Recasting Your Thinking

Do you fell stuck or in a bit of a rut?

Whether you do or not, you might want to reflect on the idea of Generative Analogies. This interesting concept is one of many new things I am learning as I slowly work my way through Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.

To illustrate the concept, we’ll look at a couple of the book’s examples: (1) Disney calling its employees “cast members” and (2) Subway calling its frontline employees “sandwich artists.”

In the Disney case, with the metaphor of employees as cast members:

• Cast members don’t interview for a job, they audition for a role.
• When they are walking around the park, they are onstage.

And so on.

What grabbed my attention most, though, was that this is not just a metaphor for Disney: it shapes how they do business and how they train employees.

For example, the book notes that Disney janitors are among the more highly trained employees. The reason: they are most exposed to the public and are the most likely persons to be asked questions by the Disney customers (guests, as they are called in the Disney metaphor). Makes really good sense.

So, clearly the Disney’s generative analogy of its employees as cast members is something that works well for them. In contrast, though, the book points out that Subway’s naming of its frontline employees as “sandwich artists” is not beneficial: do you really want your sandwiches to be special creations every time, and does Subway really expect its employees to dress like artists, and so on?

Unimaginative has yet to find a way to apply this type of thinking to my own life. But, I’m not letting the concept get out of my head just yet. It really deserves some thought. You may also want to reflect on it: you may come up with something that will really improve your whole outlook on life or a particular way of doing business.

Your thoughts? Have you benefited from such recasting or shifting of your thinking before?