The golden pyramid principle is a way of thinking with prominent focus, clear logic and clear priorities. In the basic law of human thinking, the brain will automatically summarize information into various groups in the pyramid structure, which is easy to understand and remember. So when the information you organize is very confusing, it deviates from the established thinking structure of the brain and creates obstacles for the audience to understand. According to the principle of golden pyramid, in the process of expression, we should find out the logical relationship of each part and make abstract summary and grouping. Moreover, due to the differences in the knowledge background and understanding of the audience, it is difficult for them to interpret your ideas exactly like you. Therefore, it is necessary to express from top to bottom and draw conclusions first to avoid the deviation of the audience's thinking.

How to build a pyramid?

The top-down method is generally used to build pyramids, and the bottom-up method will only be used when the theme cannot be determined. The steps of building the pyramid from top to bottom mainly include: drawing the theme box-imagining the main questions-writing the answers to the questions-explaining the background-pointing out the conflicts-checking the main questions and answers, thus playing the role of building the pyramid. In the pyramid structure, we should pay attention to the application of lateral thinking, and any level of thought in this paper must be a summary of the next level of thought; Longitudinal thinking tells us that each group of ideas must belong to the same logic and be arranged in the same logical order, otherwise it cannot be called a strict pyramid structure.

The logic of thinking?

This part introduces how to grasp the details of thinking deeply and carefully, so as to ensure that the words used truly and clearly present the thoughts you want to express. Many cases are cited in the book to emphasize the importance of forcing yourself to "think calmly" to clearly explain your thoughts. The key to thinking about logic is to use logical order to choose time order, structural order or degree order according to the nature of the problem. Establishing and applying clear analytical thinking structure is the key to ensure thinking logic. Structured thinking, analyzing problems with a framework, can clarify the path of thinking. Of course, thinking includes two directions: divergent thinking and contraction thinking. Divergent thinking can think about problems in all directions, without missing any factors, and can be solved by mind manager, similar to McKinsey's MECE principle; Contraction thinking is the key point to narrow the information range, eliminate irrelevant or secondary factors and ensure thinking. Divergent thinking and contractive thinking are usually combined, one is responsible for expansion and the other is responsible for tightening. After using logical order to analyze, it is necessary to summarize each group of ideas, which is often ignored by most people. Summarizing the ideas of each group can give clear guidance to the audience.

Logic to solve the problem?

This part mainly introduces how to use a variety of analytical frameworks to organize the analysis process in different stages of the problem-solving process, so that you can organize your ideas in advance and use the pyramid flexibly. Generally speaking, the process of solving problems includes: defining problems-structural analysis-analysis/planning-forming pyramids. The secret of improving the efficiency of solving problems lies in the accuracy of defining problems and the organization of collecting data, both of which are inseparable from structural analysis. Structured analysis is the core step to solve the problem, and the commonly used structured analysis frameworks mainly include flow chart, Gantt chart, mind map and so on. It is worth noting that we should think about the cause of the problem before collecting data, which can reduce time and improve the efficiency of data collection. Logical tree is also an important way to solve problems.