Is that 2x2 graphic a chart, or a matrix? How many quadrants are there?

Experts who lecture us on business or leadership topics love to make up 2x2 graphics which use two factors (each at two levels) to create four descriptive categories. When the factors are qualitative (low and high) the result is a 2x2 table, as is shown above.

I described tables in my previous post titled Is that 2x2 graphic a table, a chart, or a matrix? Should the axis go from left to right or right to left? In that post I discussed Stephen R. Covey’s so-called Time Management Matrix (also shown above in my revised form). It really just is a table. The 5th definition for a matrix in the Merriam-Webster dictionary instead is:

“a rectangular array of mathematical elements … that can be combined to form sums and products with similar arrays…”

When the two factors instead are quantitative the result is a 2x2 chart (commonly known as a two dimensional x-y graph), as is shown above. One type of chart has the axes centered and uses all four quadrants. Another type just uses one quadrant, and has the axes located at the lower left.

At the Magnetic Speaking web site there is a good recent blog post by Rahul Guttal titled How to Approach Leadership Interview Questions. But it is illustrated by a chart similar to that shown above, that mistakenly is titled as Leadership Communication Matrix. The horizontal axes are labeled with Logic at the left and Emotion at the right, while the vertical axes have Details at the bottom and Vision at the top. Those apparent four axes (and quadrants) are very confusing. His point is the Typical Professional uses less vision and more logic than is desired (The Sweet Spot).

Mr. Guttal apparently was inspired by a much earlier Magnetic Speaking blog post from Peter Khoury titled The Number One Key to Leadership Communication that also used two axes but is labeled as shown above. The 0,0 point could refer to an entirely ‘content-free’ presentation with neither Evidence nor Emotion nor Detail nor Abstraction. At YouTube you can watch a parody showing a  0,0 presentation titled ‘Thought Leader’ gives talk that will inspire your thoughts.

There should instead be two axes with percentages for Emotion and Vision (which belong in a single quadrant), as I have shown above in my revised chart. A second Leadership Presentation Chart shows four types of presentations.   

Another useful business chart is often misnamed as a BCG Matrix, where BCG is an acronym for the Boston Consulting Group. It has a horizontal axis for the Relative Market Share, and a vertical axis for the Market Growth Potential, as shown above. The Wikipedia article titled Growth-share matrix points out that it is a chart. The topic also is discussed in an article by Vincent Van Vliet at toolshero on January 20, 2013 titled BCG Matrix.

Rather curiously the original January 1970 Boston Consulting Group article by Bruce Henderson titled The Product Portfolio used a left-handed horizontal axis (and Dog was instead named Pet). The Wikipedia Growth-share matrix article notes that both General Electric and McKinsey also had developed more complicated 3x3 charts. Back in 2004 there even was a book by Alex Lowy and Phil Hood titled The Power of the 2x2 Matrix. You can read an excerpt online.