Ebook: The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic In Writing, Thinking And Problem Solving

In 1973 I published a set of six booklets called "The Pyramid Principle" that talked about a new way of tackling the problem of unclear report writing, particularly in consulting reports. It said, in effect, that clear writing was easy to recognize because it had a clear pyramidal structure, while unclear writing always
deviated from that structure. The ideas within the pyramid relate in a limited number of logical ways (up, down, and sideways), making it possible to define general rules about them. Thus, the key to clear writing is to structure your thinking into a pyramid and check it against the rules before you begin to write. These ideas were developed while I was working for McKinsey & Company, the international n1anagen1ent consulting finn, first in Cleveland and then in London. McKinsey had hired me in 1963 as their first female consultant, selected from the group of eight pioneering women permitted to attend the Harvard Business School that year. McKinsey rapidly concluded that I was hopeless with numbers, but a capable writer. Consequently, they moved me to London to work with Europeans who were faced with the task of writing reports in English.