Enjoy your Business
using an Evolutionary Approach

Over 25 years ago I set out to create a great business that I and my employees would enjoy and have fun with. My goal was:

To enjoy my work so much that I could not wait to get there in the mornings.

I have a chemical engineering and information technology background and have run a great small software business for over 25 years. When I unpicked how I operated my business, I was astonished to discover that I was following the principles of nature and genetics.

In nature, species compete for food, shelter, and mates. Disease, disasters, and predation are prevalent. Species work together to boost their own survival and the fittest displace the less fit in the population. A business is like a species:

  • We compete for business and best employees. 
  • We suffer diseases such as complacency, over ambition, greed, and corruption. 
  • Collaborations and alliances can benefit us. 
  • Crises or disaster can have huge impacts on a business – both natural disasters and new technology breakthroughs. 

Nature adapts by mixing the gene pool when breeding and by very rare mistakes, mutations, in the genetic structure which introduce new forms. The species with the traits that best fits the environment survives and the others perish. So what can we in business learn from nature?

  • We need to introduce new genes – hire people with different backgrounds, visit other companies, get expert help, and benchmark our companies against others. i.e. maximise outside influence (Go Belly Button to Belly Button). 
  • We must learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others.We must take advantage of these mutations or errors by improving our processes so they don’t happen again. Mistakes can also lead to completely new opportunities and breakthroughs. 
  • We must satisfy the fundamental needs of ourselves and our staff. There is a hidden force in our genes (self-gratification) that drives the need to survive and to reproduce our genes. In business we need similarly to fulfil the inner needs of ourselves and the staff of the business. 

From unpicking how my business works and from understanding how nature operates, I have identified eight principles for creating a highly successful and lasting business:

  1. maximise outside influence and external contacts 
  2. learn fast from your mistakes and successes 
  3. fulfil your and your staff’s needs 
  4. build on your best and discard your least good 
  5. take small cumulative steps 
  6. build everything in simple interchangeable building blocks 
  7. gain control – create an operating manual, work templates and checklists 
  8. be prepared for a crisis 

By applying these eight principles you will be applying an evolutionary approach that is 

  • Easy to Implement
  • Low Risk
  • Less Stressful
  • Needs Minimum Capital
  • Ensures that you are never 'left behind' in your markets