Over time, we become so used to the problem that we can no longer imagine an alternative. We lose the ability to see new solutions.

The more B2B and B2C winners got decided, the clearer it became that consumer plays were often winner takes all, while B2B was long tail and could often support multiple winners. In B2B, it's not uncommon for many companies to be addressing the same need for different types of customers or business models.

When the great innovation appears, it will almost certainly be in a muddled, incomplete and confusing form. To the discoverer himself it will be only half understood; to everybody else it will be a mystery. For any speculation which does not at first glance look crazy, there is no hope. —Freeman Dyson

But as my research progressed, it became clear that analogies do more than just persuade; they also play a catalytic role in innovation and decision making often with dramatic consequences. From the bloody Chicago slaughterhouse that inspired Henry Ford's first moving assembly line, to the "domino theory" that led America into the Vietnam War, to the "bicycle for the mind" that Steve Jobs envisioned as a Macintosh computer, analogies have played a dynamic role in shaping the world around us.