To understand something new, it's our nature to compare it to something familiar, particularly through the use of analogy and metaphor. As a formal method, we can nearly always learn more about something by rigorously comparing it to something else. In a sense, it can be anything else-for example, the greater the dissimilarity, the greater the mental stretch to find similarities. Obviously, though, some associations provide more "grist for the mill" to use that well-worn metaphor.

This module is typically for scan or focus. Each team is given various books and reference materials on a selected topic, which they are instructed to relate to their condition/problem/organization by way of analogy. Each team is given a different analogy to explore. The subjects are often but not always living systems. These may include ants and ant society, bees, oceans and ocean behavior, gardens, the gaia hypothesis (that the earth itself shows characteristics of life, particularly in its regulation of the atmosphere), Cathedrals, and Native American traditions and contributions to US society and or of government.