See what I did there, with the title? I implied analogies
can be like a crutch. Good analogy huh?
I need to be transparent; I use analogies all the time. I’m trying to quit. OK, that may be an overstatement, but I’m
trying to be more self-aware, and be sure that I’m using analogies as appropriate
examples for further analysis, or to provoke more thought, as opposed to using
them to represent a perfect approach or solution.
As a consulting professional, you hope that your perspective
is called upon, and as a consulting firm, providing the firm’s viewpoints is a
fundamental exercise. But insight that’s
provided needs to rest on deep analysis and experience, not enticing but hollow
analogies.
I can take solace in the fact that many argue humans are
darn near hard-wired to use analogies, or to seek comparisons, as a way of
understanding the situations presented to them:
“Symbols, metaphors, analogies,
parables, synecdoche, figures of speech: we understand them.”
“They begin inside the mind of an
infant: A child’s first thought, the authors suggest, is ‘mommy’; the child
identifies this concept with a specific physical entity, namely the caregiver
who provides food and comfort… This impulse to categorize and compare stays
with us, for ‘analogy is our perennial dancing partner.’”
So why am I concerned about the use of analogies? Because experience tells me, recognition of
the limits of the analogy, especially as we traverse the digital age in business,
is warranted. And low and behold, I
found some others who do a much better job of backing up my claim. I’ve referenced science before in this blog,
specifically in this post: http://centricboston.blogspot.com/2013/01/working-on-big-data-in-business-hire.html
So I’ll double down on the criticality of scientific
principles, in approaching our work, to state that a simple analogy is no
substitute for true analysis. Is it
possible that after an analogy is drawn, time and effort may be spent just to conclude
that the analogy that was set forth at the start was appropriate? Yes, but that confirmation would still make
the effort spent to analyze and arrive at that conclusion valuable.
Too often, people, at all levels of an organization, substitute
analogies for solutions - We should be
more like Apple in our product design; We should adopt the practices of
Nordstrom for our customer experience, and on and on. There’s not a problem with citing approaches
or firms one admires, but again, deeper, more causal analysis should be a next
step before diving into solution steps. It’s
interesting, I found this article thinking
that, based on its title, ‘How Strategists Really Think: Tapping the Power of
Analogy’, it would serve as an argument against my premise, but upon reading
it, I noted that approximately 75% of the article’s content comes after a
section “How Analogies Fail”.
I’d
encourage everyone to read the entirety of the article, but I’m going to cherry
pick some ideas to suit my purposes:
·
“Though analogical reasoning
is a powerful and prevalent tool, it is extremely easy to reason poorly through
analogies, and strategists rarely consider how to use them well.”
·
“Dangers arise when
strategists draw an analogy on the basis of superficial similarity, not deep
causal traits.”
·
“The danger of focusing on
superficial similarity is very real, for two reasons. First, distinguishing
between a target problem’s deep, structural features and its superficial
characteristics is difficult, especially when the problem is new and largely
unknown.”
·
“But this is only part of
the picture. Not only is it difficult to distinguish deep similarities from
surface resemblances in some contexts, but people typically make little effort
to draw such distinctions.”
If it’s not clear, I’ll
further highlight “people typically make little effort to draw such
distinctions.” So, that’s the viewpoint for your consideration. Do you and does your team effectively employ
analogies in your workplace? Do you
recognize their power and their pitfalls?
And for your bigger challenges, or if you’re seeking innovation, do you need to consider abandoning the analogy all together? Maybe employ reasoning by first principles, as Elon Musk explains…
"I think it's important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. The normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by analogy, we are doing this because it's like something else that was done, or it is like what other people are doing.”
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