"The Wisdom of Bees" (Book): From Bees' Hive to Companies Management

 

Examining the life of bees, which paraphrasing Shakespeare are “magistrates, merchants, and soldiers that teach the art of order to a people kingdom” – p.8 -, and through a very innovative approach, Michael O’ Malley, cofounder, and former CEO of Burt’s Bees, presents twenty-five lessons about leadership, efficiency, and growth in his book “The Wisdom of Bees.”

Just out of curiosity, because here the goal is to present the main ideas founded in the book and why it is worth reading, some scientists name as “honorary mammals” given their developed and sophisticated ways of communication (using all of their senses and having “at least seventeen different, discrete” signals to communicate between them, with “their own version of an intranet built into their comb through which they transmit signals between 230 and 270 Hz” – p.4 -). As a result, O’ Malley’s idea of writing a leadership/management book inspired by bees’ behavior is not meaningless. 

The twenty-five lessons, which could be taken from the wise bees, are:

1 - Protect the future (“The God of the bee is the future”, which means that everything we do today – in present - should be thinking in our future).

2 - Keep energy levels up (It refers to the need of stimulating and provoking people in a company by suspending “business as usual in favor of invigorating, growth-related experiences” – p.21 -).

3 - Let merit be your guide (Ongoing feedback and instruction are essential pieces to develop a performance culture in a company).

4 - Promote community, sanction self-interest (Individual potential should be promoted in the context of collaborating with the community).

5 - Distribute authority (Delegate responsibilities is desirable and, as remembered by the author “decentralization is one of the hallmarks of the honeybee colony” – p.41).

6 - Make good enough decisions.

7 - Order and innovate through fuzzy constants (“Constants keep the bees from literally losing their way” – p.52 – and the same applies to a company that has immutable principles, although it keeps innovating and searching for innovation).

8 - Stay in touch (The author underlines again the importance of feedback to improve what needs to be improved and to maintain what should/could be maintained).

9 - Keep it simple (“The best plans often are the simplest, involving clear, direct, and uncomplicated communications and actions. (…) Simplicity is a consequence of knowing what you are talking about, doing, and want.”, according to O’ Malley, p. 70).

10 - Find your Zeitgebers (Zeitgebers, time-givers in English, are crucial to maintain order, control and calm in the chaos of days. They are routines, which enable a more efficient answer to the environmental challenges and dynamics).

11 - Design “Flexigid” Systems (“Flexigid” is a combination between flexible and rigid).

12 - Preserve a positive workplace.

13 - Keep your balance.

14 - Discover and use the specialized talents of your employees.

15 - Develop your team (Five are the components of development programs: connect to staffing plans, set behavior criteria for advancement/job performance, allow for multiple pathways according to the inclinations and talents of employees, actively promote growth experiences – including formal and informal training -, and provide broad exposure to varied tasks).

16 - Outcompete by outfitnessing rivals (the author defends about seven ideas to keep in mind when the subject is to have competitive advantage – without forgetting the qualities of being fair, open-minded, objective and data-driven -: set clear goals and direction, define assignments and accountability, practice active discovery, encourage learning, build effective teamwork, and leave some room for enterprise and empower others).

17 - Prepare for leadership changes.

18 - Bring in new blood for new life (“Sometimes the only way to rejuvenate an organization is to hire from the outside” – p.135).

19 - Merge to make good organizations better.

20 - Divest to renew.

21 - Handle your valuables with care.

22 - Do good by doing well.

23 - Treat yourself well (Physically and mental health should be promoted by companies, “if not to work smarter and more productively, then for a longer, happier life” – pp.163 and 164).

24 - Create beautiful, functional spaces (The hexagonal shape of the bees’ honeycomb is, following the mathematician Thomas C. Hales’ discovery in 1999, the best shape to divide a surface, making the honeybee a creator of an architectural masterpiece that help us to feel more connected).

25 - Give people something to care about.

 

             Additionally, these twenty-five lessons could be summarized in four competing demands, which companies, just like honeybees, should manage: short-term versus long-term gains; individuality versus community; stability versus flexibility; similarity versus change. In these four antagonistic sets, dilemmas, there is not a demand more important than others. Both demands in each set have their role and importance.

             About short-term versus long-term gains, O’Malley defends that: “(…) Short-term decisions are based on their implications for the long term. (…) Position yourself in the short term in a way that gives you desirable options and sound capabilities in the long term. (…) Move forward with care, taking actions that ensure that the organization remains fit for future undertakings. (…)” – pp. 178 and 179.

           When the subject is individuality versus community, and following the bees’ example, the author underlines that: (…)” The success of the colony depends on individuals working in harmony. The task of companies is to integrate individuals in ways that permit individuals performances to stand out but that still cohere to the results of the group. (…)” – p.180.

              A precondition for organizational longevity is the ability to adapt and adjust to changes, but this does not mean that companies should forget stability and focus only on being flexible. In the demand stability versus flexibility, the Cofounder, and former CEO of Burt’s Bees believes that (…)” Develop standards, hire and deploy a diverse, intellectually engaged workforce, and establish organizational cadences that, taken together, promote orderliness and balance without choking out novelty and innovation. (…)” – p. 181.

              Finally, and in relation to the set similarity versus change, to O’Malley (…) “innovation and invention must be supported by hard work and persistence. (…)” This implies some routine, some repetition and not always change. Following bees’ behavior, the author advices to “review the factors that may sustain the status quo through their influence (e.g., attitudinal inertia, stodgy methods and procedures, tentative decision making), and take actions that rejuvenate the company and keep it receptive to changes in the environment – both current and anticipated – in order to make quick, effective responses. (…)” – p.182.

              In fact, the book “The Wisdom of Bees” offers an original argument, looking at bees and taking from their behavior powerful insights to achieve better leadership, more efficiency and effective growth in companies. Michael O’ Malley could go further and give more concrete examples of these bees’ hives lessons applied to companies, the “human hives”, and, maybe, organizing and structuring better the parallelism between the two worlds. But…the truth is that this pocket yellow book, with drawn bees flying in the cover, results in a breath of fresh air in terms of management, and it could also help us to follow the second lesson “keep energy levels up”.