Look Around: Success Is Not What You Think It Is

Sticking with my own tradition of ending the quarter with a more artistic blog post, and with what I feel speaks to this topic most profoundly, I will be defining success and what I feel its relationship is with growth. Take this in the context of the natural world and in the business world, as I feel success vs. growth is a comparison best demonstrated by what surrounds us in nature. To create businesses that flourish in the most beneficial way for all stakeholders, I believe we should be looking to nature which exemplifies a perfect balance of success vs. growth.

As we learned early in the year, a system and all its parts is designed to do exactly what it is doing. This tiny copepod exists in the trillions (probably a few orders of magnitude more actually) around the world’s oceans. What defines success in this case? This miniscule creature has a minute effect as one, but in such great numbers they support ecosystems and provide food for all those animals higher than itself in the food chain. At a few millimeters in length, is growth even worth discussing? How about for those resources that support our way of life and businesses? Can we support and sacrifice certain desires in our lives for the good of the system like the copepod does? And no, I don’t mean we have to be a food source for animals larger than us!

Growth in the case of this sea slug is clearly unusual. Instead of a business growing in physical size, can it grow in complexity and beauty like this animal? A slug standing out among a world of fast, voracious predators is an awesome example of thinking outside the box. Success is defined as a beautiful and bizarre creature here. What does that mean for us?

Success and growth in this interaction are quite unexpected. Camouflage vs. colorful stand-out? Predator and prey or passers by?  

And then there’s the typical growth we think of. The gigantic, towering Seqouia does what it has to in order to reach the sunlight and nutrients. But are the largest, the most successful? I bet not. In every environment this behemoth faces different challenges to grow at the rate it requires for survival. It too must adapt to various limiting factors in the environment, just as businesses must adapt to available supply and varying demand levels.

My mind is so often blown when I look to nature for examples of how to live for a healthy future. I encourage you to do the same.