The director cared about his employees and believed that
there was a possible future if they all cooperated and thought
together about how they could reconsider the future. He likened
the business to a snowball rolling downhill, gathering more
snow and momentum as it gained speed. He explained that
there were two possible routes this snowball could take. One
possibility was for the snowball to grow in size and speed as it
rolled downhill, only to roll out on to the plain where it would
melt and disappear. The other possibility was for the snowball to
roll on down the mountain until it had become such a size and
had such a speed that nothing could stop it until it reached the
fertile valley at the bottom of the mountain. For him the fertile
valley represented a revitalized business. “We can influence the
path that snowball takes,” he explained. They did.
More recently I was involved with a company whose directors
talked in the following terms:
❏ Being in the firing line.
❏ Attacking the competition.
❏ Aiming at the target.
They described the workforce as the “troops.” Employees in
this company did not “step out of line,” nor did those with any
entrepreneurial style stay very long. I even saw a slide in one
of their presentations headed, “We will fight them on the
beaches.” Fight whom, I wonder? It is important to question
whether and how these metaphors fit with the network culture
that is absorbing the business world, in which we need to learn
how to help our customers to thrive, how to support our
employees to grow, and how to flourish in conditions that are
right for us personally.
Individuals and companies have metaphors that express
their unique culture. The question is whether or not these are
metaphors that support the culture and style they really want.
The clue is in the language and behavior of individuals, as in
the military example above. Not surprisingly, many of the older
managers in this company had spent time in the forces. Now
the company was searching for a way of developing a new style
of leader who encouraged autonomy and cooperation. It was
Changing cultureMETAPHOR: THE KEY TO THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND 127