A number of effective methods for generating new ideas are based on the use of analogies. One of the major difficulties in generating new ideas is to get going. The advantage of an analogy is that it has a life of its own. For instance, in the analogy of going fishing the process is so well known that one moves from one step to another without difficulty: finding time, choosing a stretch of water, perhaps getting a license, preparing the rod and tackle, choosing a position by the water, selecting bait, changing bait, moving about, patience, catching something, or the fish that got away, fisherman's stories, and so on.
In using the analogy method, one translates the problem situation in to an analogy and then develops the analogy in its own right. From time to time, one translates back to the real problem to see what would happen if the process taking place in the analogy took place in the problem situation. For instance, the fishing analogy might have been used in considering a management recruitment problem. "Stretch of water" would now read area of exploration, perhaps campus, perhaps business college, perhaps other corporations. "Bait" would now read salary, fringe benefits, stock options, promotion prospects, status, responsibility, location, or others. "Fishing tackle" would now read advertising media, personal contact, interviews, word of mouth, and the like. One would then come to the point when no fish? Perhaps those waters were overfished, perhaps the bait was unsuitable, perhaps the weather conditions were not right, perhaps it was a matter of too little patience. One might then consider whether the object of the fishing was sport, the odd chance of getting something really worthwhile, or the need to have some fish to eat.
If it was the last, one might consider buying fish from a professional fish catcher, buying frozenfish from a store and spending extra time cooking it, or even changing the menu so that frozen fish fitted in (fresh salmon might dominate a menu but fish fingers would not). Translated back in to the problem situation, this would all mean that if changing the incentives and the search area were unsuccessful, then one ought to have more patience, or employ professional search agencies, or decide to spend more time on executive training on the job, or even tailor the job in such a way that exceptional executive talent was no longer required.
In mathematics, one translates a situation in to the symbols of a formula and then lets the formula run along its own course of development. At the end, one translates back. This is the way one uses analogies except that one does not only translate back at the end but all the way along as well. Analogies serve as vehicles for processes, functions, relationships, and it is these which are being transferred to the original problem and tried out to see if they fit or what ideas they set off. The natural development of an analogy is quite unrelated to the actual problem and so it provides a source of discontinuity. The problem is forced (or encouraged) to develop along a line different from its natural development.
The use of an analogy to get a problem moving is quite a different thing from arguing by analogy. No matter how good the fit, the development of an analogy can prove nothing about the development of the problem situation. As usual in lateral thinking, the way one arrives at a new idea can never by itself justify that idea. The idea must stand in its own right. How does one choose an analogy? There is a danger that if the analogy is too natural and too good a fit, then its development will simply carry the problem along a path it might have followed anyway. On the other hand, if the analogy is too outrageous it might be so difficult to translate it back in to the terms of the problem that no development at all occurs. The fishing analogy chosen earlier was probably too close an analogy, so the ideas turned up by its use were rather routine. Other analogies might have been buying a new suit, looking for antiques, stamp collecting, frying an egg. All these analogies except the last one involve a search procedure for something that has to fit in to some specific setting. Though very different in nature, the egg-frying analogy could set off ideas about job appeal (different taste in fried eggs, sunny-side up, et cetera), about timing, about sticking to the present job (sticking to the pan), and transfer devices (egg slices).

Q.1. According to the author, the "going fishing" analogy may not be useful to solve the recruitment problem because