Metaphors for Life

Daniel Pink talks about the six senses that will be important for workers in the "Conceptual Age", the age that is dawning upon us as the information age wanes behind. One of those senses is Symphony or the ability to see the grand plan, the big picture, the overarching idea. One aspect of understanding Symphony is making Metaphors. Having read this, I've been more aware of the prevalence of Metaphors around me. Consider these gems from master philosopher Simon Cowell:

"You've got the personality of a Candle."

"That was like a Theme Park performance"

"That Song reminded me of Buttercups"

What? Is it just me or do any of these make sense?

Write Dan and let him know. Comment to Dan with your own Simon metaphors. Comment to me too. You should be able to link to my site via the sidebar. Simon's metaphors are metaphors for living! And don't you forget! (my website is Genuinely Dynamic Maverick)

Culture Change & Shocks

There's a fairly well established sense that in order for leaders to help bring about meaningful innovation, organizational success, making a difference, etc... they have to start by instituting some sort of culture change.

As I began thinking about this, I came up with 3 categories of things that bring about large scale, enduring culture change:

New Blood

Time

A Shock To The System

But, New Blood is primarily a special case of Time (particularly in the case of a new generation). And both Time and New Blood are basically forms of shocks to the system. Which gets me down to one category.

So... after quite a bit of thought and conversation with lots of smart people, I've come to conclude that cultures change when there is a Shock To The System. Such as:

1) An influx of immigrants (Ellis Island, Irish Potato Famine, etc)

2) The arrival of a new generation

3) The march of time (measured in decades - see #2 above)

4) The discovery of gold, oil, etc

5) A sudden attack (9/11, Pearl Jarbor, etc)

6) A new tech breakthrough (fire, aircraft, iPod, etc)

No doubt there are other types of change-inducing Shocks, but the point isn't to create an all-inclusive list. I wrote all this to ask the following question:

What sort of shocks to the system can a leader introduce, in their attempt to create positive culture change?

I'm still thinking about that one...