A must-read for clarity of thought and communication

How to Make an Impact, by John Moon, is a must-read for anyone who presents data and insights, whether in reports or presentations. It is packed with ideas that are powerful, straightforward and easy to implement. There are lots of before and after examples of reports, slides, tables, graphs, organisation charts, KPI dashboards, etc, and the author makes his points in an engaging, witty and highly readable style. Check out also his website (www.jmoon.co.uk) for a wealth of templates you can download and adapt.

I particularly like Jon Moon’s WiT (Words in Tables) alternative to bullet points. Not only does it help you communicate better, but the effort of reframing your points leads to more and better insight. On his website Jon has a brilliant example. You may recall the furore in May 2008 when housing minister Caroline Flint let her briefing notes for a cabinet meeting be photographed as she walked into 10 Downing Street. Jon shows her list of bullet points, discusses out how badly they (fail to) put her view across, and then presents his own redo of the briefing notes. Now if only we could persuade all politicians to adopt such clarity of thinking and communication! Of course, we also need them to improve their ethics, but that is a topic for a different book...