Negative Feedback Loops
Without explicit feedback loops, organizations drift toward entropy.
Here's the mechanism: homeostasis works through negative feedback loops.
**Step 1: Sensor** - Detect current state (thermoreceptors measure temperature, chemoreceptors measure pH, stretch receptors measure blood pressure)
**Step 2: Control Center** - Compare current state to set point (hypothalamus for temperature, medulla for breathing, various organs for various parameters)
**Step 3: Effector** - Take action to correct deviations (muscles shiver to generate heat, sweat glands release moisture to cool, kidneys adjust urine composition)
**Step 4: Feedback** - The system senses the result of the correction and adjusts further
This is a thermostat, except biological thermostats are more sophisticated, more redundant, and more context-aware than the one controlling your office temperature.
Business Application of Negative Feedback Loops
Negative feedback loops are the mechanism by which organizations maintain their 'set point.' When Netflix's culture started drifting (sensor), leaders noticed (control center), they either helped people adapt or let them go (effector), and the culture deck served as the reference for what normal should be. Without explicit feedback loops, organizations drift toward entropy.