Successful Companies Go Blind
The article uses the biological evolution of the Mexican cavefish to explain 'competence blindness' in successful companies. It argues that rapid growth and insular hiring practices cause companies to lose the ability to recognize and foster the traits that originally made them successful.
Why it matters
It offers a compelling organizational theory on why successful companies often stagnate or lose their competitive edge over time.
The Mexican cavefish kept its eye genes for over a million years after the eyes themselves disappeared . Something similar happens to companies once they achieve success.
The Mexican cavefish ( Astyanax mexicanus ) exists in two forms only kilometres apart. In the rivers along the Sierra del Abra, the fish has eyes and behaves the way ordinary fish behave. In the limestone caves under the same mountains, members of the same species are blind, depigmented, and translucent . The genome is virtually identical.
Within hours of fertilization in cave conditions, the lens-building programme triggers early apoptosis (i.e. programmed cell death), and the energy that would have gone to optic tissue is redirected to traits the cave actually rewards: better olfaction, deeper feeding, and fat reserves against the next lean year. Sight is no longer expressed. The same fish, hatched in the river, would see.
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