I've spent my entire life drawing pictures to help me understand the world around me.
Then I realised I could use it to draw life from others too.

I got my inspiration from everything going on around me.
A picture and well chosen words had an immense effect on me.
I drew my own versions of whatever inspired me.

My inspiration for drawing was always a question.
What would that look like? What if I drew it like this? What happens if I try that?
What will it mean if I change this line or that brushstroke?

I didn't think anything of it at the time because it seemed like such a natural thing to do.
My biggest problem was finding enough paper.

Everyone remarked on it.
Not because it was anything special but it seemed to spark something inside the audience.
Mostly they said they wished they could draw.

I couldn't work out why they couldn't!

THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE

I'm no expert on why drawing works to engage humans.
I'm guessing it goes right back to our ancestors and their drawing on the walls in caves.
It was the only way they could communicate what was on their minds.

The truth is it's still as fascinating to me today as it was when I first discovered the 2B pencil.
It's just the questions I ask nowadays are that bit harder.

My drawings got bigger. A lot bigger.
I moved from drawing at desks to a kind of corporate Graffiti on huge walls.
Telling stories of corporate strategy, unravelling a vision, tackling a wicked problem.

I'm running out of yellow ink.

One of my earliest observations was how drawing people's thoughts brought them out of themselves.
It brought them together. And it still made people feel good.
They still wish they could do it themselves.

I still don't know why they can't

These days, and a few million marks on paper later - it's structured and logical drawing.
It's now a balance of making better decisions and using drawing to give people the confidence to make them.

The beauty of it for me is balance - gradual provocation and emerging inspiration.
Everything I've learned has become the one single act of drawing out the right result.

Leaps of imagination rather than jumps of conclusion.

The Rest Of The Story - http://beta.myalbum.com/artofstrategy