Unlock Creativity Through Analogical Thinking

Spotting structural similarities between unrelated concepts can help leaders break out of mental ruts and spark innovation.

- By Richard L. Gruner

Creativity is widely recognized as a cornerstone of long-term business success, yet many leaders find it frustratingly elusive. Research confirms the paradox: Nearly all executives view creativity as essential, but few are able to consistently generate and implement new and relevant ideas. How, then, can leaders spark fresh thinking in themselves and their teams?

When perception is reality, it's time to flip the perception. Creativity doesn't belong exclusively to artists, designers, professional “creatives,” or TED speakers. Nor is it something external and uncontrollable, striking only in rare moments of solitude or sudden inspiration. We are all born creative, and creative thinking can be reawakened and developed through deliberate practice. It can be embedded into everyday decision-making, strategy development, and innovation workflows.

Analogical thinking is an accessible path to cultivating creativity that is especially well suited to meeting modern business challenges. The approach involves spotting structural similarities between seemingly unrelated concepts and applying insights from one area (the source domain) to reimagine problems in another (the target domain). Analogical thinking isn't just a clever technique; it lies at the heart of how humans learn, influencing everything from storytelling to biomimetic innovations to scientific breakthroughs. Despite analogical thinking's potential, organizational leaders rarely harness it intentionally to solve problems and drive innovation. Here's why they should.

Analogies Fuel Innovation

Well-constructed analogies provide conceptual scaffolding that allows leaders to see and approach issues in new ways. They're especially useful for breaking out of the mental ruts we fall into when repeatedly solving problems with the same logic in the same domain.