Language Of Leadership
...Communication. The information is being used by Deborah Barrett in Session 1 at IE to support PowerPoint slides and to provide examples and exercises for class discussion.
Using the Pyramid Principle
In the Pyramid Principle, Barbara Minto illustrates how to structure an effective discussion in a business context by applying classical deductive and inductive logic. You begin with your main argument, and then, establish a dialogue that supports each part of the argument with specifics that answer the questions, "why," "what," or "how." This dialogue is similar to the approach you use to create a decision tree to generate ideas. You start with your conclusion or recommendation at the top and then work through the levels of support, testing each level to make sure it answers "why," "what," or "how" for the level above it (Exhibit 1 10).
Exhibit 1 10: Example of a Pyramid
Using the Pyramid Principle helps you structure a complete and logical argument. As you create the pyramid, you can easily see gaps in your evidence, establish the balance of your argument, and determine if each level logically supports the next. You can see if you have too much support for any one topic and not enough for another. A pyramid also makes it easy for you to see that each level of your argument clearly and logically supports the level above it and that you have not duplicated support under any of the topic boxes. In addition, drawing a pyramid helps if you are working with a team to create a document or presentation. With all topics and supporting details visually displayed, you can easily divide up the topics into tasks, avoid duplication of effort, and determine quickly where the team needs to do more analysis.
Creating a Storyboard
Another technique for working out the structure of your communication is a storyboard. A storyboard is particularly...
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