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Follow the Ants … or Not

In my new book, Jump the Curve, I dedicate an entire chapter to the idea that business executives can learn a great deal from the biological world around us. One of the more interesting creatures I highlight is the humble ant.

According to this fascinating article from the London Telegraph, we can now add one more thing that the ant can teach us: It doesn’t alway pay to follow the person—or ant—in front of you!

According to the study, people have a frightening tendency to follow what the previous person did—regardless of whether their action is the best, most efficient or wisest course of action. One real world consequence of this behavior is that in the event of a fire people can mindlessly follow the crowd to their own demise.

One way to prevent being lead astray by the crowd is to borrow another trick from the ant’s bag of tricks. In many ant colonies there are a handful of “wild ants” or “pioneer ants” that purposely stray from the crowd. Often, it is these rogue ants that blaze new trails and, more importantly, find new sources of food.

In this same way, it is important for businesses to hire the equivalent of “wild ants”—free spirits if you will—who don’t conform to the crowd.

These people are not always easy to get along with (because they don’t conform), but they could very well be the key to your business’ future survival because they are the ones who are most likely to spot the new trends and blaze the new trails.

If you doubt me and are looking for a second opinion on this idea, I’d encourage you to consult the Good Book. Proverbs 6:6 reads: ”Go to the ant thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.” Be wise, indeed.

Looking for more bits of inspiration from the animal kingdom? Check out these past posts:

To Survive ... Change Diets
Swarm Intelligence Gets Even Smarter
Biomimickry at its Best

Jack Uldrich is a writer, futurist, public speaker and host of jumpthecurve.net. He is the author of seven books, including Jump the Curve and The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. He is also a frequent speaker on future technology and future trends, nanotechnology, robotics, RFID, innovation, change management and executive leadership to a variety of businesses, industries and non-profit organizations and trade associations.

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