Seven years ago I noticed that many of my attendees in training were taking notes in a new way – drawing shapes instead of old-fashioned longhand lecture notes.

So I wondered how many diagrams there were in my training materials. The answer was 46, so I added 4 more and wrote The Diagrams Book.

I had no idea at the time that there was an entire world market in visual thinking. Over time I seem to have become “the diagrams guy.”

Versions of the book have now come in from Taiwan, Korea, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, China, and Hungary, and there is more to come from Russia, and Thailand.

So all over the world, it is clear that many find it hard to express themselves and solve problems purely with words. Diagrams and visuals are superb for organising your thinking in so many ways. 

So my next challenge was to try and combine the two. Would it be possible to interweave narrative and visuals to create a guide to sorting stuff out? This is my attempt to do just that: The Intelligent Work Book.

In my opinion, balanced intelligence comes from combining the power of the visual and the verbal, and the result becomes a practical workbook that anyone can use.

From thinking, doing, working, planning and prioritizing, through to presenting, selling, negotiating, progressing in your career, or just plain fooling around.

It can be done, so here’s to intelligent work.