Serotiny
Some organizational capabilities and innovations remain dormant, waiting for the right triggering event - a crisis, market shift, or strategic change - to release their potential.
Lodgepole pines have serotinous cones sealed with resin that wait decades for fire's heat to release their seeds. Within weeks of the 1988 Yellowstone fires, ecologists documented thousands of lodgepole pine seedlings emerging from the ash-fertilized soil - more seedlings than had germinated in the previous 100 years. What appeared to be destruction was actually renewal. The fire didn't destroy the forest; it released seeds that had been waiting for exactly this disturbance.
Business Application of Serotiny
Some organizational capabilities and innovations remain dormant, waiting for the right triggering event - a crisis, market shift, or strategic change - to release their potential. Endings can trigger beginnings that were impossible under normal conditions.