Small Giants and Business as an Ecosystem

The Small Giants Community is based on a book by Bo Burlingham called Small Giants: Companies that Choose to Be Great Instead of Big. If Bo's name sounds familiar it's because he's a prolific writer and co-wrote The Great Game of Business with Jack Stack.

I was invited to speak to the community at the annual summit last week. The title of my talk was “Don’t Grow Broke”, which emphasized how left unchecked, growth can cause a cash crisis in business.

I also got to meet Bo Burlingham and several other community co-founders, as well as Ari Weinzweig, founder of Zingerman’s in Detroit, a restaurant featured in the book.

I was fortunate enough to get to visit with Ari in Ann Arbor while I was in Detroit, who emphasized the concept of business as an ecosystem.

Business as an ecosystem as illustrated by Zingermans.

I found this to be super relevant to businesses and can see how you can layer in other elements and even the seasons to expand on the metaphor.

The point of this framework is to illustrate that a healthy business is more than just a profitable business, or a high-growth business, or a valuable business. It takes many other factors to make it a sustainable, healthy, thriving entity.

In my time with Ari, he explained:

Roots = Beliefs

Soil = Culture

Water = Spirit of Generosity

Sun = Hope (a new day)

Air = Purpose

Moon = Soul

Fungi = Cultural Connectors

and so on…

I would add my own elements to this ecosystem:

Seasons = Phase of Business

Earthquakes = Pivots

How do you see your business as an ecosystem? What elements would you add?