Wartime CEO vs Peacetime CEO

Biological Parallel

Honeybee colonies switch leadership modes: peacetime queens allocate energy to comb-building and brood; wartime queens (during robber bee attacks) redirect all resources to defense, even sacrificing reproduction. The switch isn't personality—it's metabolic reallocation triggered by threat detection. Wartime mode is unsustainable long-term (colonies exhaust reserves), but essential short-term. The failure mode is staying in wartime metabolism after the threat passes.