The Next Next Common Sense
a different kind of boat—digital streaming—that can navigate around the waterfall entirely.”
This dynamic landscape metaphor captured both the competitive challenge and Netflix’s strategic response in a way that conventional anal- ysis might have missed. Scale Flexibility Landscape metaphors work equally well at different scales—from de- tailed terrain features to continental perspectives. This scalability makes them ideal for moving between tactical and strategic thinking. When discussing Microsoft’s cloud strategy, Satya Nadella uses scale-shifting landscape imagery:
“We’re building a planetary computer, with data centers serving as key nodes across a global landscape of comput- ing resources. At the same time, we’re focused on creat- ing lush garden ecosystems within this landscape, where developers can cultivate their own applications using our tools and platforms.”
This scale-shifting perspective allows Microsoft employees to un- derstand both the grand strategic vision and their specific role within it. Cultural Universality While cultures differ in many ways, landscape imagery draws on uni- versal human experiences with natural environments. This makes land- scape metaphors particularly valuable for global organizations operating across diverse cultural contexts. The Japanese concept of “nemawashi” (root binding)—preparing the ground before planting—has become a widely used landscape metaphor
75
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease