#45 Visual Cues

Embedded in strategy and leadership is the use of visualization.

Universities and organizations alike offer a plethora of courses on the art of crafting a vision and its importance in both strategy and leadership. A simple search on Google for “How do you craft a vision?” produces 376,000,000 results.

As a technique, visualization has been used extensively for guiding career choices, self-development, goal setting, and change management. 

Learning to notice and create visual cues is a vital leadership lesson.

Begin with the end in mind is Habit#2 from the famous book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. Visualization is the basis for Habit #2, as we can see by its definition.

 “Habit 2 is based on imagination--the ability to envision in your mind what you cannot at present see with your eyes. It is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There is a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation. The physical creation follows the mental, just as a building follows a blueprint. If you don't make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default.”

None of us know for sure how to envision the “end” of a COVID world. We can, however, create visual cues to help. Ink Factory Studio created this graphic recording to help us envision the #futureofwork.

Navigating the #futureofwork has never been an easy task. The velocity of change and degree of uncertainty outpace our capacity to quickly and easily visualize the future. 

The powerful combination of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data are fueling the need for visualization.

Charts, graphs, tables, and storyboards are just a few of the visualization tools available to foster data sense-making. To remove the risk of losing crucial knowledge, new tools such as 3D visualizations will be essential.

This article from the Journal of Information Systems Engineering & Management points out, “The big amount of data generated nowadays is being used by Big Data tools to generate knowledge and to facilitate the decision-making. However, this situation creates a new challenge: how to visualize all these data without losing mid/long term crucial information. “

This visual helps us understand the five new challenges of associated with data visualization tools. Figure 6. Big Data: The 5 Vs

My good friend and colleague, @todd cherches describes the importance of VisuaLeadership in his newly released book by the same name.  

“One of the most powerful ways [to address the VUCA world] is by utilizing visual thinking and visual communication tools, tips, and techniques—including visual models, visual metaphors, and visual storytelling.” Todd Cherches author VisuaLeadership: Leveraging the Power of Visual Thinking in Leadership and in Life.

Dirty Dozen lesson #8 Visual Cues

I was honored to have Todd’s words of wisdom included in article #7; Leaders Reap What They Sow. Todd is masterful at using the art of visualization in his professional and personal life. He shares a robust collection of tools, tips, and techniques in his best-selling, highly recommended book (link above!).

When I visualized writing 52 articles in a year, the end game for me was to create a series of articles that readers would find intriguing, relevant, and timely while stimulating learning and curiosity. 

I fancied people might want to read my articles with the same enthusiasm this sign suggests ... Home of the Interesting, Curiosities for the Curious.

As I reflect on the journey thus far, I would say some articles resonated the way I had envisioned more than others. The articles that included a visual depiction of ideas, models, metaphors, etc. connected with my readers better and aligned with my vision.

Helping my readers “see” the metaphor in visual constructs drew more comments than articles without visuals. A lack of visual cues correlated to a weaker response from my readers. It was an important lesson for me in the power of using visual cues.

What visual cues are you using?