The most dubious business plan can look solid—even smart—if it’s cast as a virtuous circle. “See, we invest our profits in innovation to create delightful products that customers buy—which generate profits that we invest in innovation!” Who could argue with that? Indeed, the merit of self-reinforcing systems seems so obvious that businesspeople instinctively describe their strategies as cyclical activities that magically fuel themselves. Meanwhile, audiences demand snappy-looking, easy-to-digest graphics that, almost by definition, strip away nuance. It’s no surprise, then, that business communications are lousy with circle-and-arrow diagrams that range from the dumb to the deceptive.
A version of this article appeared in the November 2005 issue of Harvard Business Review.
