Startup teams behave like packs of wolves. And that's a good thing!

George ILIEV's new TEDx talk explores what wolves, green bananas & bird shit can teach us about ourselves, human society and the corporate world:

In brief:

1. Wolves epitomise startup culture: teamwork and sharing. While dogs are a metaphor for corporate culture: hierarchy, domination and submission.

2. Fruit ripening is like lifelong learning. Some people keep learning new skills over their lifetime, just as some fruit (bananas, apples, mangoes) keep ripening after being picked. Others don't: oranges, strawberries and grapes can ripen no further once detached from the stalk.

3. Investment bankers have something in common with bird excrement. Seeds that go through a bird's digestive system are four times more likely to germinate. Similarly, high-pressure jobs make people resilient and release their full potential.

Think about it next time you have a cup of Kopi Luwak coffee.

For the full stories, watch the TED video.

TEDx Kent talk on wolves, bananas and bird shit

By George ILIEV

The three stories in this 14-minute TED talk draw parallels between:

     1) Packs of wolves and startup culture (vs. dogs and corporate culture);
     2) Green bananas and lifelong learning;
     3) Bird excrement and investment bankers.

Metaphors helps us understand the world better because "only 1/6 of your eyeball faces the outside world."

Rate of oxidation defines flesh colour; Cash turnover rate defines corporate culture

Fish muscles burn oxygen; companies and banks churn cash
George ILIEV

The flesh of salmon, mackerel and other fish species is darker in some parts and whiter in others. This depends on the oxidation rate in the muscles. Muscles that contract a lot require a lot of oxygen. Oxygen is stored in the protein myoglobin, which makes the flesh darker. Farmed salmon does not move much so even its most active muscles do not contain as much myoglobin as the corresponding muscles of wild salmon. Overall, the flesh of fish is whiter than the meat of land animals and birds as fish are supported by the water they live in and do not need additional muscular strength to support their weight. In the same way, the breast meat of birds that do not fly much (turkeys and chickens) is white as they do not need to move their wings, while the meat of their legs is dark as these birds primarily move by walking.

Oxidation in the muscles is the fundamental process underlying movement. In the business world, the corresponding fundamental process is the turnover of cash at companies and banks. Cash turnover does not change the colour of an organisation but impacts its corporate culture. The organisations with the highest turnover rates can be expected to have the most aggressive culture and vice versa (See the book "Business at the Speed of Molasses" by Joey Reiman). Cash turnover rates are astronomical (and volatile) in the banking industry as money often changes hands multiple times a day. Therefore, banks do not even use "turnover" as a metric.

Slowing down can make the colour of meat whiter and the culture of companies and banks more agreeable.

(Photo: cooked wild Alaskan salmon, April 2013)