Boil your strategy down to just one clear visualization

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the July-August 2025 issue of the Harvard Business Review, on pages 98 to 107, I found a useful ten-page article by Joao Cotter Salvado and Freek Vermeulen titled You Should Be Able to Boil Your Strategy Down to a Single Clear Visualization. It is referenced here, and an excellent graphic from it is shown here. The description for that graphic says that:

 

“Our research into the best way to communicate strategies reveals five key design principles, which can be seen in this visualization about the bank Capitec. It clearly illustrates the bank’s plan to build a network of accessible, user-friendly branches to deliver a value proposition of banking services that are simple, unintimidating, and affordable for low-income customers opening their first bank accounts.

 

1]  Group your ideas into three or four main concepts that form the base of your model.

 

2]  Within those concepts, add layers of detail that describe their concrete implications and how to implement the strategy.

 

3]  Use color and shading, but judiciously – only to distinguish layers.

 

4]  Indicate clear relationships among the elements – for instance, with connecting lines and arrows that delineate flows.  

 

5]  Make your framework easier for viewers to process by organizing it horizontally.

 

To read the full article you can look at the Business Source Premier database in EBSCOhost over at your friendly local public library. But you can also find a slightly different version in another article with the same title from June 24, 2025 by Joao Cotter Salvado.