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PresentingYour Ideas 111

Figure 5-2. Acme Widgets Presentation: Second Section Lead

We have the resources in place to implement the new process:

• We have facilities that can accommodate the new process.

• Our people have the necessary skills to run the new process.

whatever level of detail you stop, the logic of your presentation
will still be clear.
You may have found one aspect of this structure unusual. We
recommend starting with your conclusion—in the case of Acme
Widgets, changing the thrum-mat production process. Many pre-
sentations take the opposite approach, going through all the data
before finally springing the conclusion on the audience. While
there are circumstances where this is warranted—you may really
want to keep your listeners in suspense—it is very easy to lose your
audience before you get to your conclusions, especially in data-
intensive presentations. By starting with your conclusion, you pre-
vent your audience from asking, “Where is she going with this?”
Having your conclusions or recommendations up front is
sometimes known as inductive reasoning. Simply put, inductive
reasoning takes the form, “We believe X because of reasons A, B,
and C.” This contrasts with deductive reasoning, which can run
along the lines of, “A is true, B is true, and C is true; therefore, we
believe X.” Even in this simplest and most abstract example, it is
obvious that inductive reasoning gets to the point a lot more
quickly, takes less time to read, and packs a lot more punch.
McKinsey prefers inductive reasoning in its communications for
precisely these reasons, as Ron O’Hanley of Mellon attests:

I always strive for a statement of conclusions up front in oral
and written communications. This gets everybody on the