Biological First Principles
The meta-framework underlying the entire book series: applying literal biological mechanisms to organizational challenges.
The meta-framework underlying the entire book series: applying literal biological mechanisms to organizational challenges. Not metaphor, not inspiration - actual operational knowledge derived from four billion years of tested experiments. Organizations are organisms, and the same rules apply.
When to Use Biological First Principles
Use as the foundational lens for all organizational analysis. Apply whenever traditional business frameworks fail to explain why strategies work in some contexts and fail in others.
How to Apply
Recognize Your Organization as an Organism
Accept that your company consumes resources, grows, adapts, reproduces, competes for survival, and can die. It has metabolism, lifecycle, immune responses.
Questions to Ask
- What resources is your organization consuming right now?
- How is it adapting (or failing to adapt) to its environment?
- What is its metabolic rate?
Outputs
- Organism-level view of your organization
Identify the Relevant Biological Mechanism
Find the biological principle that maps to your specific challenge. Scaling problems → metabolic scaling. Growth issues → contact inhibition. Resource allocation → foraging theory.
Questions to Ask
- What biological mechanism addresses this type of challenge?
- What organisms have solved this problem?
Outputs
- Identified biological mechanism
- Example organisms to study
Translate Mechanism to Business Context
Map the biological mechanism to organizational behavior, understanding that the same rules apply because the same constraints exist.
Questions to Ask
- How does this mechanism manifest in organizational behavior?
- What are the analogous environmental pressures?
Outputs
- Mechanism-business translation
- Applicable constraints identified
Apply Context-Dependent Optimization
Remember that biology doesn't do 'best practices' - it does context-dependent optimization. What works for a hummingbird kills a whale. Adapt the mechanism to your specific environment.
Questions to Ask
- What environment are you actually operating in?
- What scale are you operating at?
- What resources are available?
Outputs
- Context-specific strategy
- Environment-matched approach