Strategies is a Ballroom Dance
Strategies Need Help
The concept of ‘strategies’ is a big topic and it's difficult and complex to explain. That’s one reason why there are so many uses of figurative language to help define strategy.
There's a ka-zillion similes and metaphors used to help describe strategies. Seriously. Just Google ‘metaphor for strategies’ or ‘similes for strategies’ and you get over 26 million hits. Using a figurative expression is helpful to make a difficult process easier to understand. They add life-like visualization to descriptive language. They breathe life into otherwise inanimate objects.
Here's a Good One: a Great Strategy is Like a Beautiful Ballroom Dance.
What I love about the ballroom dance figure of speech is it’s vivid, colorful and expressive. Ballroom dancing is intoxicating to watch -- it's full of emotion, elegance, sizzle and intensity. And it’s a much ‘prettier’ visualization than other figures of speech like guerrilla warfare, a well-known reference to marketing strategy. Sure, battle tactics are visually effective when developing preemptive strategies to conquer an 'enemy.' But I prefer the idea of going into a strategy process with a less aggressive mindset than a brutal blood-thirsty battlefield.
By the way, a Brilliant Strategy is a Tango.
A great strategy and a Tango are both intense, intimate and synchronized. They demand focus, talent, skill, commitment and precision. Both require hours upon hours upon hours of practice and experience. And they each have variety in technique requiring constant study. Both are extremely difficult. But the end result is worth the laborious grueling process. When they work, they flow magnificently. Like a Tango, a great strategy is just as infectious, provocative and dazzling.
"Toe dancing is a dandy attention getter,
second only to screaming." – Agnes de Mille