by Emily Chan
However, there are also times when other symbols are more appropriate. In Figure 3.11, if the consumer survey had asked the consumers to rank each criterion on a scale of 1 to 5, then it would be more appropriate to use 1 to 5 instead of moons on the “moon chart.” Similarly, if you are presenting to an audience who is used to checks or certain symbols or who might find moons difficult to understand (an example could be factory workers in a developing country), then other symbols may be preferable to moons.
When appropriate, a rough average can be estimated using the moons or other symbols. An average is useful in helping make an overall assessment or draw an overall conclusion. This is shown in Figure 3.10.
Cascading Chart
Figures 3.12 and 3.13 present two examples of cascading charts.
A cascading chart is useful in displaying how quantitative values such as revenues, costs, headcount, and the like sum up to a final number. It is especially useful if additions and subtractions are both involved. It is difficult to display such complexity with other forms of charts, such as pie charts or stacked bar charts.
Area Chart
An area chart is useful when you have three variables of interest, say, x, y, and x multiplied by y. Figure 3.14 presents an example.
In this example, the chart displays headcount and average cost per head by job category. Moreover, the chart also displays the total headcount cost of each job category, which is represented by the area of each box:
Figure 3.12 Cascading Chart 1: Project Cost
Figure 3.13 Cascading Chart 2: Project Profit
Area of each box = value on x-axis multiplied by value on y-axis
= headcount multiplied by average cost per head by category
= total headcount cost for each category
Figure 3.14 Area Chart
Hence by using this format instead of bar or scatter chart, you can show an additional third variable of interest to the analysis. In this example, it may be important to know that while factory workers are the most numerous, their cost per head is so low that their total cost is smaller than that of the supervisors (can be seen by comparing the areas). Hence the organization may be described as “top heavy.”
When using these four charts (and any other chart types) as visual aids and analytical tools, keep the following points in mind:
A chart is valuable only if it helps you make a point. It is sometimes tempting to show a chart where rare data could be displayed or where the data are so cleverly manipulated that the display would impress any intellectual. However, it is important to keep in mind that the chart is a means to an end. Any chart that does not help make your point is of no value and must not be included as a visual aid.
Each chart should be put on a PowerPoint slide with a title at the top and a data source at the bottom. In consulting, the rule is that the title should
Be simple and concise, preferably eight words or fewer.
Tell the audience the point of the chart, that is, the conclusion or the “so what” of the chart.
Novices are often tempted to use descriptive titles like “REVENUE CALCULATION” or “MARKET GROWTH” because those are easy to do. This is not “wrong”—but best practice is to use the title to tell the audience the “so what”: why they are looking at the chart. This practice has two benefits. First, it forces a discipline on the author of the slide; you have to think through the “so what” of the chart and how the slide fits into the rest of the story. Second, it allows the audience a fast and simple way to understand the significance of the chart. Figure 3.12 also illustrates this kind of title.
Sometimes, the title cannot fully explain the point. This can be because the point is too complex. In such cases, a subtitle can be added below the title or a short text can be added to the bottom of the slide. Figures 3.15 and 3.16 show how to do this. It’s best to stick to the title when feasible, because it is most direct. But these two techniques are available for use when necessary.
Putting the source on a slide is important for three reasons. The first is the credibility of the data. The second is just in case the audience asks in the middle of your presentation. The third is for future reference in case you or someone must find the data source at some future date. If raw data from the sources have been manipulated or adjusted, some people will put “analysis and estimates” after the list of sources to indicate this fact. Figure 3.16 also illustrates the use of a source note; it illustrates a complete slide with title and source. It should be noted that similar title and source rule applies to text slides.
Figure 3.15 Use of Subtitle
For important or complicated charts, it’s usually best stick to the rule of one chart per slide. However, it may sometimes be necessary to put multiple charts on the same slide. This can be done as long as the charts all work to make a point simple enough for the audience to understand and absorb quickly and easily. Figure 3.17 is an example.
Figure 3.16 Use of Explanatory and Source Notes
Source: Internal accounting data; analyst reports; analysis.
Figure 3.17 Multiple Charts on a Slide
Source: Internal accounting data; analyst reports; analysis.
The graph and chart examples I’ve presented so far are simply references. Visual aid design is often about creativity. The key is to know the point you want to make and then design an effective way to show the supporting data to make the point. Figure 3.18 is an example of a visual aid I have recently used that I have not used before. This is the foot traffic pattern for a grocery store. The data is collected by hiring part-time staff to stand at each aisle for two hours to record the actual traffic.
This chart looks somewhat messy and raw. But it is indeed an effective chart because the point is not to show the details but to show that certain sections have much heavier traffic than others.
Text Slides
For data graphs and charts, the format chosen is largely driven by the data and analysis needed. For text slides, however, the format is more a personal choice and personal style. My style is one of “less is more.” This style fits me because the PowerPoint presentations I do are mostly visual aids to a verbal presentation rather than stand-alone documents. Therefore, it is not necessary to “cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s.”
Figure 3.18 Hand-Drawn Traffic Pattern
Source: Shopper interviews 9–11 a.m, September, 24 2008.
By “less is more,” I mean:
First, minimize the number of text slides. I try to use pictures whenever possible. For example, Figure 3.19 shows a slide from my recent presentation to a client who was considering entering a new market. Instead of a narrative slide, I used a picture of a jigsaw puzzle.
Since there was no data or analysis involved, I could have used a simple text slide. But I decided to use a jigsaw picture for two reasons. First, it conveys the message that all four components are necessary and must work closely together. Second, it is visually more interesting and more memorable, especially important because the audience included sales managers and technical managers who could be overwhelmed by an overly analytical presentation. In general, whenever I have to write a text slide, the first thing I do is to think if I can draw a picture instead. If not, I go ahead and write the text. After I finish, I still keep looking at the text slide to see if I can put it into a picture.
If text is necessary, economize on the number of words on each text slide. I always use bullet points and subpoints. I find that in addition to helping enforce the discipline of structured logic, the natural breakdown provided by bullet points largely reduces the need for conjunctions and articles. Within each bullet point, I also spend a lot of time and effort to try to use the fewest number of words. For example, instead of “the project will be high in cost and low in risk,” I may just write “high cost, low risk.” Or instead of “we expect government to give us full support,” I will write “expect full government support.”
Figure 3.19 One Picture Equals
Remember t
o make bullet points under the same argument parallel, especially for inductive arguments. Parallel bullet points mean the bullet points have a similar, if not identical, grammatical structure. Figures 3.20 and 3.21 illustrate two types of parallel bullet points. In the first one, each bullet point starts with a verb. In the second, each starts with an adjective.
Figure 3.20 Parallel Construction: Verbs
Figure 3.21 Parallel Construction: Adjectives
Making the bullet points parallel helps you make sure that the points are congruent with the logic. Parallel construction also makes it easier for the audience to understand and absorb the points.
WHEN YOU’RE IN A HOLE, STOP DIGGING
Training yourself to speak well also means knowing when it is time to say no more. There are at least two situations when it is better to shut up than to continue to speak, no matter how eloquent you are as a speaker:
Even people who are very good at speaking can find themselves saying the wrong thing. I still remember this scene. It was the first week of HBS, and one of my classmates was making a comment. He started well enough, but then his speech began to go wrong. Almost everyone in the class raised a hand to argue against him. Knowing something was not right, he started to “fine-tune” his point “I did not mean that. . . . What I meant was. . . . ” But somehow the more he tried to talk himself out of it, the worse it became. Then the professor quietly walked up to him, looked him in the eye, and said to him in front of the class, “Rule #1 in speaking—when you are in a hole, stop digging.” The whole class laughed, but this advice had so much truth that I remember it to this day.
Sometimes it is important to quit while you are ahead. In some situations, especially when your goal has already been achieved, the less you say, the less risk you have of saying something wrong. I learned this during my high school years, when history was my favorite subject, and I encountered the story of Kondraty Ryleyev. Ryleyev, a 19th-century Russian revolutionary, demanded modernization of the country. Eventually, he was arrested and sentenced to be hanged. On the day of the execution, as the trapdoor opened and Ryleyev dangled, the rope broke and he fell to the ground. At the time, such an event was seen as a sign from above to pardon the criminal. As Ryleyev stood up, he shouted out to the crowd something like this: “You see, in Russia they do not even know how to make rope!” The Tsar was almost signing the pardon when he heard what Ryleyev had said to the crowd. The Tsar was so infuriated that despite the general pardon rule, he decided to hang Ryleyev again the next day to “prove the contrary.”
Notes
1. Discussion of case study available online: www.hbs.edu/mba/academics/howthecasemethodworks.html; access date: January 16, 2008.
2. Bronwyn Fryer, “Storytelling That Moves People: A Conversation with Screen-writing Coach Robert McKee,” Harvard Business Review (June 2003); 81(6): 51–5, 136.
3. Bronwyn Fryer, “Storytelling That Moves People: A Conversation with Screen-writing Coach Robert McKee,” Harvard Business Review (June 2003); 81(6): 51–5, 136.
4. Michael Hateetersley, “The Managerial Art of Telling a Story,” Harvard Management Update (January 1997), No. U9701D.
5. Bronwyn Fryer, “Storytelling That Moves People: A Conversation with Screen-writing Coach Robert McKee,” Harvard Business Review (June 2003); 81(6): 51–5, 136.
6. Andrew Greeley, Furthermore (New York: Forge Books, 2000).
7. This was true at least during my time there, 1997 to 1998. There have been some changes since then, and students may now be required to do more team projects, hence more presentations.
8. Relative market share is the company’s market share relative to its biggest competitor. For example, if a company has 30 percent market share and its biggest competitor has the same, its relative market share is 1 ×. If the biggest competitor has 60 percent of market share, then the company’s relative market share is 0.5 ×.
4
IT’S WHO YOU KNOW
WHY NETWORK
To some extent, everyone knows the importance of networks, or guanxi. We all know from everyday experience that without knowing the right people, we may have a hard time getting a business permit, finding a client, making a sale, landing a job, and hiring the right employee. To say nothing of the personal stuff, like finding an ethical doctor, a competent lawyer, a piece of bargain property or a good nursery school for your kids. As Harvey Mackay (a popular speaker at many places including Harvard) says in his book Dig Your Well Before You Are Thirsty, “No matter how smart you are, no matter how talented, you can’t do it alone.”1
Besides anecdotal and everyday experience, a number of research studies conducted in the united states also confirm the importance of networks in business. In one study of 733 U.S. millionaires, nearly all the respondents (94 percent) rated “getting along with people (networking)” as either very important or important in accounting for their success. In the same survey, only 31 percent felt that “having a high IQ or superior intellect” was very important or important.2
For his classic 1974 “Getting a Job: A Study of Contacts and Careers,” sociologist Mark Granovetter (a Harvard Ph.D.) interviewed several hundred professional and technical workers in the United States about how they found their current jobs.3 Fifty-six percent of those he talked to found their jobs through a personal connection.
Networking is important not just for business. In their 1993 Harvard. Business Review article “How Bell Labs Creates Star Performers,” Robert Kelley and Judith Caplan wrote about the study they conducted of engineers at a major research laboratory to determine what attributes separated the 15–20 percent whom their peer group nominated as “stars” from the average performers.4 One of the most important attributes was found to be “rapport with a network of key people.” It was found that things went more smoothly for the stars because they put time into cultivating good relationships with people who could help them in their careers. This contradicts the general belief (especially as held by many parents) that scientific or academic superstars need only excel in their specialty and that networking is unimportant. In today’s world, as Harvey Mackey notes, “Networking may not be rocket science, but studies prove it works for rocket scientists.”5 They need to network to:
Know where research grants are available and who controls the money, so they can get a piece of the pie.
Know how to get their achievements reported in the appropriate journals so they get the attention and profile they need.
Know the latest developments in their fields so they can exploit any synergies possible.
In fact, many people state that the key reason to go to Harvard Business School is not to learn from the classes but to get into the network of HBS alumni. A 2007 report, “The Small World of Investing,”6 studied 85 percent of the total assets under management in the United States from 1990 to 2006 and presented the following findings:
Mutual fund managers invested more money in companies run by people they went to college or graduate school with than in companies where they had no such connections.
Investments involving school ties, on average, did significantly better than those that did not. (One possible explanation for this is that fund managers knew more about their old schoolmates and hence could invest in the ones they knew were capable and competent.)
The most common shared school in the study was found to be HBS.
Therefore, it is not surprising that many people go to HBS not for the classroom learning but for the networking. Networking includes not just people met while attending HBS but also the huge network of successful people who have attended or will attend the school and who appear at Harvard-organized or other events there. Personally, because of the alumni network, I have met with the president of Chanel, the head of the Economic Development Board in Singapore, the president of Tiffany’s, the chairman of the Hong Kong Airport Authority, and other notables of business and government.7
WHO TO NETWORK WITH
The key to a successful network is v
ariety and breath. In the job survey mentioned earlier, Granovetter found that of those who used a contact to find a job, less than 17 percent would describe that contact as a close friend. The rest would describe the contact more as an acquaintance.
Why is this? Granovetter believes that when it comes to finding out about new opportunities and information such as jobs, acquaintances (or “weak ties,” as he calls them) are actually more important than close friends (“strong ties”). This is because your “strong ties” usually occupy pretty much the same world as you do. They most likely have a family and education background, social circle, profession, life experience, lifestyle, religion, and geographic location similar to yours. Therefore, you probably already know most of what they know. Your acquaintances, on the other hand, occupy different worlds. They are more likely to know something that you do not. Granovetter called this “the strength of weak ties.” Abroad network with many acquaintances hence represents a source of social power. The more acquaintances you have, the more powerful you are. Acquaintances give you access to opportunities and worlds you wouldn’t otherwise have an easy way to reach.
HBS teaches you not to discriminate as you build your network. There are good reasons to avoid the assumption that a junior person is a meaningless person. After all, Bill Gates, one of the richest men in the world now, was a college dropout. Many successful people who came to speak at HBS had a modest family background, mediocre education, and have held some very junior positions early on in their career. Some have failed miserably in their early career, but all ended up wildly successful. Treating everybody with dignity and courtesy is not just good form. It is a good strategy.