Musings at Altitude

My now 15 year old daughter is deep into studies for her finals, and one area she is focused intently on right now is cell structure.  I smile as she asks me questions…I don’t remember any of it…in fact, I’m not sure I ever even learned what she is learning today!  Here’s a picture of the cell structure out of her lesson material:

As I look at the names of the components of a cell, I’m smiling because I know what a nucleus is…at least I know something!  But I don’t ever remember hearing the names “organelles” or “cytoplasm”.  If I did, it’s buried deep in the vast chasms of my brain!

But I can’t help but think of a business organization as a living organism, very similar to this cell.  Every organization has these same primary components of life -a nucleus, a cell membrane, a cytoplasm and various organelles.  The nucleus is the orchestrating center of the organization, providing the vision and commonality of purpose that defines the unit itself.  The cell membrane is the outer walls of organizational structure, holding the team together and defining the shape and maintaining the contents of the organization.  The cytoplasm is the culture, that unheard (and sometimes unseen) lifeblood of an organization that defines the behaviors and beliefs of the organization.  And the organelles are the individuals within the organization that have specific roles and specific functions that provide and sustain life for all those that are contained within the cell membrane.

When all of these work in perfect harmony with each other, the organization – like a cell – grows and replicates and becomes the foundational components of an active and thriving ecosystem of business.  But that doesn’t happen very often.  In fact, business success is a rarity, and business failure is far too often the reality.

But when things do click, it’s wonderful to watch.  The organization thrives; replication happens; organizations join together to create an even stronger and more vibrant structure; and smiles abound as the primary purpose for the organization returns dramatic results to those who wait anxiously to see how successful any organization can be.

It’s amazing to watch.  It’s even more amazing to be part of it.

I prefer the latter!