Successful Companies Go Blind
3 hours ago
- #competence decay
- #corporate adaptation
- #organizational blindness
- The Mexican cavefish loses its eyes in cave environments due to programmed cell death, redirecting energy to other traits like olfaction and fat reserves, while retaining eye genes.
- Companies can become 'competence blind' after success, hiring individuals who adapt to internal norms without recognizing declining competence, similar to cavefish adapting to darkness.
- Rapid growth leads to hiring for comfort with existing systems, resulting in infrastructure fragility and outdated processes, yet leadership may overlook issues due to strong financials.
- Careful engineering becomes vestigial as environments suppress it; engineers proposing improvements are often dismissed as over-engineered or misaligned with priorities.
- Companies may establish 'centres of excellence' that stifle intrinsic motivation and distributed excellence, centralizing control rather than fostering innovation.
- In stable markets with high barriers to entry, incumbents accumulate bureaucracy and waste without external pressure, akin to cavefish not needing eyes in geologically stable caves.
- Sighted engineers may join based on brand reputation but leave when they realize their skills are regressing, while those who stay adapt to cave-like conditions, losing their ability to innovate.
- Staying in such companies is likened to apoptosis, where adaptation to the environment becomes indistinguishable from loyalty, suppressing original competencies.
- Like cavefish populations that regain sight in different waters, individuals or companies can potentially restore competence by changing their environment or 'swimming elsewhere'.