Codie Sanchez describes a 2015 cockroach experiment where insects with no plan naturally clustered in the safest spots. She argues simple rules and fast feedback loops beat the complex, slide-deck planning most CEOs rely on.
What cockroaches know about your business that your CEO doesn't? High performers. You're going to love this. So in 2015, researchers actually dumped cockroaches into an arena with multiple shelters. Each bug on its own, basically made random choices. Total idiots died in all the location. But then they converged on the best shelters, the ones that were safest and became crowded. And essentially this behavior of them grouping with no strategy, no 300 step slide deck like we often get in business. Just simple rules and fast feedback led to them surviving more. So what's the punchline? Simple rules, fast feedback outperform complex planning. And that's not probably what your CEO often tells you to do. In the zoom meeting that you're in right now, the top doesn't have all the answers. Speed is better than elegance. So if your business is stuck in meetings arguing about the perfect plan, you're getting outperformed by a group of cockroaches. You don't need more genius. You need simple operating rules, feedback loops, and people allowed to move fast. So I don't know, maybe we should tell our bosses cockroaches are actually smarter than them.
He wouldn't give you the dream if he didn't believe you had what it takes. You have what it takes.
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