Consultant Explains the Pyramid Principle

Consulting firms like McKinsey, Bain, and BCG rely on the Pyramid Principle to communicate ideas - in presentations, in emails, and in verbal communication. In this video we'll explain what the Pyramid Principle is, why it's useful, and how top consulting firms apply it in the real world.
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#consulting #presentations #datavisualization #consultant

[@AnalystAcademy]

Thanks for watching! Learn more about our courses here --> www.theanalystacademy.com/all-courses/

[@PriscilaWise]

I love how simple this principle is and how well is has been explained here! Thank you. 🙏

[@KevinAgot]

I listened to other explanations and your’s was the clearest and best one.

[@Farcon]

This video and the whole series is very helpful!

[@AVK-AERO]

Great way to explain and nice visuals ... thanks you!

[@robertc2121]

Brilliantly explained thank you

[@Peacemaker336]

Very useful, Thanks for the clear explanation :)

[@jygawali]

Friendly way to explain and clear explanation with great visuals ... thanks!

[@keyurshah9798]

Really great approach and well explained, thanks for sharing it!

[@AnalystAcademy]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@GurminderMarwaha]

Nicely explained

[@user-vt4se5hd3i]

Great explanation. Thank you!

[@AnalystAcademy]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Adventure.Addicts]

that was a great approach and a I liked the way you explained the idea

[@AnalystAcademy]

Thank you! Glad you liked it!

[@ebukandehigwo2278]

Love this...

[@LD-wf2yt]

If you want to think differently ...
1. Understand/Study Persuasive Techniques, then apply that knowledge to your next Cover letter ;)
2. Learn/apply the following:
a) System thinking
b) Critical Thinking (plus Scenario Planning)
c) Inversion Thinking
3. Learn to draw logical thinking trees from the Theory of Constraints, understand: assumptions, necessary conditions, augmentative cases, and reinforcing loops
4. Other techniques can also help when thinking on your feet: SBAR, SOAR, STAR, DMAIC, SPIN, OKR, POOGI, etc

[@shahannazim]

very clear and logical explanation... thanks alot for the video.

[@AnalystAcademy]

You are welcome!

[@KwaddyK]

Really good explanation thanks.

[@AnalystAcademy]

Glad you liked it!

[@bills87]

Excellent explanation.

[@AnalystAcademy]

Thank you!

[@iyerravi44]

I liked this approach. It is utilitarian . Towards the end I felt a small disconnect. For instance the first line neatly lays down in linear fashion:(i) The Key point followed by the Argument and supporting Point. The next two lines start with the Argument and proceeds to completion. Isn't there a way to tie all the arguments while approaching the storyboard. Am I missing something. Overall 10/10 for the lucid and simple approach blended with an approachable tone of voice.

[@AnalystAcademy]

On the frame that shows the storyboard I'm actually missing a couple of arrows at the end of rows 1 and 2. Showing it on three lines is just due to space constraints. You could also think of the flow of the presentation like you're drilling down into each area, then coming back up a level before drilling down again. So the first slide is the top of the pyramid, then you drill all the way down until you hit the bottom of the pyramid (through the first key argument), then come back up to do the same thing for the second key argument, etc. We have another (older) video that explains the Pyramid Principle from a different angle that might be worth checking out: th-cam.com/video/dqGD5iqEfRY/w-d-xo.html

[@tim7517]

Great explanation, thank you. In your course do you actually take MECE and the Pyramid principle and build out actual slide cases based on these methodologies?

[@AnalystAcademy]

Thank you for your comment. The course teaches you how to build out a full deck as well as an individual slide using Pyramid Principle concepts. There aren’t really any full slide cases (i.e. start to finish full deck builds), but there are multiple exercises that reinforce the concepts - how to build a storyboard using the Pyramid Principle, how to properly structure a slide, etc. Plus additional breakdowns that aren’t on TH-cam.

[@thatsclassicher1149]

@@AnalystAcademy Hi! Piling on. Is there a full deck case you can refer us to? One that does take Pyramid Principle and apply it start to finish resulting in a full deck build?

[@littleninjai222]

That was a very good explanation. Thank you. In every example I've seen there are always 3 boxes. Is the middle layer always meant to only have 3 boxes (3 MECE topics)?

[@AnalystAcademy]

Nothing special about 3 boxes, or 3 layers for that matter. The pyramid can (and often is) made up of many boxes and layers.

[@SANJANADARGAN]

Hi, I have a doubt- Isn't the principle divided in terms of top-down and bottom-up approaches further? If yes, could you please elaborate?

[@ismaelkourouma5558]

I bought the book of Barbara Minto because of this video and you can trust me, it’s a great investment for your carier.

[@AnalystAcademy]

Agreed!

[@staypositivenomatterwhat4383]

+Analyst Academy Hi, Im not a presentation expert but this is just a tip that I thought of while watching your videos, I believe your viewers will relate significantly better to your videos if you zoom out a bit to include your hands in the video so that the entire range of gesticulation is visible on camera. Who knows , it might even boost views and watch time.

[@jeffliu9227]

A brilliant explanation. However, guess you need more scenery shots to have more views.

[@1789Bastille]

If you say something, the person is not going to like, you have to prime a person with information before you get to the main point. Also B2B sales people will not tell you ever the price straight even though you ask. There goal is not get info across. The goal is to sell.

[@robpearce]

there's a few problems i see with this style though - a) It's polarising. those who agree with the main point become susceptible to confirmation bias, and those that don't are immediately disengaged from the talk. b) Due to (a) it's not particularly compelling or persuasive. c) the details, which are the ones most likely to be wrong or at least divisive, are left until last. They form the foundation of every layer above, and it creates an argument jenga tower which can be toppled fairly easily with little time left for rebuttal.

[@AnalystAcademy]

Thanks Rob, all good points! The Pyramid Principle isn't perfect, but I'm not sure that an "answer last" approach would be any better. Providing details without the proper context has its own problems, and saving the answer for the end makes the presentation fairly inflexible. Executives often don't want the details, so spending time on them up front might be a waste. And if time is short (which it often is) I'd rather have no time for nitty gritty details than the actual answer to the problem in question.

[@martinfiedler4317]

Sounds very much like the "Gutachtenstil" ("opinion style") that is taught in German law schools for performing a legal analysis.

[@syed1010]

great content & channel. sad i can only subscribe once

[@AnalystAcademy]

So are we!

[@av-th2hv]

Using the pyramid principle to explain the pyramid principle. Very meta

[@RanoErgasheva-hx9km]

8

[@Sleatz_]

The outro music caught me so off guard.

[@kentestes192]

Great video, but you really should know how annoying the end music is - wrong tempo, TOO D*MN LOUD! Keep up the good work :)

[@AnalystAcademy]

Thanks for the feedback. We’ve since scaled back a bit :)

[@leslieaddai5071]

Lebron is the highest all time NBA scorer now 😂