The underlying principle of the Gallery is metaphor. Metaphor allows the creation of new perspectives that unlock valuable insight. The Gallery's multidisciplinary approach helps users to see familiar issues with new eyes and to generate new frameworks for thinking about business strategy.

Metaphor is more than just a literary device: metaphor (from the Greek roots meta-, across, and -phor, to carry or bear) is a "carrying across", or transfer, of ideas from one discipline to another. This connection of ideas that brings previously undiscovered insights closer to intuition is the key to breakthrough thinking.

In an 1817 letter to his brothers, the poet John Keats wrote about what he called "Negative Capability, that is when [one] is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason..." This is the state of consciousness that precedes breakthrough thinking. Negative Capability implies a tolerance for ambiguity, a willingness to defer resolution and to let the metaphorical play of ideas expand the bounds of ordinary thought. It is in this spirit that we invite users to browse the Gallery - to wander through the collections of cutting-edge thought from numerous disciplines - and to draw their own conclusions.

The Strategy Gallery was founded in July 2000 as a tool for generating insights in business strategy. In that role, the Gallery serves to further the work of BCG's Strategy Institute.


About the Strategy Institute

The purpose of the BCG Strategy Institute is to enrich BCG's thinking by collecting insights into the nature of strategy from various academic fields and transferring them to business and society. For more information, see the Strategy Institute's website.


About The Boston Consulting Group

The Boston Consulting Group is a general management consulting firm that is a global leader in business strategy. BCG has helped companies in every major industry and market achieve a competitive advantage by developing and implementing unique strategies. Founded in 1963, the firm now operates more than 50 offices in major cities all over the world. For further information, please visit our Web site at www.bcg.com.


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