Just a metaphor

“PARADIGM” comes from Latin, paradigma — to compare, to show alongside something else. A paradigm then is a metaphor. Shifting a paradigm means changing the metaphor. When old assumptions, concepts, values, and practices are overturned, there may be a new way of addressing them.

It was Thomas Kuhn in his 1962 book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions who first introduced the phrase, “paradigm shift” to describe major changes in scientific thinking where elements of ambiguity are acceptable, as in quantum physics and the theory of relativity.

Here are examples of shifting paradigms in the sphere of business and commerce.

What happened to movie houses that used to be packed and considered automatic options for a nice date? Online streaming to giant home screens or even handheld phones has become the default mode for viewing movies.

Online transactions in banking, food pick-up, and shopping can be done from home too. There’s no need to visit a bookstore to browse or buy. Online purchase and even immediate reading are an option with e-books. The need to go out to do chores has shifted.

What about the workplace? The large offices to house a hundred or more employees have given way to a new paradigm. Are offices shifting to occasional use like a hotel (check-in as needed) rather than full occupancy like a second home? (Are the toilets clean?) The hybrid WFH arrangement has freed up space at offices in favor of the home (or the mall). Punctuality in reporting for work is no longer applicable.

Does anybody use paradigms (with its silent “g”) in ordinary conversation?

Using “paradigm” in a sentence without the accompanying movement requires an unusual conversation to take place. (How did you get your paradigm to the mall?) Paradigms are not capable of any action other than shifting.

More common now, when describing a change in strategy, is the new “business model.” These two words are not joined at the hip like Siamese twins. The two nouns (“business” and “model”) have an open-minded arrangement allowing partnership with other nouns with no guilty feelings. (How is the new model? None of your business.)

A business model is straightforward. It describes a structure of how goods and services are bundled and delivered.

For example, the old business model of the ad agency consisted of a one-stop shop defining the brand’s marketing strategy, coming up with a creative campaign, and then putting this in a commercial placed in different media. The business model now (using the new paradigm of a mall rather than a supermarket) is unbundling these different services, and charging fees for services, instead of a commission on ad placements. They’re even on separate floors, or buildings.

Will people stop traveling for business meetings abroad with the advent of online communication? This prediction of such a shift in business travel was made 50 years ago even before the advent of video streaming through the phone or video screen. Business trips may have gone down, but there are still valid excuses to travel when hosted by a supplier. This is considered a “per diem” shift.

Dispensing with the paradigm shift has not always led to a business model that is comprehensible. Still, the new phrase seems more accessible to consultants. After all, “paradigm shift” as a scientific phrase for accepting uncertainty still requires a metaphor.

When old industries are wiped out by technology (like slide rules by calculators and those in turn by mobile phones and watches), some guru is sure to analyze failure as the result of technology change. Before reaching for a shifting paradigm, the analyst is likely to look at new business models.

The industrial revolution that created new economic centers shifted the paradigm from agriculture to manufacturing. The rise of the factory system that housed workers, machinery, and raw materials under one roof propelled the manufacturing economy. This too has already changed with the “off-shoring” of the supply chain spread across the globe.

Metaphors and paradigms help us understand change before it becomes a new business model.

Life lessons from childhood are more easily understood with the use of analogies. The old folk wisdom of a mountain of money capable of being flattened by excessive spending or an addiction to politics or gambling still captures the imagination and shifts the paradigm… from a mountain to a molehill.

Tony Samson is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda.

[e-mail]