“The Metaphor Minute” is a brief monthly note with examples from business, media, or politics that illustrate the power of metaphors and analogies to make a point, solve a problem, and get results. Use these stories to stimulate high pay-off metaphoric thinking in your business.
How often have you been in this situation? You present your service to a qualified prospect. He definitely sees its value and acknowledges the benefits that would accrue to his business. He has been thoroughly engaged throughout your meeting, but when you come to the next step, the financial commitment – which is not inconsequential, but also not beyond reason for the expected returns – he hesitates. What do you do?
I am seeking more stories for future Newsletters, so this month, being Halloween (!), I am offering a special “treat.” Send me a story about how you used a metaphor in your business to achieve a specific result and, if your story is selected, I will be happy to “treat” you to a complimentary review, live on zoom, of any single presentation. This is not a contest. There will be as many “treats” given for as many appropriate stories as I receive. It’s very simple. Here’s what you need to do…
We talk about the power of verbal metaphors to quickly capture and communicate key points to a listener. This month, I would like to direct your attention to the power of metaphors in cartooning, which you most often see in the op ed columns of newspapers. While you are not likely in the political cartooning business, this article by Anto Mario in Toons Mag may spark ideas for how to incorporate cartoons as metaphors into your PowerPoint presentations …
What a whirlwind these last two weeks have been! Kamala Harris’ entry into the Presidential race has totally transformed the political landscape. Political preferences aside, the Metaphor Minute is interested in the role metaphors played, and will play, in the election outcome. “Political discourse is necessarily profoundly metaphorical; the language of politics is knee-deep in and entirely shot-through by different metaphorical uses…No surprise… Politics, after all is the art of using power in order to achieve goals. While some power can be exercised through the army and the police, far more can be accomplished – and more easily and cheaply – through the power of language.” (1)
Metaphorically speaking, when you look at the Trump/Biden/Harris campaigns, a stark difference emerges. That difference holds a lesson for everyone in business, where language, also, can make the difference between winning and losing.
Many of you know my book, “The Tall Lady with the Iceberg,” which specifically shows sales and business people how to use metaphors to sell, persuade, & explain anything to anyone. For the true “Metaphorians” out there, I have two summer book recommendations for you that complement my how-to book. One can be used as a reference to find an apt metaphor for a given situation and the other is an absolutely fascinating deep dive into why metaphors work and their (often unconscious) impact on us, complete with research studies and many examples from different fields.
Metaphors save the day when you have to deliver predictable information. One such occasion is the graduation speech. How do you engage and hold the attention of graduates and their parents, when everyone pretty much knows you are going to say something along the lines of … congratulations on your accomplishments … this is a beginning, not an end … seek to do something great and true to yourself … there will be bumps along the way, but perseverance and courage will get you over them … be kind … be generous … take risks … make a difference … etc. It is devilishly hard to be original.
However, one speaker solved that problem. He delivered these evergreen messages in a totally unique way by couching his entire speech in a metaphor. While you may not be giving a graduation speech any time soon, read/listen to how he did this, because it is another example of how metaphors can help you make a major impact in client, colleague, or investor presentations.
Poet and author Maya Angelou once said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” It occurs to me that this sentiment applies to websites as well.
No one remembers all the information on a website, but we do get a definite feeling about a company’s value, services, and culture from a site’s content and visuals. How that site makes us feel then influences our decision to contact the company (or not). That feeling begins with the company name. Here is an example of a site that uses a metaphor in its name that immediately evokes an “I-want-to-work-with-this-company” response.
Is your content important? Yes. Is it complex? A bit. Also, somewhat dry? Unfortunate. Podcast, blog, speech, or product, how do you entice someone to listen to you when what you have to say is serious but not an instant attention grabber?
The folks at KUOW Public Radio and The Seattle Times in partnership with NPR faced that problem for a recent podcast on just that type of topic: The difficulties in treating serious mental illness. Their solution? A simple, but powerful, attention grabbing “Imagine” metaphor that ultimately got people to register. See how they did it below.
The good news is you’re at a networking event with the potential to meet key players at your target companies. The bad news is you are not alone; your competition is also there talking to these same prospects. How do you stand out? Lynn Lavender, Chief Imagination Officer at Lavender-Landings.com, a digital communications strategy company, has the answer.
Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. If you are stuck for a fresh way to express your heartfelt feelings for someone, one of these may work for you.
When it comes to finding a good metaphor, many people begin with a concept and often turn to ChatGPT for the best metaphor that will communicate that concept. For example, you need a better way to position your service, or an answer to an objection, or a clever opening to a speech. But, suppose you have a different challenge. Suppose you need to come up with a brief, clear, NON-metaphorical way to explain a technical issue. It seems counterintuitive, but read how one clever professional actually used metaphors to find the NON-metaphoric solution to her problem.