Companies are ecosystems so think like a gardener

Am making my way through this at the moment.  Its basically about the idea that in the new interconnected and interdependent structures of life our own ordered understanding of the world does not work. In pretty much every cultural discipline there will be a set of structured rules in use that basically can be reduced down to the following belief… that if A happens then B will be the outcome. It’s a way to bring order and simplicity to disordered and complex things. It’s also the reason why the experts get to call themselves experts – we can ask their advice because they know what’s going to happen, they have an equation to solve problems. This book says that these rules no-longer apply. That in the new world you need to find a way to plan for the unthinkable. One of the recurring metaphors is a pile of sand which is constantly growing due to new grains of sand falling from above onto the pile. When will the pile stand firmly in place and when will a landslide reshape this little mountain? Scientists once thought this is the kind of thing that they will be able to use logic to predict. Now they know that they never will – all they can bank on is its randomness i.e the relationship between every single grain of sand to all the reast, relative to every other variable creates complexity that we will never be able to iron out. This book increasingly sees politics, the environment, business, as well as science, in this light. 

One of the things that I like about it is the idea is that it is a way of un derstanding the world that you can apply to a vast array of different situations. My last blog blogged on about the idea that there are blurred lines between all types of culture such as arts and sciences or business and personal etc… etc… and that truly big ideas should stand up against the context of each of them (even if they get tested and reshaped a little along the way.)  

I have been thinking about this in the context of sustainability and see it as pretty useful. One of the most useful ideas it uses is the notion that we need to change our mindset to think in terms of systems rather than objects. For example we tend to think about a country or a company or organisation as a thing that can think and act collectively. In actual fact they are more like complex systems or balanced ecosystems in a constant state of flux.  

This idea is especially interesting when thinking about companies and how they need to see themselves in the modern world. It used to be that you could manage in a vacuum. You could communicate single mindedly and you could control your external perception. Now it makes much more sense to think of the company as an ecosystem… the things that happen inside are connected to the things that happen outside and the whole framework for decision making needs to be set in context.    Not only understanding the forces within the internal company structure but  viewing this in the full farthest reaching context in which it sits. Your brand, your environmental impact, your employees, your material use, your consumers, the media, the people who live close to your factory… they are all part of your corporate ecosystem. It can’t be run or managed it can only be cultivated or as I think the book said somewhere… think like a gardener!