Graphics Essay

        The readings on graphics fit within the overarching theme present in all of the assignments: that legal strategy is centered on developing a narrative. Specifically, I believe this reading on graphics works as a complement to the strategies introduced in the influence readings. Using visuals as a tool was introduced in the influence reading and that surely includes the graphics introduced in this reading.

        The introduction introduced ways of describing your strategy and I believed this would be important when attempting to influence someone, specifically a potential party to a negotiation in the case of the class problem. “The Balanced Scorecard” framework breaks down the different strategies to create value: financial performance, customer based, internal processes, and learning and growth objectives.  While not perfectly translatable, I believe some of these strategies, linked together, can provide a solid description of the strategies used in the negotiation problem. In the negotiation problem, every party at the table was motivated by monetary gains, so it seems clear that the strategy used must in part be based on financial performance.

        Chapter 2 provided details on how to visualize your strategy. In the negotiation, this information could have been insightful on how to properly visualize the financial and future benefits of a potential deal between the parties. The two tools that I thought would have been most useful were the “quantitative comparisons” and “alternatives” sections. Using quantitative comparisons, Xenon Company should have done its best to get all the possible data and visualize EC’s status with and without Xenon in the picture. Having an idea that EC was in financial distress, Xenon could have capitalized on demonstrating how badly EC needed Xenon to save the company from going bankrupt.

        Similarly, Xenon could have used the “alternatives” strategy as a visual to support the previous point. In a closed universe problem, there were no other suitable partners for EC to enter into a deal. By spelling out EC’s alternatives and their corresponding financial consequences, Xenon would have likely had a much better chance at striking a favorable deal.

        Again, all these strategic tools align with the mantra “create a narrative.” As the class has progressed, these readings and our times in the classroom have really illustrated the importance of that phrase.