Plot

In storytelling, plot is the causal sequence of events: not just 'what happens' but WHY things happen—the chain of cause and effect that gives events meaning and momentum. 'The king died, then the queen died' is chronology. 'The king died, then the queen died of grief' is plot—because the second event is CAUSED by the first. As a mental model: plot represents causal thinking applied to narrative—understanding events not as isolated occurrences but as connected through cause-and-effect chains. In strategy: the 'plot' is the causal theory of how actions will produce desired outcomes. In diagnosis: the 'plot' is the causal chain that produced the current situation.

When to use it

When strategic plans need explicit causal logic connecting actions to outcomes; when post-event analysis needs to trace causal chains rather than list events; when communication needs the memorability and comprehensibility of causal narrative; when understanding the difference between 'what happened' and 'why it happened.'

How it can help

Apply plot thinking to strategy and diagnosis by constructing explicit causal chains. For strategy: 'We will do X, which will cause Y, which will produce Z.' Each link in the chain should be testable. If any link is weak, the plot fails. For diagnosis: 'Z happened because of Y, which happened because of X.' Tracing the causal chain backward reveals the root cause. For communication: structure information as plot (causal narrative) rather than chronicle (chronological list)—plot is more memorable and more useful because it reveals WHY things happened, not just WHAT happened.