Visual communication and business

I have always found externalizing and visualizing something a far more intuitive way of learning, communicating  or problem solving - particularly when communicating to one or many. Whilst there seems to be a growing trend of sites/blogs on visual communications or visual thinking I wonder why this has not taken off as a business tool. My earliest visualizing was and remains via mind-maps - although I still get odd looks and even very negative reactions to dealing with 'serious' business stuff via mind-maps or other forms of visual communications. Is this because images/pictures/drawings are considered 'play' and therefore not appropriate for the workplace? or is there a fear that visual communications is the domain of those who can draw?


I cant's 'draw' in the pure art sense but I find my mind works far more effectively with the mixture of images, words and sound - I often find myself drawing and talking myself through a problem - yes it is weird but for me it makes a big difference.