That subject line might be my boldest claim yet.

Among graphic artists and live sketch artists, this is about as close to hubris as you can get.

The reality is different. It’s really not about drawing ability. It’s more a guarantee of process.

Every team and room brings something to a session. Uncertainty, frustration, pride, questions, hope, momentum. Something.

Those are the raw materials. The job is making them visible so teams can actually work with them.

Why This Works Every Time

A client came to a session tasked with helping to build an emergency plan for wildfires. They felt the weight of it. Building a plan for something unpredictable, with limited resources, with lives depending on getting it right.

That uncertainty got drawn first.

Once it was visible on the page, the question shifted: Where does this belong in the plan? What is it telling us?

From there? Identifying partners, figuring out phased investments, avoiding overbuying equipment for scenarios that might never happen.

My drawing didn’t solve the plan. But (and this is a big old but) it helped name what was real so the plan could get built.

This same process works with other clients of ours - research teams at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory sorting through complex priorities. With the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association navigating organizational strategy. With Navy personnel aligning on challenges nobody has faced before.

Totally different problems. Completely different industries. Same process.

The approach is simple → draw everything, then learn what matters most after review. Refusing to decide in real time what’s “important” means nothing gets missed.

What People Are Really Hooked On

After sessions, people walk up and praise the drawings.

This sounds like a brag, and it kind of is, but that’s not what I mean. The credit belongs to the facilitators and participants. None of it exists if they hadn’t talked.

The drawing acts as evidence that what they said mattered. That someone was paying attention. That their ideas have shape and weight.

People think they’re hooked on the drawings. What they’re actually hooked on is being heard.

Every room/concept is drawable because every meeting or speech contains something real.

Awkward silence has a shape. For me, resistance is usable. Even the flattest session has signals.

As long as there’s paper and ink, teams walk away with something tangible.

Compare that to other services. You can spend hours with a service team, and still come away with no fix. When the market tanks, your financial team might have nothing physical to show the work they’re doing behind the scenes to make it right for you.

With graphic recording, there’s always an artifact. Something to point to and say “This is what we talked about, this is what we’re working on.”

The Dare Stands

So it may sound like I’m bragging - but really this is me sharing the confidence I feel in a process tested in hundreds of rooms with thousands of people across multiple industries.

If a team cares at all, even if it’s through frustration and/or confusion, this process works.

Sessions don’t have to be “perfect” to be useful. All they have to be is honest.

So the challenge stands:

Who wants to bring the next “messiest session”? The one where morale is broken. Where nobody agrees on the strategy. Where people don’t even like being in the same room together.

Sometimes that’s where my work is best.

Let’s create space to see what’s actually happening. To name the thing everyone’s been avoiding. To make the invisible visible so decisions can finally happen without pretending everything is fine.

What issue do you have that needs your team’s attention? To see what they’re bringing to the room…? Once it becomes visible, decisions get easier.

Bring the session that seems too messy, too boring, or too unclear.

I dare you. Let’s see what we can do together.

Grateful you are here,

Wade

PS - Want to talk about how live sketching could work for you or your team? Just respond to this email with "Wade, I dare you" and let's start the conversation.