Decomposition Nutrient Liberation
Organizations accumulate failed projects, obsolete products, and declining businesses as 'organizational litter' that locks up capital, talent, and capabilities.
The most successful companies don't just generate new ideas (photosynthesis) - they excel at extracting maximum value from failed experiments and recycling those nutrients into new initiatives.
The decomposer economy consists of organisms specialized to break down dead organic matter: bacteria, fungi, insects, worms, and scavengers. These organisms occupy a unique ecological role - they don't hunt living prey or photosynthesize energy from sunlight. Instead, they mine energy and nutrients from the dead. This creates a critical service: decomposers unlock nutrients that would otherwise remain trapped in dead biomass. When a tree dies and falls, its trunk contains hundreds of kilograms of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other essential nutrients. Decomposers break those complex molecules into simple, plant-available forms through mineralization - converting organic nutrients into inorganic mineral forms that plants can use. Without decomposition, ecosystems would quickly run out of available nutrients.
Business Application of Decomposition Nutrient Liberation
Organizations accumulate failed projects, obsolete products, and declining businesses as 'organizational litter' that locks up capital, talent, and capabilities. Deliberate decomposition extracts these nutrients and recycles them into new growth initiatives.