Life History Trade-offs
Companies have finite resources - cash, talent, time, attention - that must be allocated across survival (operations), growth (investment), and returns (profitability).
Balance is not a strategy. Allocation is.
Every organism receives a fixed amount of energy from food. That energy must be allocated across three competing demands: (1) Survival/Somatic Maintenance - cellular repair, immune function, organ maintenance, keeping the organism alive through environmental challenges; (2) Growth/Somatic Investment - building body mass, developing organs, reaching maturity, increasing size/capability over time; (3) Reproduction/Reproductive Investment - producing eggs/sperm, attracting mates, raising offspring, passing genes to next generation. The constraint is absolute: Energy is finite. Allocate 100 units to reproduction, 0 units remain for growth and survival. This is formalized in life history theory (Eric Charnov, 1993): Total Energy = Survival + Growth + Reproduction. You cannot exceed 100%. Trade-offs are mandatory.
Business Application of Life History Trade-offs
Companies have finite resources - cash, talent, time, attention - that must be allocated across survival (operations), growth (investment), and returns (profitability). The question is identical to the salmon's: How much goes to each bucket? Most companies fail by trying to maximize all three simultaneously.