In nature, there are a variety of ways that organisms can disappear. There are those associated with predation and competition, of course. But there are two others that are integrally related to the processes of natural selection and evolution.
The more interesting of the two from the perspective of organizational design is called apoptosis, which refers to the phenomenon of programmed cell death. Wouldn’t you love to be able to design units within an organization that terminated themselves automatically, and resolved back into the larger organization, once their functions had been performed? Wouldn’t that be a wondrous thing to see in government?
That’s not likely, though, is it? So, let’s consider the more draconian of the two: extinction.
This is often viewed negatively, because it doesn’t represent the death of a limited set of cells in an organism due to apoptosis, or of an organism in a species due to predation or competition, but of an entire species due to cataclysmic disease or environmental transformation.
And yet it turns out that, in the larger scheme of things, extinction is not only an inevitable and natural force, but a powerfully creative one, as well. Think of it this way; if you are living in an environment of stasis – or even of relatively stolid, evolutionary change – most of your efforts to eke out an advantage over your competitors will take the form of incremental innovation.
But if the business landscape itself suddenly wrenches into a wholly new configuration, obliterating some competitors, leaving others to fade feebly away, and revealing gaping new markets yet to be filled, then you have the opportunity for truly transformational creativity.
There is a lot of talk about certain types of specially inventive, visionary leaders producing these new landscapes themselves. The truth is, though, that most examples of what we imagine to be such simply redirect traditional behaviors into new channels. And those that truly are – well, they do something else as well: they produce extinctions.
In the latter event, which is the essence of their creativity – the revolutionary new product or service that dramatically changes the landscape, or the widespread extinctions that sweep through the businesses that previously populated it, obliterating industries and jobs, but setting the stage for new opportunities and sources of wealth and well-being?
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Today’s tip: Speaking of extinctions and creativity – whatever happened to the Mouseketeers? The Onion News has a report on the matter that you won’t want to miss.
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2 Comments
Jim-good thinking! Kenneth Burke was always fond of saying, “No construction without destruction.” Goes well beyond the parameters you’re using, but it seems “true” across the board. The only certain way to change the culture is to “kill” the status quo. See it in operation and “kill” it on the spot – and the security blanket is gone.
Hello Lee,
As always, you give me more material to work on, and more to do. The current assignment is to learn more about the work of Kenneth Burke. I’m looking forward to it – thanks!
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