Monoculture
The agricultural practice of growing a single crop species over a large area. Monocultures maximize efficiency but increase vulnerability to pests, diseases, and environmental changes.
Used in the Books
This term appears in 5 chapters:
"...ve? (Exit interview patterns: "didn't fit culture" often = homogeneity signal) 3. Check misalignment: If you say "diverse perspectives" but hire monoculture, you're signaling brand pedigree over actual diversity. Success metric: Hiring sources, backgrounds, and demographics visibly diversify quarter-..."
"...ight pollution exploits their navigation algorithms. Case 2: Agricultural monocultures and pest outbreaks Humans construct agricultural niches (monoculture fields: vast areas of genetically uniform crops). This creates ideal conditions for specialist pests and pathogens: abundant resources, no genetic va..."
"The value of ecological redundancy becomes most apparent when it's lost: simplified ecosystems with low diversity (agricultural monocultures, overfished oceans, degraded forests) exhibit reduced stability, increased vulnerability to pests and diseases, and diminished capacity to provide ec..."
"The ecosystem absorbed a catastrophe and continued. Meanwhile, in an adjacent field, a farmer has planted a monoculture - thousands of acres of a single corn variety. A pathogen emerges. Within weeks, the entire crop is lost."
"Limpets and chitons starved, their food gone. Within three years, the diverse intertidal zone - which had supported 15 species - collapsed to a monoculture of mussels and the few species that could tolerate them. Paine had discovered something fundamental: some species have influence vastly disproportio..."
Biological Context
Monocultures simplify ecosystems, eliminating the checks and balances of diverse communities. They require external inputs (pesticides, fertilizers) to replace ecosystem services. The Irish Potato Famine resulted from monoculture vulnerability.
Business Application
Business monocultures: over-reliance on single products, customers, or strategies. Monocultures are efficient in stable conditions but catastrophically vulnerable to change. Portfolio diversity is the antidote to organizational monoculture.