Using Strategic Metaphors to Navigate Change: Lessons From Leicester City and HBR

I've been sharing an October HBR article, "The Power of Metaphors When Introducing Change Initiatives," with many people this month. When I led Walker Sands we used a lot of metaphors because we faced a lot of change. My personal favorite was when we used the story of Leicester City.

As 2017 started, things felt tough at Walker Sands. We had doubled in size the previous two years, meaning more clients, more employees, and many new opportunities. But this was a whole new league. We needed to operate at a higher level and we needed a good metaphor to convey that.

Leicester City was a scrappy and under-resourced club that had risen from the third tier, League One, all the way to the Premier League, the top league in the country. After each promotion the club struggled to find its footing before it was able to retool and dominate this new league. Two years after earning promotion to the Premier League, Leicester City won the Premier League title in one of the most inspirational sports stories of the decade.

This became our metaphor for the year. Things felt hard not because we were performing poorly but rather because we were in a new league. It was a league that required a new level of commitment, new strategies, and new talent. And so as we rolled out changes they were met with less frustration and more enthusiasm because it meant we were working toward our own championship.

Why Metaphors Matter in Moments of Change

The HBR article makes a powerful argument: when organizations go through transformation, logic alone isn’t enough. Even the cleanest slides and strongest data fail if the audience doesn’t feel the story behind the change. That’s because major initiatives often trigger employees’ threat responses — fear of losing status, uncertainty about the future, concerns about autonomy, and doubts about fairness.

Metaphors can help bridge that emotional gap. They turn complex, abstract ideas into something familiar and concrete, giving people a cognitive map they can hold onto during uncertain times. And a great metaphor can calm the brain’s instinctive “fight, flight, or freeze” response by giving people clarity about the journey ahead.

What Makes a Strategic Metaphor Effective?

The article highlights several characteristics of metaphors that drive successful change:

1. They reduce ambiguity.

When people face the unknown, metaphors create orientation and direction. In our case, describing our growth as entering “a new league” reframed challenges as expected growing pains rather than failures.

2. They create emotional resonance.

Data speaks to logic; metaphors speak to motivation. Leicester City’s climb made people feel the struggle and the opportunity, anchoring the abstract idea of scaling an agency in a story everyone could visualize.

3. They elevate status and purpose.

Great metaphors reassure people that they belong in the new future. HBR’s example showed how framing a transformation as a mission to “Get the Cup Home” turned anxiety into pride. Our metaphor did the same: it reminded us that we deserved to be in a bigger arena. We just needed to grow into it.

4. They travel easily across teams.

A metaphor is only effective if everyone can repeat it and use it. “New league, new skills” became a common language at Walker Sands, just as “Get the Cup Home” unified teams in the HBR case study.

Metaphors Are a Leadership Tool, Not a Communication Trick

The HBR article emphasizes that metaphors aren’t slogans, they’re strategic interventions. They help teams make sense of change, reduce fear, and create alignment quickly. And when reinforced consistently, they become part of the organization’s culture and operating rhythm.

Our Leicester City metaphor did exactly that: it gave us a shared narrative, clarified why things felt hard, and helped people embrace the changes required to succeed at the next level.

Shout out to avid soccer fan and CEO at the time, Ken Gaebler, who shared the story of Leicester City and connected those important dots. If you'd like some tips on creating your own metaphors, "The Power of Metaphors When Introducing Change Initiatives" from Tanvi Gautam is a great read. You can find the full article at "The Power of Metaphors When Introducing Change Initiatives"