Metaphors are used from time to time to better understand a business. Breakthroughs in science are often accomplished through use of a metaphor. The most publicized was the metaphor of a snake holding it’s tail in unraveling the mystery of the benzene ring (albeit some say the good German chemist Friedrich August Kekulé was having a bit of fun at the expense of his collegues in describing his mental breakthrough). Mentally chew on this metaphor:
The beliefs of a business are its DNA; and hope is its life-force. What a business holds to be true, its beliefs, and uses to control its decisions and actions, are the building blocks of its DNA. A business’s DNA is a bit more complex than human DNA. Instead of two intertwined helixes it has four. But whether human or business, DNA serves the same purpose of carrying the hereditary message. On the plus side business DNA is much easier to see and understand and adjust as facts replace beliefs over time. The downside is that a business’s DNA is very easily altered by not respecting it and allowing degradation through careless acts of both omission and commission.
Hope is the life-force of a business. We cannot see the future. But hope is what drives us towards it. Too often businesses sit and wait for the future to happen. If a business sits, waits and watches for the future to happen, its life force is false hope. Without good portions of luck nothing good will come of it.
A business must get its collective arms around the future it hopes for and make it happen by developing its strategies, plans and tactics and executing them well.
