Michael on ‘The Problem of Business’ …
“Nearly all of business education–even at postgraduate level–may be misguided, even misleading. In my experience, business education is faithfully based on a false premise–that the problem of business is growth. When, in fact, the problem of business is survival.
Most business leaders may be spending their time and energy on solving the wrong problem. Yes, of course, growth is critical in business but the MAIN PROBLEM is that most businesses fail to survive long enough to grow!”
Of the Fortune 500 class of 1974 only 22 of those businesses still survive. These are the big companies. The failure to survive of smaller companies is ten times worse.
Since Darwin explained the reasons 150 years ago, we know that it’s not the strongest or the largest that survive but it’s those best prepared to cope with change.
On this BIG PROBLEM of survival, most business executives are shockingly ignorant and deplete in their formal education. They know little or nothing useful about the science of strategic darwinian thinking.
They venture forth naked and ill-equipped in their approach to the chaos of the marketplace–the whirling, howling, cacophonous wilderness of the global marketplace with its ferocious fads, toxic wastes, and vicious moods, its callous explosions and cruel extinctions putting capricious end to the blind and righteous rivalry across pointless medieval double-entry boardrooms.
Extravagant expenditures of directors’ time and energy are squandered on the talmudic reading of balance-sheets and P&Ls, like the obsessive pre-scientific study of entrails, when less than one director in a hundred could give an intelligent, educated account of what strategy it would take for their business to survive in the fast-changing environment of the next decade.
Experiment: Ask any director you know to demonstrate their strategic understanding of Darwin’s Theory and to show how s/he uses that knowledge to safeguard the future of the company in the faster-changing environment of the marketplace. If you get a clear, articulate response it will be a surprise.
Is there any business school in Australia that insists their graduates understand the strategic business application of the darwinian imperative? Are there any of the endless ‘case studies’ churned out by business schools devoted to darwinian business strategy?
Do let me know if you find one.
Think Darwin!
Meanwhile, I’ve created a new online course called Think Darwin!
Think Darwin! consists of ten lessons you can do at your own speed.
It’s been designed so that anyone can understand, get their head around and then harness the amazing power of Darwin’s Theory in their daily life, career and business.
Have you heard about ‘memes‘?
If you’re in management, marketing, media, or HR/training memes are a must. You’ll become very up-to-date with them on this course.
Darwin’s Theory is widely regarded as the most powerful theory in all of science! Don’t miss out on this unique training program.
There are no fees for Think Darwin!. If your family and friends can benefit then they are most welcome, too.
••Click here for the first lessons …
These lessons were first published in my book
The X10 Memeplex: Multiply Your Business By Ten!
(Prentice Hall 2000).
The Reading Room
Meet Professor Richard Wiseman who holds Britain’s only chair in the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. 