Author: Alex Smith

You might think that the natural ecosystems of the world - the rainforests deserts oceans and rivers - are about as far removed from the boardroom as you can get However mechanically speaking nature and business are more similar than it might at first appear Both are complex dynamic systems made up of discrete individual entities which interact with each other in a battle to survive In one case we call them organisms and in the other case companies The only true profound difference between the two is that business is controlled by us whereas nature controls itself Therefore given that nature s been organizing complex systems like this for rather longer than we have it s worth looking to its example to see if there s anything we can learn from it to apply to our own work What are the characteristics of a healthy ecosystem we could apply in order to create a healthy market Here are three ideas Don t Lead Your Business Follow It In evolution species don t develop in a certain direction because they chose too or because they had a prior idea about what they wanted to become Instead they are gradually sculpted by the environment around them and in essence become whatever the ecosystem wants them to become fitting into the space all other organisms leave behind - like a piece in a big fluid jigsaw puzzle In business this would equate to allowing your business to become what the market wants it to become - rather than focusing on your own ambitions or preconceived ideas for it That means entering the market sitting back and watching what happens watching the path the business takes of its own accord like water finding the fastest way downhill A master of this art is Mark Zuckerberg He never envisioned what Facebook has become - he didn t design it or create it - he simply allowed it to happen Bear in mind the original Facebook was a hot or not platform for rating the relative attractiveness of Harvard students There was nothing of the social network about it However gradually the market began to sculpt it in unpredictable ways It took on a life of its own Zuck saw this and rather than digging his heels in and insisting on his vision of a hot or not site decided to follow the business and see where it ended up This was a highly organic emergent leadership approach which mimicked evolutionary development - the polar opposite of the visionary leader model adopted by most entrepreneurs Know Your Role And Don t Deviate From It Every organism has a role in the ecosystem - a job that it was designed to do via the emergent process outlined in point one Whatever that role is the organism was perfectly designed to perform it - and horribly designed to do anything else If it attempts the role of another organism the result will be a disaster - both for the organism and the system around it For instance imagine if a bee decided to start doing the job of an ant The bee is totally ill-equipped for this role and failure would be inevitable Applying this logic to businesses what this means is being sure of what your particular role in the market is and not allowing yourself to be seduced into trying to perform that of another species i e company Nokia learned this lesson the hard way Originally they were manufacturers of tough simple everyman phones like the 3310 This was if you like in their nature - and by following their nature they achieved over 50 market share a number which no other phone manufacturer has ever come close too But then when the iPhone came along they became jealous and tried to copy it so they could prove that they too could make sleek elegant luxury phones Unfortunately this behavior wasn t in their nature - they were the bee trying to be an ant - and their business crumbled If they had recognized their role in the system and doubled down on it they d probably be thriving to this very day Don t Compete With Your Competitors Collaborate There is a misunderstanding of Darwinism which believes that it paints a picture of nature as a highly competitive dog-eat-dog system Survival of the fittest is taken to mean survival of the strongest most aggressive most competitive But that s not what that term means Survival of the fittest quite literally means survival of that which fits best - which fits into the system around it symbiotically In other words survival of that which collaborates with other organisms not that which competes All species seek above all else balance with the other species around them - relationships built on mutual reliance where they need each other to survive in a healthy manner In the world of business this idea equally applies The most successful businesses don t seek to destroy their competitors - they seek to balance with them being bad at the things they re good at and good at the things they re bad at When Southwest Airlines revolutionized the airline industry they didn t do it by attacking the other carriers in the market and seeking to beat them at their own game They did it instead by deciding to give one part of the market business travelers over to them so they could create a new complementary sector of the market in the form of the low-cost airlines category In essence they played the yin to their competitors yang - and rather than competing with them sought a state of balance that resulted in a much healthier market This idea of winning in your market by refusing to compete is extremely powerful and is explored in more depth in this TED talk https www youtube com watch v RZBfUkMhZdQ Bottom-Line In conclusion we have always found throughout history that nature has far more wisdom than we do and this idea may well apply even in contexts like a business where we feel we know better By experimenting with the above techniques you can ensure the survival of your own business - and hopefully let it thrive for long into the future like the most resilient of natural species Go On Tell Us What You Think Did we miss something Come on Tell us what you think about our article on What Businesses Can Learn from Nature in the comments section

Author: Alex Smith

What Businesses Can Learn from Nature

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