Barbara Minto

Barbara Minto is an American author and consultant focused on the subject of executive communication.

Biography Minto's career began as a secretary at an American railway company in the 1950s "making 400 bucks a month". Concerned that her supervisor's age and ill-health would result in the loss of her well-paying position, she applied to Harvard Business School, which at the time did not require an undergraduate degree, and was admitted upon passing the entry exam. She was one of only eight women to graduate in a class of 600. Minto was the first female MBA hired by McKinsey & Company, starting with the firm in Cleveland, Ohio in 1963, and moving to London in 1966, where she served until 1973.

Work Minto is the originator of the MECE principle pronounced "Meece" (Barbara pronounces it with one syllable, meece, rhyming with "niece" or "Greece")

MECE underlies her Minto Pyramid Principle,

Minto argues that one "can’t derive an idea from a grouping unless the ideas in the grouping are logically the same, and in logical order.” The Minto Pyramid Principle is adopted in management consulting to assist in presenting complex information.

Publications Books

1985: The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking 1996: The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking and Problem Solving