Society and education have conspired to lie to you about Darwin. We can all hear that oft-repeated quote, “Survival of the . . .” (in your mind, you all yelled “fittest”). Let me blow your mind: Darwin never said that! Further, it has been used incorrectly in business. “Survival of the fittest” isn’t even what Darwin meant. What he said, and I am paraphrasing here, is “survival of the most adaptable.”
Fitness and adaptability are two very different things. Fitness doesn’t necessarily equate to survival. I won’t list the innumerable companies we all thought were fit, yet no longer dot our economic landscape because they failed to adapt. If we are to apply the Darwinian Theory, we shouldn’t be focusing on fitness, we should be focusing on adaptability. That doesn’t just apply to business as a whole, it applies to functions, departments, and even jobs. We need to adapt, or we’ll perish.