IMD-OWPLIVE22-PostEvent-Report

→Leadership

ACTION POINTS

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Metaphors are essential for leadership, and for sensemaking, and for sensegiving because they link unfamiliar, abstract, and complex issues with familiar ones, making such issues easier to understand. In addition, metaphors make it easier for us to manage and remember information, helping people to take decisive action. Because metaphors frame issues, they play a significant role in shaping and directing attention. This means that metaphors can be used to gain support for, or opposition against, ideas. As such, leaders need to be aware of the metaphors they use, and the resonance they may have with their stakeholders. Metaphors help us to explore our worldviews by surfacing assumptions and making tacit knowledge more explicit. Leaders can develop their self-awareness by articulating and exploring their metaphors for living, loving, learning, and leading.

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RECOMMENDED READING

THE INNERWORLD OF LEADERS – WHY METAPHORS FOR LEADERSHIP MATTER By Heather Cairns-Lee (Developing Leaders, 2013)

METAPHORS WE LIVE BY By George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (University of Chicago Press, 1980)

SILVER BULLET OR RICOCHET? CEOS’ USE OF METAPHORICAL COMMUNICATION AND INFOMEDIARIES’ EVALUATIONS By Andreas König, Jan Mammen, Johannes Luger, Angela Fehn and Albrecht Enders (Academy of Management Journal, 16 August, 2018)

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