How to Get Your Boss's Boss to Understand

The exercise works because it’s hands-on, and it keeps working long after the session ends.

A team will not reach implementable solutions until the frame includes what people are actually afraid of, not just what they say they want.

Treat something as not being in the model as synonymous with not being in the problem frame.

I normally ask the group to sketch the physical boundary first, since it is the more familiar concept. We then push into the operational boundary.

You need more than one communication approach because there are different situational contexts.

When I frame uncertainty well, I’m not just saying “we don’t know”—I show what we know, what’s likely, and what to watch.

Big decisions take months or years to make, involve an inner circle of advisors, require some math, and evolve through uncertainty.

Using physical and operational boundaries is a common way to frame problems. Using the same approach for establishing problem boundaries...

Using an influence diagram is one way to frame a problem. Framing the problem is also the first step in strategic communication using the...