Read full text: https://www.oftwominds.com/blogaug24/success-trap8-24.html?fullweb=1
The weblog, feature articles and books of Charles Hugh Smith www.oftwominds.com |
Successful adaptation requires experimentation and a series of failures as not all experiments yield productive adaptations. In Nature, this process of responding to the selective pressure of rapidly changing circumstances is automated: individuals in the species generate random mutations--experiments seeking improved performance in changing circumstances--or epigenetic changes that improve the individual's chances for surviving the new conditions.
In the human experience, individuals and organizations must undertake this grueling adaptive process of experimentation and constant failure consciously. It is not automatic, nor is a positive result guaranteed. The odds favor decay and collapse, which is what we observe in human history.
Rather than glory in success, we are better served by being extremely wary of success. The ascent of the boost phase seems so effortless and forever, while the slide down the backside of the S-Curve is well-greased by our hubris and complacent confidence that doing more of what worked so well in the past will work its magic again.
Rather than glory in success, we are better served by being extremely wary of success. The ascent of the boost phase seems so effortless and forever, while the slide down the backside of the S-Curve is well-greased by our hubris and complacent confidence that doing more of what worked so well in the past will work its magic again.
Oh, right, there's a Federal Reserve meeting coming up. How apropos.
