business ideas inspired by eggs
DESCRIPTION
The study of the adaptation of eggs to their environment reveals new thinking for the adaptaion of organizations to their environment and new challenges.TRANSCRIPT
Business Ideas Inspired by Eggs
By: Ali Anani
Rotten Organizations
BRAND CORE VALUES
BRAND VISION
Rotten Eggs
TIP: right-click and ungroup the graphics to change colors. Reroup when done
Eggs – Organizations Resemblances!There are subtle resemblances between egg behavior and organizational behaviorLet us explore some of these resemblances
Comparisons for Thought
• Structure affects the performance of organizations and eggsStructure
Later, I shall explore some of these similarities
•Rearrangement of organizations and eggs components
• Eggs come in different colors; so do organizations
• Quality control measures apply to organizations and eggs
• Eggs may sink and float; so are organizations
Rearrangement
Color
Quality Control
Floating and Sinking
Comparisons for Thought- 2• Eggs may be soft and hard boiled. Organization need• soft skills and hard skills as wellSoft and Hard
Soft skills and hard skillsSoft boiled egg and hard boiled egg
• Whipping of eggs changes there structure. Do we need• to “whip” our organizations?
• Eggs come in colors that have a marketing value, but •not a nutritional value. Likewise; some organizations •have deceptive colors
• Environment change the freshness of eggs; •likewise with organizations• Coating of eggshell make eggs flow and not sink in water.• This brings the need to “coat” organizations so that they •float and not sink
Rearrangement
Color
Environment
Floating and Sinking
Even more Similarities
Walk on Eggshells
Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket
Scrambled Eggs for Brains
From Eggs to Organizations
Eggshells have a very fine and almost similar texture with almost identical pores. That is why if eggshells were thicker it would be extremely difficult to break them Eggshell
Microstructure
From Eggs to Organizations- 2
Materials that have big and small voids are weak, cement for example.. But wait
From Eggs to Organizations- 3
When cement was treated so that its voids became identical it showed rubber-like properties. It improved drastically the behavior of asphalt when admixed with it, to give one example
The Important Lesson Is
It is not important to have voids; it is far more important to have equally distributed and sized voids similar to those pores existing in eggshell
The Important Lesson Is- 2
The Proof! Well compare the similar economies of the USA and Canada.
Now compare the economy of the USA with its other Neighbor, Mexico. Here we have major differences. The texture is filled with large and small pores. Big differences cause problems; equal differences eliminate problems
The Important Lesson Is- 3
Compare the issues prevailing at the USA/Canadian borders vs. those between the USA/Mexican border.
The Important Lesson Is- 4
By the same token, organizations that have widely asymmetrical differences are bound to be weak.
It is the weakest point in an organization that determines its overall strength
Organizations with many differences do not have a fitness landscape; rather they have what I call an “Unfitness Landscape”
The Important Lesson Is- 5
Voids not only weaken organizations; but also make them generate bad smell
A rotten egg smells badly and a rotten organization smells similarly
Smell penetrate the pores of the eggshell; the same way they penetrate the outer structure of a rotten organization
Rotten Egg
Rotten smell of gas
Seasonality
Sunlight influences chicken to lay more eggs. Transparency is the sunlight that make organization more productive. Transparency is a prerequisite for organizational success
Early Health Indicators
There is a small air pocket in the large end of the egg. When the egg is fresh, the pocket is small. As the egg ages, however, it loses both moisture and carbon dioxide so that the size of the air space increases.
So if you submerge a very fresh egg in water, it will lie on the bottom. An egg that is a week or so old will lie on the bottom but bob slightly. An egg that is three weeks or so old will balance on its small end, with the large end reaching for the sky. And a bad egg will float.
Organizations Need Airbags
To emulate the behavior of eggs, may be introducing organizational airbags is worthy of pursuing.
Organizations need airbags whose behavior may reflect the healthiness of an organization the same way the air cell in an egg reflects the egg’s health
The concept has some relevance to airbags in cars. What an airbag wants to do is to slow the passenger's speed to zero with little or no damage. The constraints that it has to work within are huge
Get Rid of Your Poisonous Employees
The reason why an egg floats is because as it decomposes, water vapor and gases are released through the porous shell
. This is what causes the yolk and whites to shrink which in turn makes the air cell larger.
I have written a novel in Arabic in 2000 entitled” BreathPrints”, in which I showed that poisonous people have a burning oven in their chests and exhale poisonous gases. Beware of poisonous employees
Overdoing
If a boiled egg is overcooked, a greenish ring sometimes appears around egg yolk
. This is a manifestation of the iron and sulfur compounds in the egg. It can also occur when there is an abundance of iron in the cooking water. Watch for the effect of the environment
Overburdening employees is stressing. We may entertain the idea of producing colored rings to reflect the level of stress in organizations
Hibernating Companies
Store eggs with the rounded end pointed up in order to keep the air cell on top and help keep the yolk centered
.During economic recession some companies hibernate
and in the process lose their talented employees. Companies need to be aware which employees should face challenges to keep the body of the organization fresh. See the posts by Anani and Bas de Baar on this issue
*Do not store eggs next to strong smelling food, the shells are porous and eggs will absorb strong odors
Whipping Companies
Egg whites are made up of water, protein, and small amounts of minerals and sugars (see egg protein composition). When eggs are beaten, air is added and the proteins are denatured exposing their hydrophobic (water hating) and hydrophilic (water loving) ends of the protein. The proteins align themselves between air and water forming bubbles with their hydrophilic chains pointing into the water and hanging their hydrophobic chains in the air.
Whipping Companies- 2
On heating, these chains unfold and bind together into a three-dimensional network
. It is the formation of this network that produces the thickening
Whip Your Organizational Social Network
Organizations are building and expanding their network structures.
Are organizations becoming ready for “whipping” so that chains of connection unfold into foamy and thickened structure?
A second question pertains to the possibility of over-whipping the social network where the whole structure collapses
Conclusion
I invite readers for commentsI have touched upon few points leaving the rest
for your contributions