with the complication (e.g. saying that smoking is harmful when the problem might be addiction)
• Solution don´t follow from situation-complication.  

More about the class I teach or contact me.  I teach classes world-wide. 

Embedded objects in presentations makes it easier to improvise with Powerpoint

I just created a screencast demonstrating the power of embedded objects in Powerpoint.  Embedded objects is essentially presentations inside presentations - a way to nest different presentations inside each other in a way that makes it possible to browse a Powerpoint the way you would a web page. 

Multiple slide masters in Powerpoint - here is an example

I just created a page to explain how to create multiple slide masters and how to use hyperlinks to move non-sequentially through a large presentation. 

The JazzCode meets the Pyramid Principle.

Last week I ran a two-day workshop at a resort on Cape Cod.  The consulting firm Carlisle & Company had hired me to run their annual off-site. 

Yesterday I received an email from Paul Gurizzian, the managing partner, who wrote:

Over the past few days I have pulsed a number of our staff and have received very favorable comments regarding the off-site.   People liked the content; some strategic and some tactical.   They liked your presentations.  Unanimously, I heard this was the right investment of our time.   

This is due to you!   Your hard work and preparation paid off.   Again, thanks.

Bruce Barth, Rob Scheps, Bruno Raberg and myself at Cape Cod.

I  covered the first module of my Prepare/Produce/Present workshop, consisting of Strategy/Structure/Storyline, for  28 management consultants -- four hours during Thursday afternoon, and then again four hours Friday morning.  On Thursday evening we did a JazzCode performance where I had brought some incredible musicians from New York and Boston -- Bruno Raberg, bass, Rob Scheps, sax and Bruce Barth, piano.  It was almost like a college reunion because we all went to New England Conservatory together at the same time  in the early 80's.  Bruno, with whom I shared an apartment during our sophmore year is now a full professor at Berklee College of Music.  Bruce just finished as musical director for Tony Bennet.  And Rob came right from a gig in L.A. with his own group.

It is interesting to see how well the Pyramid Principle and the JazzCode works together.  Both regimes are about structure and how a shared structure can help all team-members be more present in the moment by having to worry less about how things are done,  who does what, and what we want to accomplish. 

 

A summary of the Pyramid Principle

I just finished a two day workshop in Budapest with 20 people from Pannon, an Hungarian mobile telecom operator owned by Telenor.  It was great fun.  Here you can find a one page summary of the Pyramid Principle developed by Barbara Minto and made famous by Minto and McKinsey.

A higher resolution version.

Better presentations: Voice training and acting???

I spent some quality time at the U.K. Embassy in Oslo yesterday, meeting some very intelligent and interesting people showcasing their corporate training using methods from acting. 

Phil Bliss runs his own company, Bliss & Associates out of London,  training people to use their voice better.  Fascinating how he, within ten minutes, was able to show us t he relationship between breathing, voice and your ability to think clearly under stress.  He comes highly reccommended by a friend for his coaching with Telenor executives. 

Phil Bliss

I also met people from Steps -- a company with actors who teach corporate teams by using role-playing and methods from acting.  Very cool stuff, and definitely an extension of what I do in my Prepare, Produce, Present workshop.  Wheras most of my method focuses on what you do before you prepare to go on stage, their work has to do with how you can rehearse and act out your role once you know what your role should be.

I also met Andreas Madsen from TothePoint, an interesting guy with a strategic view on advertising and a focus on conversion of shoppers to buyers.  I like that! 

MBA Programs focus on collaboration and communications 'Soft Skills'

According to an article in Wall Street Journal yesterday, MBA programs are increasingly emphasizing the "soft skills" of management -- listening, teamwork, and the ability to communicate.  Traditionally, most schools have emphasized the "hard" management skills such as finance and strategy.  Hard skills alone leads to low productivity, whereas soft skills alone leads might not give you a useful result.

Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Ron Carter and Miles Davis (mid 60's)

When outsourcing and automation has taken away everything but the most complex tasks, competitive advantage can only be derived by enhancing the producitivity of experts (see McKinseys article on this subject).

According to the article in WSJ:

The schools are responding to employers' growing interest in soft skills. Executive suites are increasingly composed of managers running far-flung operations who must attract and retain knowledgeable workers. That puts a premium on skills such as communicating and brokering compromises, says Warren Bennis, a professor at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business and author of a best-selling book on leadership.

One thing the article does not mention is how the compression of time impacts teamwork. 

My answer is of course to learn from jazzmusicians:

• Enhance your existing improvisational skills ( a fast and flexible approach)
• Enhance your listening by focusing less on your own  task -- simplify!
• Make sure your task match your expertise (do the right thing/do things right)
• Build teams with complimentary skills and a shared understanding of goal and strategy
• Help others by improving your communication
• Develop simple, flexible shared processess

Training experts in collaboration and communication can greatly enhance their producitivty. 

An award! My presentation was awarded "Best of"

I just received word that I won an award from the Norwegian Assiciation of Advertisers (ANFO) for best presentation 2006.  My presentation "Mobile Internet -- new content, new distribution" received a ranking of 5.45 for presentation and 5.60 for content (on a 1-6 scale where 6 is the hightest score).  80 professional presenters gave speaches in 2006, and I got the highest score (read the letter in Norwegian from the CEO).

This is the second year in a row that my presentations win at ANFO.

Frequently given answers about the presentation workshop

"With few exceptions, the difficulty in putting together a written report or oral presentation stems not from inability to use language but from problems in thinking through what has to be said."

From "The Thought Process In McKinsey Reports and Presentations"

What is this about?

We spend more and more time listening to and creating presentations and written material.  But we can produce better presentations in less time if we think before we create slides or reports. 

We offer a one or two day workshop where we teach particpants to think and structure their thoughts before they start producing written material.  Using performing arts practices we also teach rehearsal and performance techniques to help you become more effective on stage. 

What is the format for your presentation workshop?

"The most useful training I ever attended" -- survey of past participants from Pannon.

The presentation workshop is divided into three modules -- Prepare, Produce, Present.

1. Prepare.  When making presentations, most people skip the first step and start writing not really knowing how to structure their message.  I spend most time on the first section which deals with presentation strategy, subject, structure, style and storyline.   This is where we review the Pyramid Principle, a strong logic structure developed by McKinsey & Co. Typically I will use a work-in-progress developed by the participants as an example.  Usually, this workshop by itself can run the course of a day.  When I did the workshop for Pannon, we spent most of our day on this section.  This section is highly interactive and involve break-out sessions and group exercises. 

1. Produce.  Most people start their presentations by changing the font and inserting a company logo on the first page.  In this module, we establish a shared production process of drafting, testing and revising.  During this phase I also talk about navigation design, non-linear presentations, mindmapping and advanced Powerpoint techniques. 
2. Present.  In this section we look at the three phases of presentation:  before, during and after the presentation.  We talk about rehearsal techniques.  About performance techniques -- how to act on stage with respect to language, body and interaction with the audience.  We also talk about following up on the presentation using polling and feedback techniques.

What is the format for this workshop?  The workshop consists of approx. 15 people interacting over two days.  We review a presentation known by the participants and shift between joint sessions and group-exercises.  Day 1 is spent working on module 1, Day 2 on module 2 and 3.   Ideally the workshop takes place off-site, and day 1 and 2 does not have to be concecutive. 

Do you do any followup after the workshop?  Yes, we offer each group to participate in an online classroom where classmates will discuss issues, and where we will answer questions and post articles and links of relevance. 

What are the major benefits?  You spend less time making presentations and your output becomes shorter and easier to understand:

• Spend less time creating presentations and written material. Teams work better and faster when they have a shared process and understanding of how presentations should be made.  This class will greatly help teams understand the key successfactors and process. 
• Spend less time reading and listening to presentations.  Spending more time thinking about the structure of a presentation makes the presentation shorter and crisper.  Putting your ideas into a storyline format makes it more interesting for your audience -- and easier to understand.
• Improve thinking, learning and decisions.  By ensuring a proper intellectual structure, complex issues can be grouped in a fashion which will speed up learning and understanding.  Proper thinking will clear the fog and help you make better decisions because you get a more thorough grasp of the subject at hand.  And you will know that issues are addressed at the right time, and that no issues will be left out.