9
“there can be no words
without images”
Aristotle
foreword
If you’re an entrepreneur or small‑business owner
and you’ve ever wondered if visual thinking was
something that could work for you — not just for
big businesses — then the answer is definitely “Yes”.
Visual thinking has contributed in some way to
every success I’ve had in life, from the businesses
I’ve founded, to family, to personal discipline and
even to my health.
Visual thinking quite literally makes you see better. It
enables you to come up with creative solutions that
you wouldn’t otherwise arrive at, helps you make
sense of complex systems and see connections
that others miss. It not only helps you explain this
complexity to your clients, it helps them see the
answers to their problems. Most businesses are
made up of people walking around with problems
that they are trying to fix using an incomplete
toolkit. Their solutions often fail because they
are missing the wealth of information that visual
thinking can unlock. Put simply, visual thinking
helps you get better at seeing so that you can get
better at fixing.
This works in pretty much any situation. I’ve never
been super strong at math, but even my math is
better when I work visually.
I’m thrilled to recommend this book, Draw a Better
Business by Cara Holland. It’s extremely simple,
clear, actionable, and of course it’s got lots of
pictures so it’s pretty easy to navigate. I think it’s a
wonderful book and I hope you enjoy it.
Dave Gray
—
Founder, XPLANE
Founder and CEO, The School of the Possible 2018
whether you want
to connect with an
individual, an audience
or the whole world,
communicating visually
helps you connect
more directly, and more
meaningfully, with more
people.
my mission is to help
people draw their
stories, conversations
and ideas. to externalise
the imagination and
clarify the complex. to
connect. because when
we connect amazing
things become possible.
part
1
we
