Hedgehog
The hedgehog is one-half of the book’s driving metaphor. Broken away from the other half, the hedgehog sits alone as a symbol. In the animal’s character as having only its quills to use as a weapon of offense or defense, the hedgehog represents those who focus on “what is essential” while ignoring what is not.
Fox
The fox is the other half of that controlling metaphor. The fox stands in opposition to the hedgehog in that it is crafty enough to see the world around it as a complex place offering many different strategies and opportunities. Where one fails, another can be tried.
Windows
The window is the symbol of vision directed outward. It is the place where leaders look beyond themselves for answers to questions and solutions to problems. It is also the place to look for those actually are deserving of the credit being heaped upon them as well as the undeserved blame.
Mirrors
The mirror is the window’s opposite. It is not the place to look for solutions that are not helping, but should be definitely faced to find who is responsible for decision one has made which turned out either well or terrible.
Flywheel
The flywheel is the symbol of how all the ideas and concepts and symbols work together in the process of creating success. The flywheel is a jagged gearlike mechanism which jagged edges which stars moving at a deliberate pace and very slowly begins to build momentum. The central concept of this symbol is that once it gains velocity, it continues to power its own movement. The slow movement of business success until velocity produces a breakthrough is what the flywheel symbolizes.
