Myth: Survival of the Fittest
The Strongest Does Not Always Survive Crisis
What happens when you put a bunch of children on a remote island with no adults? Most high school English reading lists include The Lord OF The Flies - depicting this exact scenario. A descent into savagery, anarchy, and lawlessness where the strong and the domineering take over. The Nobel-prize winning author William Golding, tells this tale showing us the nature of human nature. It is a familiar story - when crisis hits we protect what is ours, we fight off competitors, and we attack weaknesses.
As we currently navigate through our own versions of crisis, it was timely I came across Rutger Bregman's latest book, Humankind: A Hopeful History. Bregman discusses his research on the real reasons humans have been successful in becoming the dominant species on the planet and the traits we use to progress successful civilisations. It is not that humans are stronger than bears, or that we are even more intelligent than pigs or dolphins (e.g. our societal breakdown over toilet paper). Adaptability is always seen as the most important thing, with many misquoting Charles Darwin on this point.
But, if it is not strength, intelligence, or adaptability that makes for a successful species, what is it? Warmth and Friendliness. Those that are able to collaborate will win. The leaders and professionals able to include others, discuss with others, and welcome others will win in a crisis. Before Covid became a part of our existence, we were all going through our own version of crisis. It may have come in the form of recruitment vacancies, impossible deadlines, or strained client relationships. Nothing has changed, except the stakes and the environments we find ourselves operating in. The same rules apply:
The leaders showing warmth in their language, actions, and perspectives will harvest more ideas, commitment, and confidence in stakeholders. Those leaders with friendliness in their approach will beat their adversarial counterparts. When we see the evidential background of this idea as Bregman has collated for us it is worth taking note of, even when the world around us may be telling us to be hard, cold, and ruthless.
What discipline of warmth will help your team be more productive?
What act of friendliness will help your team be more committed to the work or company?
What opportunities do you have this week to collaborate with a peer, counterpart, client, or department?
My work in rhythm tells me there is a host of opportunity in this idea to cut out friction points and costly ways of working which will not only help entire businesses to survive but will help reduce redundancies, fear of redundancy, and a host of related anxiety.
