1 The Peppered Moth: Why adaptation and evolution are essential in twenty-first-century business
“Being a fish out of water is tough, but that's how you evolve.”
– Kumail Nanjiani
We'd like to begin by transporting you back to nineteenth-century England. The Industrial Revolution is taking hold, and the factories in the country's industrial heartlands are burning coal and pumping out black smoke. The residue from this smoke coats everything from buildings to trees.
Enter the peppered moth. In the 1800s, naturalists observed that peppered moths had evolved to fit in with this changed environment. The peppered moth is often found on the trunk of the silver birch tree and, therefore, its natural colouration is pale with darker spots, to match the colour of the tree's bark and camouflage it from predators. In highly industrialised areas of England, however, these moths were becoming darker in colour.
The pale-coloured moths stood out too much on the now-blackened bark of the trees and were therefore much easier for predators to spot. As a result, the pale moths were being eaten leaving the darker-coloured moths to survive and breed. Meanwhile, in regions where there was considerably less industrialisation the peppered moths remained pale in colour. They had no need to change their camouflage because their trees were not being darkened by soot.
This is probably one of the best documented stories of “adapt or die.” Peppered moths in industrialised areas adapted and evolved because those that didn't died. It really was that simple. To this day, it's still widely considered to be one of the best examples of Darwinian evolutionary theory.
What does your business have in common with the humble peppered moth? It too has to adapt or it will die. In the business world, just as in nature, our environment is continuously changing and that means we can never stop adapting to match it. There are many organisations in the world today that are undergoing a period of transformation because they have fallen behind and they need to catch up. What we're talking about here is not only transforming to catch up, but making adaptation and evolution a core part of your business so that you never fall behind again (or ideally that you never fall behind in the first place).
As a leader, it is your responsibility to determine the vision, paint that picture, and state your organisation's purpose so that you never fall behind again. Think about the Formula 1 race team principal who is continuously evolving the team's strategy and car to make sure that the team stays ahead of the pack. The principal's driver knows exactly what has to be done on the track, the crew knows exactly what's expected of it before, during, and after the race. This clear direction is what allows all on that team to function to their best ability.
However, a Formula 1 season is never just one race. Depending on performance throughout the season, not only will there be pivots and changes to the strategy set by the principal, but the end destination might also change. A string of poor results might suddenly see your driver and team aiming for third in the championship, rather than first, or a series of exceptional wins could put your team on course for winning the championship, where your initial goal at the start of the season was a top-five finish.
The evolution mindset
3M is an American company that you might be familiar with and it perfectly encapsulates the evolution mindset that we're exploring in this chapter.1
In the 1970s, 3M used to be called Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing and at this time its scientists received a patent for the chemical formula that it was using to make masking tape, which had been in production since the 1950s. The story goes that the board was torn between whether to become a product company or a knowledge and know-how company.
If the board had chosen to become a product company, the company's product would have been masking tape. Of course, the company would have made different types, colours, and sizes of masking tape, but it would have pinned itself into a specific niche.
The board chose to go down the route of becoming a knowledge and know-how company, and 3M has since spawned over 60,000 products from that one chemical formula. The core of 3M is that formula, and it has used that to continuously evolve and create new things.
Whether the board members recognised it at the time or not, they chose to go down a route of continuously adapting. They chose a process of continuous evolution. This is supported by the fact that 3M puts a material percentage of its turnover back into R&D and it encourages its employees to come up with new products and solutions. It empowers its people based on this core principle of adapting and evolving. It's an evolution mindset that starts at the top and filters all the way through the organisation.
The Bandersnatch process
In business, we have to pivot and change direction sometimes and it's important to remember that the destination we're striving for could also change depending on the route we follow. We also have to recognise that we are never going to reach that destination because that implies an end point. In business, there is no end, merely a constant evolution and adaptation to stay ahead of the competition. Just look at 3M.
The interactive film Bandersnatch, which was produced as part of the Black Mirror series for Netflix, is a simplified example of this process at work. As the viewer, you chose the direction the storyline took at various points throughout the film. In taking certain decisions around the plot, you influenced the ending that you saw. Unlike the world of business, Bandersnatch does of course have an end.
However, it illustrates the point about choosing your direction of travel well. Much like in real life, in Bandersnatch you don't know what ending you're heading towards when you start watching the film. Each decision you take for the main character leads you along a specific story arc. You're essentially opening a door and stepping through it without knowing what's on the other side, even if you might be able to predict what you expect to see.
Another key difference between Bandersnatch and business is that in Bandersnatch you can never go back. Once you take a decision about your direction of travel you are committed to that trajectory. In business, this might be true in some cases, but not in others. Often it will be possible to step back through a metaphorical door.
What we have to recognise in a business context is which doors we can leave open to step back through if we need to, and which ones close behind us, leaving us to navigate forward from that point. As a business, it's vital to make that distinction because if you're stepping through a door that will close behind you, you need to be confident of your next steps from there.
How can you tell if the door you're about to step through will stay ajar or close behind you? There are a few factors that will play a role here. The first is the speed at which you're travelling through that door, because if you race through really quickly, by the time you realise you want to go back, you might be too far from the door. The second is measurement, which we discuss in greater detail in Chapter 2, but fundamentally if you're measuring the right things you will be in a position to retrospectively change the elements that need changing.
Each business will be different and therefore whether it is able to go back through a door will vary. However, all leaders should be challenging themselves on these decisions. As a leader, what you have to work out is whether getting a particular decision wrong is reversible. If the answer to that question is “no”, you have to take time to make that decision.
If the decision won't kill your business, you have to consider what the
