So Darwin, Lamarck and God walk into a bar…

by Sam Driver.

Charles Darwin, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, and God are all central players in the theory of evolution. Most people are familiar with the theory of evolution, proposed by Darwin. And many are familiar with religious theories of how all living things came to be. Few will recall from the dusty memories of high school biology Lamarck, who, in my opinion, had the coolest interpretation: if you work hard enough and train yourself well, you will enhance some natural ability, and you will then pass this along to your children. The Lamarckian ideal is relegated to the archives of scientific theory long since disproven. This is disappointing because Lamarck’s theory was the only one that allows for the creation of super heroes.

We can argue till we’re blue in the face about which of these theories is most correct. Perhaps there is a bit of truth in each of them. Here’s where smart business people have a valuable tendency: the ability to recognize the better qualities of an idea, take these idea particles as their own, and leave the rest behind. Applying this business-oriented approach to the theory of evolution, we are left with some boiled-down thought nuggets:  

• Evolve, adapt and experiment all through your career (Darwin).  Success in business is often not a result of training in schools or other classwork, but learned on the job.  Successful empolyers and employees are those that are constantly learning, improving and adopting better tools.  Successful business people recognize these traits, reward them, and promote these changes within the organization.
• Train yourself in good habits, and you will instill them in others (Lamarck).  Businesses that recognize success breed more success, and newer collaboration tools and emerging internet technologies provide a vital breeding ground for these advanced ideals to be passed on within and among businesses.
• Have faith — in yourself, your team, your goals (God).  As technology makes it easier for people to do business remotely, we will all have to develop a rich reputation tracking system to ensure that we can trust our peers without the “look them in the eye” method of communication and collaboration humans have depended on for so long.  Early adopters of this approach show that it can work, and work well, providing a massive cost savings, but we will have to shore up our tools to handle larger and more complex remote interactions in the future. 

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