I spoke with a co-worker about doodling last week and thought I would repost an oldie but a goodie from several years ago.  I hope you enjoy the read and video.

Being a voracious doodler, I have always been self-conscious in the board room.  I always fear that I might be viewed as not paying attention to the task at hand as I scrawl images on my legal pad. No matter how I try to keep my red Flair pen at bay, it always gets the best of me. (See the picture below from an internal meeting where we developed marketing concepts for an NC-based restaurant company.)

After watching the presentation below from a TED conference by Sunni Brown, I feel no longer ashamed. Ms. Brown helps companies visualize complex ideas through “infographics” and storyboarding. In her presentation, Ms. Brown validates all the positive aspects doodling has in helping with thought retention. She explains how doodling is a potent tool that profoundly affects how we solve problems. It has been shown that people who doodle, while exposed to verbal information, have 29% greater retention of that information than their non-doodling counterparts. “We think doodling is something you do when you lose focus, but in reality, it is a preemptive measure to stop you from losing focus.” I think she sums it up here beautifully. “My friends, the doodle has never been the nemesis of intellectual thought…It is one of its greatest allies.” I couldn’t agree more.

Jim Thomas is a Charlotte-based human capital management guru. As the Vice President of Sales for Retail and Healthcare at Project Genetics, Jim helps companies simplify their HCM skill set, consulting and implementing software from UKG, a global leader in HCM solutions.