ANALOGY AS A TOOL FOR COMMUNICATING ABOUT INNOVATION

Many techniques have been developed to enhance innovative thinking within a company. However, many innovations never make it through the development process due to the difficulty inherent in communicating new ideas to others. This article discusses the obstacles to innovation that occur during the development process and how these obstacles can be overcome through the use of analogy. Described is an empirically derived seven-step process for constructing suitable analogies for communicating about innovations. The use of the seven-step processes to develop an analogy to communicate about an automotive "step-rim" innovation developed by General Motors and the lessons learned during the development of the analogy are also discussed.Analogy, innovation, barriers to innovation, communication goals