Taking Career Advice from Nature

A recentWall Street Journal article talks about how to survive the pandemic by taking cues from nature. Naturally, of course. 

As it turns out, wildfires, pine cones, armadillos, geckos, and mantis shrimp hold the key to out coming out of the pandemic with our heads on straight—and a new found passion for our careers. 

The idea that we can innovate by observing and copying nature is a concept popularized by Janine Benyus, an American natural sciences writer, innovation consultant, and author. It applies to new products, such as adhesives inspired by the sticky feet of the gecko and underwater cameras suggested by the eyes of the mantis shrimp. 

But the natural world offers so much more than simply ideas for product design. It can also offer insight into how to keep up with quickly changing markets, cooperating with peers, and fostering resilience—each which are relevant to every one of us, no matter where we are in our career growth.

Many of the roughly eight million species on Earth have weathered times of intense disruption—something human beings are experiencing now. The non-human species have developed strategies to help them not just adapt to harsh conditions, but to thrive. Strategies we can learn from. 

The aforementioned article looked at five ways organisms respond to periods of extreme adversity—and the insights they hold that are valuable to you. And that is what this episode of the Spin Sucks podcast is about: what you can learn from nature to pull yourself—and your career or your business—out of the pandemic.

Links Mentioned In This Episode

What We Can Learn from Nature

Janine Benyus

Marketing In the Round

Spin Sucks (the book)

Spin Sucks Academy

Spin Sucks Community