Organism
An individual living thing capable of carrying out life processes: metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to environment. Organisms range from single cells to complex multicellular beings.
Used in the Books
This term appears in 50 chapters:
"...It has a metabolism, a lifecycle, immune responses that attack foreign ideas. Here's what you may not have realized: look at the words again. Organ. Organism. Organisation. The word organ describes a self-contained provider of vital functions. The suffix -ism forms nouns of action or process - so *org..."
"Chapter 1: From Cells to Companies Every organism that exists started as a single cell. You did. So did the oak tree in your yard, the bacteria in your gut, and the blue whale navigating the Pacific...."
"... What Metabolism Actually Is In biology textbooks, metabolism gets reduced to a simple definition: the sum of all chemical reactions in a living organism. That's accurate but bloodless. Here's what metabolism actually means: it's the process by which an organism converts everything it consumes into eve..."
"...They pile up into tumors, layers upon layers of cells that should have stopped but didn't. They prioritize expansion over function. And they kill the organism that hosts them. The difference between a healthy 80-year-old and a terminal cancer patient isn't whether cells grow."
"Rising glucose? Keep swimming straight. Falling glucose? Tumble, pick a new direction, try again. This single-celled organism, with no brain and no nervous system, makes better real-time decisions than most Fortune 500 companies. :::share{variant="blue" label="Feedback Loop..."
And 45 more chapters...
Biological Context
Organisms maintain boundaries separating self from environment. They process energy and materials, maintain internal conditions, and produce offspring. Organisms exist at multiple scales—cells within tissues within organs within individuals within populations.
Business Application
Organizations as organisms: bounded entities that metabolize resources, maintain internal conditions, grow, and reproduce. The organismal metaphor highlights integration, boundaries, and life cycle. Unlike machines, organisms adapt, heal, and evolve.