Is it just me, or am I starting to see business metaphors in ridiculous places? I mean, come on. I understand the power of metaphors, and I use them as much as anybody. But a couple of days ago I drafted a blog post that’s just a teeeeeensy bit over the top. So here’s what I wrote, but before you laugh your butt off at how ridiculous it is, stick with me at the end… it gets better. I mean worse.
“I’m sitting in my friends’ apartment in Spain, surrounded by things that are different. The doors are different, the beds are different, the lights are different. But today when I walked out of my bedroom to brew my very own irresistible espresso, I burst out laughing. I saw something that made me think that creativity can be found in all sorts of places that we often overlook.
So, in this modern kitchen that has a convection oven, a microwave, and a state of the art espresso machine, a glint of silver catches my eye. I look over and see an aluminum-wrapped chunk of chicken sitting on top of the radiator. I can’t help giggling. Really? It’s October, man — the radiator isn’t on, and the microwave is about 2 feet away. Why is the chicken on the radiator? Who knows? Maybe the perpetrator’s Mom used to do that. Maybe…. um, I can’t think of any other reason. But it really doesn’t matter. What REALLY matters is the bigger picture. What simple, old fashioned, creative ideas are we forgetting when we do business?
Next time you’re working on a new product or a new website or your next business plan, think about the Chicken and the Radiator. Is there something simple and creative that you can do, that will get the job done, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg, and it won’t use resources that really aren’t necessary?” blah…. blah…. blah….
Then I finish writing, go back to the kitchen to drop off my cute little espresso cup and look a little more closely at the “chicken.” Doh. It’s not chicken. It’s bread. And I learn later that it wasn’t intended to be on the radiator, it was left there by accident.
So what does my super clever, always on, business focused brain do? It screams at me — “Wow! So I can turn this into an even better post about perceptions and about how we all view the same thing differently! Cool! ”
Oh fer Pete’s sake…….
