Think Like a Designer

By Ken Hilburn

Recently, Nancy Duarte participated in an interview with Jimmy Guterman of the MIT Sloan Management Review, which resulted in the article “How to Become a Better Manager by Thinking Like a Designer.” The quote that summarizes the article follows:

Often managers . . . rely heavily on data and information to tell the story and miss the opportunity to create context and meaning . . . leaving lots of room for interpretation, which can spawn multiple cycles and limit advancement.

It’s the same with information presentation. A focus on design at the beginning expands the ability to deliver context and meaning. But before you discount design as a concept for well, you know, “those artsy types,” keep in mind, as Nancy puts it:

Design is . . . crafting communications to answer audience needs in the most effective way.

What this means is that the more you focus on design, the more you’ll “speak” to your...