Calving
Organizations experience calving too: spin-offs, divestitures, bankruptcy filings, mass layoffs.
The difference between controlled and uncontrolled calving isn't just timing - it's philosophy. Controlled calving accepts that growth creates complexity, complexity creates stress, and stress eventually exceeds strength.
Calving is the process by which glaciers shed ice into water bodies. Ice is strong under compression but weak under tension (~1-3 MPa). A glacier terminus extending over water experiences tensile stress from forward flow, lack of underwater support, and gravity pulling unsupported ice downward. When stress exceeds ice tensile strength, a crack initiates. Crack propagation is fast - meters per second through ice - because the crack tip concentrates stress, creating positive feedback: crack opening leads to more stress leads to faster crack opening. Within seconds to minutes, the crack propagates through the full ice thickness (50-300 meters). A block separates and falls into water. The terminus is now shorter, stress drops below fracture threshold, and the glacier stabilizes temporarily before the cycle repeats.
Business Application of Calving
Organizations experience calving too: spin-offs, divestitures, bankruptcy filings, mass layoffs. These appear sudden to outsiders but are the culmination of stress accumulation - financial, strategic, cultural. Controlled calving (preemptive, planned separation) preserves value while uncontrolled calving (forced separation under crisis) destroys it.