"All the world's a stage..."

When I was young, I used to mix up a lot of metaphors (see "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't teach him to fish").  It happened so often at the family dinner table, it became like a running joke (which, if my grade school memory is correct, is an example of a simile and not a metaphor!).  Regardless of how bad I screwed metaphors up, however, one thing became quite clear (maybe "crystal clear" or "clear as day") to me, metaphors are used all time ("they are as numerous as the stars in the sky").  

One of my favorite metaphors of all time was one used by the playwright, William Shakespeare in the play, As You Like It.  If I were being completely honest though, I first heard it in a song by one of my favorite musical group, Rush, in the song, Limelight ("All the world's indeed a stage, we are merely players, performers, and portrayers!").  Metaphors convey meaning and understanding in a highly efficient way.  

As one literary expert writes (see Writer's Edit), "Metaphors can convey meaning and conjure up images, thoughts and feelings in a reader’s mind with just a few simple words. Sometimes instead of using a few sentences or a paragraph to describe something, a metaphor can provide a stronger description with a lasting impact. This also allows the reader to use their imagination and interpretation and become more engaged in your writing. A metaphor can be used to set a scene, express a mood or even just to get straight to the point and not lose a reader in a paragraph of descriptions when a simple metaphor can show the reader so much more."

Leaders use metaphors too.  In his first Inaugural Address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems."  He wasn't talking about leading an army to war.  Rather, he was talking about becoming President during the Great Depression and leading the American people back to prosperity.

There have been TED talks, business articles, and entire books written about the power of analogy and using metaphors in a leadership context.  What's the evidence that using metaphors and analogies really work?  In other words, is there evidence showing that metaphors and analogies actually "convey meaning and conjure up images, thoughts, and feelings...with just a few simple words"?  If you've ever read my blog, you know that I wouldn't ask that kind of question without knowing the answer!  

Just over forty years ago, two investigators at the University of Michigan (Mary Gick and Keith Holyoak) reported their findings in the journal, Cognitive Psychology.  They used a well-known problem called "Duncker's radiation problem" (named after the psychologist, Karl Duncker, who is perhaps most famous for the Candle problem).  Basically, the problem is as follows.  A doctor has a patient with a malignant tumor, and for whatever reasons, radiation is the only treatment option.  Using radiation will kill the tumor cells but will also damage the surrounding healthy tissue.  Using a lower dose of radiation will prevent damage to the healthy tissue but won't kill the cancer cells.  What's the solution to this doctor's treatment dilemma?

Only about 10% of the study population were able to come up with a solution on their own.  Gick and Holyoak used the following analogy to help study participants come up with the solution:

A small country was ruled from a strong fortress by a dictator.  The fortress was situated in the middle of the country, surrounded by farms and villages.  Many roads led to the fortress through the countryside.  A rebel general vowed to capture the fortress.  The general knew that an attack by his entire army would capture the fortress.  He gathered his army at the head of one of the roads, ready to launch a full-scale direct attack.  However, the general then learned that the dictator had planted mines on each of the roads.  The mines were set so that small bodies of men could pass over them safely, since the dictator needed to move his troops and workers to and from the fortress.  However, any large force would detonate the mines.  Not only would this blow up the road, but it would also destroy many neighboring villages.  It therefore seemed impossible to capture the fortress.  However, the general devised a simple plan.  He divided his army into small groups and dispatched each group to the head of a different road.  When all was ready, he gave the signal and each group marched down its road to the fortress so that the entire army arrived together at the fortress at the same time.  In this way, the general captured the fortress and overthrew the dictator.

Does that help you come up with a solution?  As it turns out, reading this story before presented with the radiation problem only increased the percentage of subjects coming up with the solution to 30% (better than 10% for sure, but still not that great!).  However, when the subjects were given a hint that the solution to the radiation problem could be found within the story, the solution rate increased to an almost perfect 92%!    

Can you figure the solution out?  By using multiple low-intensity rays converge from multiple different locations on the tumor, such that the total dose of radiation hitting the tumor would kill it without damaging any of the surrounding healthy tissue.  In other words, exactly like how the general was able to move his army down multiple different roads to attack the fortress!

Leaders can and should use stories, analogies, and metaphors in order to effectively communicate.  There is a power to analogical thinking.  Just be careful not to mix up the metaphors!