CorporateNature Metaphor Series, No 88
You cannot walk on water (unless you are Jesus Christ), but you can walk on ice. And not only walk on ice but you can also have a fair on a frozen river or lake. This used to happen in London on the frozen River Thames, where winter fairs were held at least in 24 winters since 1400 AD. The year 1814 AD was the last time the river froze and a River Thames frost fair took place.
A frozen river creates a temporary opportunity to walk on it or have a fair, but at the same time denies an opportunity to use the river for other purposes, such as shipping. In similar ways, temporary opportunities open and close in life, business and politics. For example, the window of opportunity for Scottish or Catalan independence seems to be closing. In business, the age of the internal combustion engine opened in the early 1900s to the detriment of the electric motor (which had been the leading contender to power vehicles in the late 1800s), but it seems likely that the electric motor will make a comeback and displace internal combustion in the next decade or two.
You never know when the perfect storm, e.g. a volcanic winter, may freeze over the rivers again, even if it hasn't happened for 200 years. And this will invariably be good for some and bad for others: one man's meat is another man's poison.
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| Frost fair on the Thames in the 1600s (Source: Wikipedia) |
