Creating Visual Strategies to Solve Complex Problems

Don’t just say It- Draw the Picture and Tell the Story Behind Your Idea

Welcome Back to Bill Murphy’s 10x Podcast. Our guest in this episode is Dan Roam, international bestselling author of “The Back of the Napkin” and “The Pop-Up Pitch.” In addition to his literary works, Dan is also a visual strategist, pilot, and father of two.

Dan shares with listeners that his purpose in life is to help businesses solve complex problems by using visual art. With inspiration from Jeffery Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey,” he encourages us to take bold moves so that we can become the most persuasive communicator in the conference room and solve present-day problems.

Dan explains the purpose behind his recent book, “The Pop-Up Pitch,” and teaches us that with the use of visual art and storytelling, in just 7 minutes you can convince your listeners to believe in your ideas.

Join us today on a journey into the world of storytelling and visual art.

As a Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Business IT Leader here are some wins you will get by listening:

3:00 Dan: Visuals are important to making complicated ideas clear. When you take simple drawings and weave them together into a story, you end up with the single most powerful way to persuade anybody of anything, a simple visual story.

3:30 Bill: By taking different paths you can broaden your skills. Future presentations will be enhanced by the things you learned.

6:00 Dan: No matter what area you seek to study, your ability to think and communicate about the subject is critical.

6:30 Dan: No matter where you are in business, the single most important measure of your success is your ability to describe to others what you do, and why it is valuable to them.

7:00 Dan: The best way to persuade someone to do something is through positive affirmation of benefit. And the best way to do that is to tell them a story and the best story is one told with visual imagery.

11:30 Dan: Being able to sell the vision of your mission to your customer is critical.

12:30 Dan: Sell people on the idea. Nobody cares about the features. What people care about is, “What will we achieve by doing that? What is the benefit?”

13:00 Dan: “The Hero’s Journey” teaches you how to build a story around a hero. You will use the story to share your complicated idea, in a way that is inspiring and clear.You as the storyteller are not the hero. Your product is not the hero. The hero is the person to whom it provides the benefit. The hero is the customer.

17:30 Dan: The top innovative CIOs (Chief Information Officer) are helping to craft the future. CIO’s now have a seat in the boardroom and are the number one influencer of some of the biggest, not only technological decisions, but strategic decisions that a company is making.

18:00 Dan: Today’s information technology security issues are not the same issues that we had before. The solutions that got us here are not the solutions that will take us into the future. To solve these issues, tell the story of what was historically done and combine it with taking bold moves to elicit change.

18:30 Dan: The Hero’s Journey teaches you to face a problem that you have not faced before. You should take bold moves and believe in the journey. This enables growth and maturity as individuals, as a culture, and as an organization.

39:30 Dan: Visualizing the end is critical when sharing ideas. By following “The Pop-Up Pitch,” plan to prepare your pitch in two hours, and present your idea in 7 minutes or less to become the most persuasive communicator in the room.