Pyramid Principle

Consultants use the Pyramid Principle to structure an argument. The method was created by a former McKinsey and Company consultant, Barbara Minto, who went on to write books and teach classes about it.

She describes the approach as:

• “Grouping together low-level facts they see as similar

• Drawing an insight from having seen the similarity

• Forming a new grouping of related insights, etc.”

“Extended thinking eventually ends in a single pyramid of ideas, at many levels, obeying logical rules, and held together by a single thought. Communicating the thinking requires only that you guide the reader down the pyramid.”

The pyramid is formed with the main recommendation at the top. And then branch into the supporting arguments. From there, write the supporting data, insights, and conclusions that support each of those arguments. It’s structured in a way that your reader can rapidly process the information they are consuming.