Mycelium. There’s so much we still don’t know about fungi, and yet what we’re beginning to learn is having an illuminating effect on how we might heal our bodies, change our minds, build organizations, and navigate environmental disasters.
The fungi we are most familiar with are mushrooms, which are actually the fruiting bodies of multicellular filaments known as hyphae that branch in all directions, creating entangled networks called mycelia.
A deeper understanding of mycelium was propelled into our culture by biologist and author of Entangled Life, Merlin Sheldrake. According to Sheldrake, mycelium is the tissue that holds most of our natural world together. It weaves through the soil and breaks down the organic matter in living and decaying material (plant and animal), converting it into nutrients for absorption and cultivating healthier soil. While it searches for nutrients, it sends a signal that enables other filaments nearby to make their way toward the nourishment it finds, and the cycle continues.
The pathways that are formed by the filaments ensure the survival of the collective, yet should one piece be broken off and separated, it carries the intelligence to regenerate a whole new network. The attunement to the collective, responsiveness to the environment, and orientation towards nourishment that mycelium displays provide inspiration for enhancing flexibility, connection, and flourishment in our organizations and communities.
- Self (Founder, employee, etc): How attuned are you to the needs of those around you? What needs do you share with others that can be met together?
- Organization (as a whole): If 99% of your organization was destroyed, and only the essential 1% remained, what would that essence be? How would it regenerate anew?
- Community (stakeholders, community members, environment): How might the work you do be a catalyst for nourishing the entire network around you? What wisdom or nutrients might you return to your ecosystem for the overall strengthening and intelligence of your network?
Slime molds: Slime molds, contrary to any association you may have with lime green Nickelodeon goo, often exhibit vibrant colors like bright yellow or orange, thriving in diverse environments such as rotting wood, garden beds, cow dung, and even the sides of buildings. These remarkable organisms, akin to fungi, function as decomposers and recyclers.
Acellular slime molds, visible to the naked eye, form a singular cell with multiple nuclei, resembling intricate patterns akin to mycelium or tree branches (fractals!). Despite their fungal and plant likeness, categorizing slime molds proves challenging, as they are eukaryotic organisms defying classification as plants, animals, or fungi.
Much like mycelium, these tendrils collectively compose the organism's intelligence system. Scientists, captivated by the efficient and decentralized network formation, problem-solving capabilities, and inherent resilience of slime molds, have explored their applications in diverse fields. From unraveling the dynamics of disease spread, such as COVID-19, to optimizing complex systems like the Tokyo subway, slime molds have become invaluable models.
In Tokoyo, researchers strategically placed food sources at major hubs in and around the city, allowing the collective intelligence of slime molds to naturally chart the most efficient pathways. This experiment has elevated slime molds as models for designing flexible and reliable decentralized systems, showcasing their valuable insights for the strengthening of various human-made systems.
- Self (Founder, employee, etc): In what ways are you defining yourself that are oversimplifying who you are and holding you back? How is your reality a bit more complicated and nuanced?
- Organization (as a whole): In what ways, might you acknowledge the blurriness between verticals in your business (i.e. that marketing is served by working with HR and engineering)? In other words, how might you benefit from removing department boundaries to better move as a choreography of signals working towards one goal?
- Community (stakeholders, community members, environment): How can your organization contribute to the resilience of your community by tapping into its power as a collective intelligence system? What partnerships can be made to solve community challenges and opportunities?
Mosses: Mosses, the flowerless green wonders you see in forests and city streets, have thrived across a spectrum of climates, from deserts to rainforests, for an impressive 450 million years. The moss kingdom boasts between 12,000 to 25,000 known species, each contributing to the mosaic of colors and forms that cover the world’s diverse landscapes. These unassuming plants play a vital role in absorbing nutrients and water while simultaneously detoxifying our Earth. Their absorptive prowess makes them bioindicators.
In essence, bioindicators are Mother Nature's health detectives. Mosses, with their single layers of cells adept at absorbing their surroundings, stand as trusted and easily accessible allies for researchers. Mosses, particularly sensitive to changes, become reliable indicators of the health of our surroundings. We can partner with them in different ways to check for harmful environmental cues. The concentration of toxic elements in mosses can be found in two areas: on the plant’s surface (via dust retention) or within the plant (via the absorption of substances). Whether it's alterations in shape, shifts in density, or their existence in specific geographies, mosses provide a tangible measure of an area's air quality. Just as we observe mosses to discern signs of environmental health, so too can we develop our own indicators for gauging the vitality—or lack thereof—of our surroundings.
- Self (Founder, employee, etc): How are the relationships you’ve built around yourself indicators of your own health and the way you view yourself?
- Organization (as a whole): Can you identify the first indicators that something in your organization is going wrong or “polluted”? For example, is an increasing number of employees showing up later for work an indicator of declining job satisfaction?
- Community (stakeholders, community members, environment): How did your organization arise from indicators within your community or environment? Can you recognize those and then attune to how they are changing so you can stay flexible and adaptive as an organization?
Bees. It’s no secret that bees are essential to our survival. Known as nature’s architects, they promote the health and prosperity of a multitude of ecosystems and are responsible for pollinating one out of every three bites of food we eat.
All of this impressive work is made possible by the highly meticulous and intentional design of the bee colony. Think of a bee hive as a highlight efficient, waste-free, multigenerational home and office for 80,000 family members. The bee leading the charge is the queen bee, responsible for both reproduction and the release of a chemical pheromone that binds the entire colony together. Working alongside the queen are drone and worker bees. Drone bees are the male bees, primarily responsible for mating with the queen. Worker bees are given highly specialized and individual tasks depending on their age, including but not limited to nest building, food collection, nursing, and brood rearing.
The growth and survival of the hive very clearly rely on the entire bee colony, rather than any individual bee. No one bee can truly survive on its own. But together, they ensure the sustenance of the hive and the hives that spawn from it. By recognizing their own unique strengths and abilities, they build an interdependency within the collective that unlocks the hive’s potential. This deliberate collaboration, scaled across the population of bees ultimately results in an outsized contribution to global biodiversity and the survival of a large majority of plant and animal life.
- Self (Founder, employee, etc): What’s your genius or role that only you can perform within your organization?
- Organization (as a whole): How clearly defined are the roles and sense of individual purpose within your organization? How might increased specialization contribute to strengthened teamwork and interdependency?
- Community (stakeholders, community members, environment): How does your organization’s unique purpose and mission contribute to the wider ecosystem it is a part of? How might it better collaborate with other organizations to further its reach and impact?
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