The Wisdom of Bees

March 8, 2010
Social psychologist (and avid beekeeper) O’Malley draws management guidance from the hive in this charming rundown of best business practices. It turns out bees work on the same kinds of problems we are trying to solve in our organizations, including the best strategies for managing short-term vs. long-term gains, stability vs. flexibility, individuality vs. community, and similarity vs. change. O’Malley applies lessons learned from those clever bees to strategies to help organizations survive and grow while wasting as little energy and resources as possible, to expand exploration during low-growth periods, to maintain durability over the long run, to keep energy levels up, to provide ongoing feedback, to avoid overengineering, to discover and use an individual’s specialized talents, and to be objective and data driven. The advice itself is your standard management-lesson fare, but presented in a concise, conversational format with great personality, practicality, and verve.