Lakoff and Johnson's book "Metaphors We Live By" argues that metaphors are "ubiquitous" in our language and thought, by which they mean that they become fundamental building blocks of how we perceive and interact with the world. They shape our understanding of the world and our actions within it. The book is a classic in cognitive science and linguistics.
After working in both politics and tech, it has seemed to me that there's some shared language and shared metaphors, so I thought I'd jot down a few examples.
- A campaign is a start-up / a start-up is a campaign
- Fast pace
- Binary outcomes
- Working against incumbents
- Seeking to gain incumbent status
- Pervasive late funding problem
- High failure rate
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Authority is crafted through inspirational leadership
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A "money primary" comes before entering the real arena
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There's disagreement about whether focusing on the opposition is a good idea
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Bottom-up adoption as strong signal / the "grassroots"
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Network effects play a strong role; momentum leads to landslides
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Predicting winners is difficult, new breakouts tend to come in clusters