Tree

Trees appear multiple times in this introduction as exemplars of biological engineering that solves problems businesses still struggle with. The author highlights how trees grow from seedlings to 300-foot giants without collapsing, pulling water upward against gravity cell by cell without a single pump - a feat of scaling that dwarfs most organizational challenges.

Trees also serve as examples of honest biological feedback: a tree that survives a drought reveals through its actual structure and behavior what strategies work, providing measurable, replicable data that businesses lack due to self-reported narratives and survivorship bias.