Germline vs. Somatic Distinction
Organizations must distinguish between germline DNA (invariant principles that should propagate everywhere) and somatic adaptations (context-specific practices that shouldn't).
The failure mode most companies fall into: confusing somatic success with germline DNA. Your company succeeds in a market. You assume every aspect of how you operate is essential. When you expand, you try to copy everything - all the phenotype, all the local adaptations, all the context-specific quirks.
The final critical concept: not all cells contribute to the next generation. Organisms divide their cells into two categories: somatic cells (body cells) and germline cells (cells that produce offspring).
Somatic cells build and operate the organism - muscle cells, neurons, skin cells. They can adapt and change throughout life. Your muscles grow with exercise. Your immune cells learn to recognize pathogens. Your skin tans in sunlight. These changes are phenotypic - expressions of your genome in specific environmental conditions.
But somatic changes don't transfer to offspring. Only germline cells do. Whatever happens to your muscles or neurons or skin doesn't affect the DNA in your sperm or eggs.
This separation is called the Weismann barrier, named after the biologist who proposed it in the 1890s. It's why Lamarck was wrong. Giraffes that stretch their necks don't produce offspring with longer neck genes. Blacksmiths with strong arms from hammering don't produce offspring genetically predisposed to strong arms. Acquired characteristics remain in the soma. Only germline information propagates.
Why this barrier? Because somatic cells are exposed to constant environmental challenges - UV radiation, toxins, pathogens. They accumulate DNA damage. If all that damage transferred to offspring, each generation would be more degraded than the last. Sequestering the germline protects genetic information from somatic damage.
Business Application of Germline vs. Somatic Distinction
Organizations must distinguish between germline DNA (invariant principles that should propagate everywhere) and somatic adaptations (context-specific practices that shouldn't). Amazon's Leadership Principles are germline - they apply identically in AWS and retail. Specific products, warehouse locations, and market-specific tactics are somatic. The failure mode: confusing somatic success with germline DNA, then trying to replicate everything instead of just the true genotype.