---
title: "TED Talk Thursday: Tom Wujec on Toast and System Models"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/fcd50ee0-3adb-4841-8854-d9d3f03418ec
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/ted-talk-thursday-tom-wujec-on-toast-and-system-models-2484
category: "General"
published: 2015-09-17T17:12:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T13:05:16.821Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/71dc31ddece6fedf5a485bf369ecf1842566.jpg
---

# TED Talk Thursday: Tom Wujec on Toast and System Models

**TL;DR:** Tom Wujec discussed the benefits of business visualization in a 2013 TED Talk, using the example of making toast to illustrate how drawing can help solve complex problems. He emphasized the importance of collaborative visualization in creating a unified system model.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2015-09-17. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/ted-talk-thursday-tom-wujec-on-toast-and-system-models-2484).*

## Story

Wujec, a pioneer in the emerging practice of business visualization, said in a 2013 TED Talk that the drawing process reveals unexpected truths about how we can solve our biggest, most complicated problems at work. The exercise results in various methods of making toast, of course, but it also reveals a commonality: nodes and links. The combination creates a systems model, he said. The point is that we know how to break down complex things into simple things, he noted.

This simple exercise also works well when businesses decide to draw “something more relevant or pressing, like your organizational vision, or customer experience, or long-term sustainability.”

When people work in a group on the exercise, it starts messy and gets messier, but with each iteration, things get clearer. A unified system model emerges. People work together. The key lesson: Drawing helps us understand the system. “Group models are much better than individual models,” he said.

He calls it a “visual revolution.” Organizations collaboratively work things out and refine until the patterns emerge and the group gets clarity.

“Design has something to teach us,” he said. It’s also fun.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- General (sector)
- Toast (company)
- ted talk (topic)
- business visualization (topic)
- system models (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/ted-talk-thursday-tom-wujec-on-toast-and-system-models-2484). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/fcd50ee0-3adb-4841-8854-d9d3f03418ec).