Flightless birds: is your company one of them?

Why do flightless birds exist? Or more appropriately asked, perhaps, how do they continue to exist?

In many cases, they don’t. From the infamous Dodo to many species of lesser-known earth-bound fowl, the record is clear about one thing: the evolutionary benefits of staying grounded diminished as human beings (and other predators) established dominance. For the most part, flightless birds now owe their existence to just a couple of narrow reasons:

1. They persevere in areas where there are still few natural predators.
2. They endure (and even thrive) because humans breed them for our own benefit.

Is your company a Dodo, an Ostrich or chicken?

• The Dodos are on their way out: many traditional media companies have gone this way over the past year alone. A lot of technology companies suffer this same fate as well, and even Main Street companies once regarded as highly as BlockBuster Video missed the evolutionary turning point. GM is probably a Dodo (we’ll see…).

• The ostriches, through sheer luck (and even though we mock them for having their heads in the sand) may survive because they found an evolutionary niche and stuck with it. Sports Illustrated, People Magazine and L.L. Bean are ostriches.

• There are still a lot of chickens around, providing our basic necessities and sometimes even our trendy choices, but their survival becomes increasingly tenuous as our tastes change. Nabisco, Levi’s and even Crocs could be chickens. It’s a good thing for them that everything tastes like chicken.

Ironically, it seems that Velociraptors, those early ancestors of modern birds, are on their way back in. Perhaps it’s because the forced survival of our current economic climate is turning up the heat, but I’m seeing the rise of more and more nimble, pack-oriented organizations that retain their individual intelligence, adapt quickly and still work well in groups.

Netflix might be a Velociraptor. Apple is definitely in the pack. So is Amazon. Google might be (they are trying to be). But those are the well-known ones that you already recognize. The real thing about Velociraptors is that they can be all around you and you won’t know it until it’s too late. They are sneaky and resourceful.

True, Velociraptors were dinosaurs, but I’m not telling you to think old school. Quite the opposite. The raptors changed the rules altogether. It’s about evolution, and your company is either on the way out, on the way in, or looking for a safe place to hide.

Me, I’m a vegetarian. That’s a different story altogether.