Superstars, mercenaries, surf instructors and slaves

Here’s a great example of metaphors in everyday business.

Martin-Niels Däfler is Professor of Communication. He recently published a study that found nearly two-thirds of workers are dissatisfied with their jobs. More than one in three do not feel properly challenged. This means that the majority of people working in Germany are far from being happy in their jobs. On a scale from extremely dissatisfied (-5) to extremely satisfied (+5), the average intangible satisfaction (work content, management style) would be only +0.25. The same applies to material satisfaction (salary and benefits).

So far so good. However, the study authors really brought these results to life with metaphors.

The researchers developed the “4S Typology of Job Satisfaction.” In this way, four combinations are obtained. The “superstars“: materially and at the same time immaterially satisfied (share 36.9 percent). The “mercenaries“: materially satisfied but immaterially dissatisfied (18.5 percent). The “surfing teachers“: materially dissatisfied but immaterially satisfied (12.6 percent). The “slaves“: materially and at the same time immaterially dissatisfied (24.9 percent).

I find these metaphors make the results more memorable and perhaps used that way to make the world a better place in some places