Transform your work creating clarity

Would you want more people to buy into your ideas? Are you frustrated with too many unproductive situations at work? Do you need a new approach to solve the complex challenges of today? What if, visual tools were your answer! In his book Creating Clarity, Holger Nils Pohl will help you harness numerous visual tools to create value for your business, your customers, and even your private life. Interview to clarify.

Hi Holger, so why did you write this book… now?

Holger Nils Pohl: Well, I’m not sure if ’now’ is appropriate as it took me around seven years to write this book…! But in the grand scheme, one might allow the word ’now,’ right?
For the last decade, I’ve seen many people in business struggle to get excellent outcomes or struggle with how they get to these excellent results. And I’ve often seen the cause of their struggles in ineffective meetings, unclear structures, and hard-to-sell text presentations.
And every time I helped them structuring their thoughts in a visual way or focusing their discussions with a visual tool, they were happier with the process and generated better outcomes.
Over time it became clear to me that I was up to something. And I learned that a book is a great way to share my insights with as many people as possible — especially a visual book!
Even though the idea of Visual Thinking is not new, using Visual Tools is still not “business as usual.” Lots of people don’t know how to use Visual Tools nor when. And I hope my book will help and empower them.
That’s why I wrote “Creating Clarity.”

An extract from your book that best represents yourself?

The pages about “Clarity is the Success Factor” represent me best. Here’s a short extract:
“This book is not about me, though, but about you! Please take profit from my insights during these last years. Whenever I work with my clients in any industry, whatever shape or size, clarity is the one element that is either missing or leading to success. This is true not only for people with neurodivergence like me but even more so for all neurotypical people out there.
The need for clarity holds true for human interaction, solving complex challenges, or just planning the daily next steps. I have learned that keeping things simple, visual, and clear will go a long way.

Are you being stuck with a problem? Put your thoughts on paper and gain clarity on your roadblock. Are you feeling misunderstood by colleagues? Pull out a visual tool to align with your next objectives.
Don’t know where to start? Get some sticky notes and start working piece by piece through the complexity. Lacking a good way to convince others of your idea? Build a visual story to capture everyone’s attention.”

The trends that are just emerging and that you believe in the most?

Holger Nils Pohl: We’re living in times of complex challenges and uncertainty. It’s been talked about a lot in the past, but more and more people feel that now. And most of us are not set up to deal with that situation very well. One way to work with complexity and uncertainty is to connect to others in a network or ecosystem and solve the challenges together. But for living and working in a truly enriching network, we need to embrace a different set of mindsets, behaviors, and skills.
I believe that we will see more and more people opting in for being authentic and making themselves vulnerable to enable trustful relationships in business and private life. The times of hard business, strict hierarchies, political fights, and putting on a show are over. They may survive for a while. But in the end, goodwill, love, and authenticity will define how we work together. And to do so, we need clarity.

If you had to give one piece of advice to a reader of this article, what would it be?

Holger Nils Pohl: It’s more important how we get to the goal than to reach it.
No matter how small or big your goal might be, the process of reaching it will take most of your time. Once you get it, it’s done in a second, and you’ll set the next goal (even though I hope you celebrate reaching that goal!). And you want to spend most of your time in a good way, right? Not feeling drained, confused, overwhelmed, and exhausted. But creative, energized, optimistic, and forward-looking. So, make sure your process works for you. The day-to-day is what counts to make you happy.

In a nutshell, what are the next topics that you will be passionate about?

Holger Nils Pohl: I’ll continue pushing the topic of Visual Tools and Visual Thinking. But with a strong focus on our communication and how we work (and live) together. I want to help people build trustful relationships in their business and private life. And I will give them the tools to manage the complex world that we live in.
And lately, I found the passion (due to my personal story) to help people with Aspergers Autism and people connected to them to leverage Visual Tools for a better understanding and a way to deal with the challenges that come with living on the autism spectrum.

Thanks Holger Nils Pohl

Thank you Bertrand Jouvenot

How to read the book ?

The book will be exclusive to Kickstarter and available until June 27th

And the current Kickstarter is proof that these concepts are needed. Holger Nils Pohl reached his funding goal in less than 24 hours.
After that, I’ll publish it to the retailers at the end of this year or the beginning of next year.