Using Analogies: A Thinking Skill

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  1

  lucanthewolfboy

  08/10/07 | Report as spam

  Analogies are very helpful, but be careful...

  If you use an analogy that you don't think through thoroughly first you may end
  up confusing your audience and mixing your message. Make sure to highlight
  the most important simlarities and discount all other aspects of the analogy.

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  2

  Ania Levy

  08/10/07 | Report as spam

  Simple Equals Clear

  I use analogies often. I have to. The work I do is often viewed with a great
  deal of resentment on the part of the client's staff. I'm there to assess the
  status of their software licensing (terms and pricing). The resentment is most
  likely based on their fear that my findings will reveal their shortcomings - or
  failure, as they often describe it. Even their c level execs are concerned that I
  might cast a shadow on their leadership role. To overcome this fear, I use an
  analogy for both c levels and staff that eases the tension and makes them
  feel good about the work they are able to do. It's the same analogy for every
  client and every level of staff within that client. It's so simple that I could use
  that analogy for elementary school children and they would get the same
  message.
  
  Depending on the business at hand, the analogy you create should include
  humor. If you can envision the analogy as a cartoon strip with 3 or 4 frames,
  then chances are you've got a winner that will be appreciated by the widest
  audience. If the intended audience is in the world of science or politics or
  some other areas where humor might not be appropriate, the analogy should
  still be kept as simple as possible in order to avoid the "overthinking" that
  your article's quote refers to. If kept simple, the "aha!" moment will be
  instantaneous. Test it on your associates - as many as you can find who will
  understand the topic that you will be addressing with your intended audience.
  Practice makes perfect.

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  3

  rofsky

  09/06/07 | Report as spam

  RE: Using Analogies: A Thinking Skill

  Analogies should be incorporated with everyday life and thinking, and general memorization. Linguistics can often be what interferes with analogies and forward thinking. Think of an apple in its core its a fruit, so it can be compared with other fruit. As a IT developer daily i must come up with analogies for people becuase everyone thinks computers and development is so complex, but in reality you can compare the mouse pointer to you and the gui the pointer is floating in as the world, as you walk around, click open doors ( programs ) etc, you must read the signs ( Tooltips ) and menu's. Everything you need is right there in front of you and clearly realitive to life. Everything in life is this way, the best way to memorize something is to associate a picture with it, the more pictures you have in your head, the more clearly you can see analogies. I guess you have to start this concept early on to successfuly adopt it. I like to think alot. thats me.

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  4

  Wanddongmei

  09/11/07 | Report as spam

  RE: Using Analogies: A Thinking Skill

  I think to improve one's thinking skill, we need to spend more time in thinking, before we make every decision or put to action any determination, we should think carefully, besides that, we can give several outcomes from every decision.