Citation
On Being the Right Size
TL;DR
Volume scales as cube while surface area scales as square
Haldane's classic essay popularized the square-cube law and its implications for biology. His vivid examples (giants collapsing, insects drowning in surface tension) made abstract physics accessible and demonstrated why size matters fundamentally - not just relatively.
The essay's core insight - that every size has different optimal strategies - applies directly to organizations. A startup can't operate like a corporation; a corporation can't move like a startup. Size isn't just scale; it's a different set of physics.
Key Findings from Haldane (1928)
- Volume scales as cube while surface area scales as square
- Each size has different optimal strategies and constraints
- You cannot simply scale up or down without changing fundamental physics