I have a biotechnology background but pivoted into consulting. I breathe strategy for a living but oh my, I never considered this analogy before. Great read!
I've always considered a business as a child to grow with all its organs to develop in order to accomplish (better) functions... But this steam cells analogy is brilliant!
Great analogy, and thanks for sharing this perspective.
The point about ventures and rotating talent resonates a lot, in practice, the healthiest organizations I've met tend to keep some “generalist energy” alive even as they scale.
Indeed. There needs to be a balance to keep this generalist energy alive. As these are the people that question the basics when others have already assumed them to be universal truths.
Biology has lots to teach in terms of systems and it was quite the pleasant read.
Reorganization is the only “fix” I experienced first hand, seeing it failing spectacularly when it all came down to layoffs while keeping the management largely intact, so that the net effect was “same as before, but with less resources”.
Another beautiful failure mode I witnessed is the bureaucratic/political one, when two teams were merged and given to the old director, a living testament to Peter’s principle, rather than to the young manager, so that the company lost the latter and kept the former - this still failing as before, but now on a bigger scale.
Thanks Luca. Ya this perspective of merging team and favouring one vs the other is also very interesting. How do you choose the right person here. Usually this is done more politically than strategically due to principal agent problem. You want people who are loyal rather than who are right I guess :)
I have a biotechnology background but pivoted into consulting. I breathe strategy for a living but oh my, I never considered this analogy before. Great read!
I am glad you liked it Anusha. My background is in medicine as well, so this occurred to me when I was thinking about people management one day :)
Great read, keep these coming!
Thank you Ivan :)
Nice analogy. Thanks
Thank you :)
I've always considered a business as a child to grow with all its organs to develop in order to accomplish (better) functions... But this steam cells analogy is brilliant!
Thank you Ilias. I am glad you liked it :)
Great analogy, and thanks for sharing this perspective.
The point about ventures and rotating talent resonates a lot, in practice, the healthiest organizations I've met tend to keep some “generalist energy” alive even as they scale.
Indeed. There needs to be a balance to keep this generalist energy alive. As these are the people that question the basics when others have already assumed them to be universal truths.
Interesting perspective!
Biology has lots to teach in terms of systems and it was quite the pleasant read.
Reorganization is the only “fix” I experienced first hand, seeing it failing spectacularly when it all came down to layoffs while keeping the management largely intact, so that the net effect was “same as before, but with less resources”.
Another beautiful failure mode I witnessed is the bureaucratic/political one, when two teams were merged and given to the old director, a living testament to Peter’s principle, rather than to the young manager, so that the company lost the latter and kept the former - this still failing as before, but now on a bigger scale.
Thanks Luca. Ya this perspective of merging team and favouring one vs the other is also very interesting. How do you choose the right person here. Usually this is done more politically than strategically due to principal agent problem. You want people who are loyal rather than who are right I guess :)