One of my favorite movie scenes is in the movie “The Founder” (Michael Keaton) when Harry Sonneborn says to Ray Kroc, “You don’t seem to realize what business you’re in.”

I’ve watched that scene a gazillion times, trying to understand in what way Harry Sonneborn was seeing the world. So over the past few days I finally buckled down and spent about 5 hours trying to figure out what the world looked like to him.

And here’s where I’ve come to so far… Ray Kroc was thinking about what McDonalds does (make hamburgers). Harry Sonneborn was stepping back from that, which takes courage, because in the moments between you stepping back and you articulating the new way to see the world, you ask very basic questions and people often don’t understand why you’re being so naive.

But then Harry Sonneborn says a few sentences that reshape the way Ray Kroc sees the world, and the result is that McDonalds turns into an empire.

Here’s how I think Harry Sonneborn was seeing the world: What is the machine, where is the constraint, and can we get close to owning that constraint. In McDonalds’ case, the machine is the entire system that results in a hamburger, the main constraint is getting the real estate for the restaurant, and to own the constraint, McDonalds needed to own the land.

What does this mean for your presentations? A good presentation isn’t about an opening hook, or where to put your hands. A good presentation is about understanding the machine your audience lives in, including the part that exists outside the conference room doors. The constraint that is holding your audience back from supporting your idea will almost always exist outside those doors, and a large part of your presentation (probably around 60% of it or more) will be you showing people how to get around that constraint.