Picture the scene. That moment when some senior dude in a meeting takes the stage, grabs the pen and the flip–chart. Everyone holds their breath.
He draws (often very badly) what looks like a drugged hedgehog - with a rocket for a head - and big flippers for feet. Usually this moment is celebrated with some bizarre theatre and comedic stage craft. There's a nearly dry 'apricot white' colored permanent marker - applied staccato - to the top right hand corner of a wobbling flip chart/Zimmer frame thing - straight from the 80's.
There is a rapid fire narration with awkward gymnastic 'over the shoulder' glances at the audience.
With each noisy scratch of urgency he addresses the group. He describes the mess the company is in, how it all used to be when he started 40 years ago, the political uncertainty over recent changes in the leadership. It's a torrent of emotion. He goes on to describe the powerful new products they have launched, the market that they keep missing, the enterprise culture, the fragmented systems, the new HR Director, his kids, the competitive context, the next 20 years of immense IP they must create and the strategy that will screw the competition well into the future – for as long as we all shall live. Amen.
By the time he has finished everyone is on their feet ecstatic, applauding – filled with rapture. "We need a copy of that!" They scream.
This diabolical inky scrawl becomes the stuff of legend. The guy has never had an art class in his life, he totalled in the region of 17 'no-way' straight lines and a couple of arcs - he cannot spell chiaroscuro - but everyone in the room falls into the magic of his story, the passion of his articulation and forever after the business uses this ACTUAL representation to explain the vision, the mission and the strategy.
And it works.
What was going on here? The idea of passionate translation with a visual. Capturing the sentiment and embodying it into something highly symbolic. The connecting of multiple ideas forcing a new iconic representation from the embers of something ordinary.
The smallest mark of the pen has astonishing power.
In a meeting the use of the pen and a simple drawing has a powerful effect. It is often not the amount of ink or necessarily its craft but more its sheer impudence. It cracks through the debate. Accompanied by vital words as it is born. Now committed with force to the wall somehow attracting all the energy in the room.
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