Metaphors Can Help, but They Can Also Mislead

An analogy is a map, not the territory itself

We often use analogies to help us think. A company is said to be a “machine,” a team an “orchestra,” and the customer journey a “voyage.” A metaphor can quickly show how parts of a problem relate to one another. But it can also bring in qualities that don’t fit reality.

If you say a team is an orchestra, that can usefully suggest coordination and listening to one another. It doesn’t mean everyone has to follow a single conductor without question. A workplace team may also need to make decisions together, change roles, and disagree.

Try the three-step metaphor check: What does it clarify? What does it hide? How can we test it? The metaphor “our process is a bottleneck” may point to one overloaded stage. You need to check whether work really is piling up there, not just whether the metaphor sounds good.

An analogy can inspire an idea: “If customer support worked like a library, where would someone find the information they need?” The resulting proposal still needs to be adapted to real users, the budget, and technical possibilities.

When explaining your ideas to others, it helps to step away from figurative language for a moment. After using a metaphor, say exactly what action you’re proposing. Otherwise, each person in the conversation may interpret the same analogy differently.

Try it out: Come up with a metaphor for a problem. Write down one thing it brings into focus, one quality that doesn’t apply, and a specific piece of information or observation that would help you check whether the metaphor is useful.