Create a One-Slide Strategy That Sticks. If your strategy is hard to explain, it’ll be even harder for others to understand and follow. A clear, well-designed visualization can help you get buy-in from employees and investors alike—and make your message far easier to remember. Here’s how to create a single slide that effectively communicates your strategy.

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Create a One-Slide Strategy That Sticks 

If your strategy is hard to explain, it’ll be even harder for others to understand and follow. A clear, well-designed visualization can help you get buy-in from employees and investors alike—and make your message far easier to remember. Here’s how to create a single slide that effectively communicates your strategy. 

Group ideas into three or four main concepts. Focus on a few essential elements. Too many components dilute clarity and confuse your audience. People grasp strategy best when they can organize it into a simple, logical framework. 

Add layers of detail. For each core concept, include concrete operational details. Help people understand not just what the strategy is, but how it plays out in day-to-day execution. 

Design for clarity, not decoration. Use color only to separate layers. Avoid flashy effects or unrelated graphics—overcomplication harms comprehension. 

Show how it all connects. Use arrows or flows to illustrate cause-and-effect relationships. A good visualization should mirror the story you’re telling and clarify how each element drives the next. 

Keep it horizontal. Layouts that follow a left-to-right flow are easier to process. Our brains are wired to scan landscapes, so align your design with how people naturally absorb information. 

 
Split image with a colorful grid of rectangles on the left and a stylized graph on the right featuring mountain-like shapes in blue and green with a red circle in the upper right corner.

Read more in the article

You Should Be Able to Boil Your Strategy Down to a Single Clear Visualization

by João Cotter Salvado and Freek Vermeulen

Read more in the article

You Should Be Able to Boil Your Strategy Down to a Single Clear Visualization

by João Cotter Salvado and Freek Vermeulen

Split image with a colorful grid of rectangles on the left and a stylized graph on the right featuring mountain-like shapes in blue and green with a red circle in the upper right corner.
 

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