Mutation
A change in DNA sequence that alters genetic information. Mutations can be harmful, neutral, or beneficial, and are the ultimate source of all genetic variation.
Used in the Books
This term appears in 29 chapters:
"They'll tell you about strategy (the resource allocation pattern determining fitness), leadership, adaptive mutation, culture - all useful topics - but they treat companies as if they were machines you can engineer or puzzles you can solve."
"They spread to other parts of the body. This isn't malice - it's a broken regulatory mechanism. The cells have mutations that disable checkpoints or ignore stop signals. They've become growth without inhibition. Apoptosis: Controlled Self-Destruction Right now - w..."
"...volution The water flea Daphnia lives a anxious life. It's tiny (2 millimeters), translucent, and delicious to fish. Natural selection favored any mutation that helped Daphnia avoid getting eaten. But evolution is slow - it takes generations for beneficial mutations to spread. Daphnia needed somethi..."
"Sexual reproduction also purges harmful mutations more efficiently through recombination. [Research in progress: Verify mechanisms of mutation purging in sexual reproduction, citation needed] The disadvantage: cost. Sexual reproduction requires finding mates, building sexual organs, and pr..."
"...as internal infrastructure, became public cloud), Apple's iPhone team (kept separate from iPod division). Protection from corporate antibodies allows mutation. Create a variation roadmap: ``` | Quarter | Variation Mechanism | Target | Expected Output | |---------|-------------------|--------|-------------..."
And 24 more chapters...
Biological Context
Mutations occur through copying errors, radiation, or chemical damage. Most mutations are neutral or harmful; rare beneficial mutations spread through natural selection. Without mutation, evolution would stop—there would be no new variation to select.
Business Application
Business mutations: changes to products, processes, or strategies that create variation. Most fail, some are neutral, few are beneficial. Innovation requires tolerating failed mutations while selecting successful ones. Mutation rate affects adaptability versus stability.