Category Archives: Business and Strategy

Evolution of Darwin’s Survival Theory for Businesses

Darwin said:

It’s not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent …
but those most adaptive to change.
— Charles Darwin

Darwin said it for living species, but I find this as much true for businesses and organizations too. So Mr. Darwin, would you be so kind enough to allow me to evolve your theory to fit the business world? Oh my, thank you Mr. Darwin.

So here it is, the evolution of the survival theory:

It’s not the strongest of the species businesses that survives, nor the most intelligent …
but those most adaptive to change.
Charles Darwin Sawant Shah

Gracias.

The lens your business partners look through

Just read an interview of Brandon Schauer, who works at Adaptive Path, on Design Thinking at Jess McMullin’s blog. Here’s a piece that I found well worth quoting here:

You don’t necessarily need to go and get an MBA – I’ve heard an MBA called a degree in common sense and I can’t necessarily argue with that. But the key is just realizing the world that your business partners come from, whether they’re looking through a lens of finance or of operations or management, and being able to understand the issues they are dealing with. Having empathy with the issues that they come to the table with and actually being able to resonate with those by having read similar topics, having an appreciation for what their needs are and listening to them just as you would listen to a customer when you go out to do your research can really change how you work together.

Empathize.