The future will be found in living organizations that reflect human purpose
We’re seeing the reinvention of industries. Over the last 15 years, Netflix upended television and film distribution with its on-demand streaming service, making scheduled programming and DVD rentals obsolete. It went on to disrupt content creation by becoming a producer of award-winning original content and changing the economics of film and TV production. In very different circumstances, Moderna pioneered the use of mRNA technology during the Covid-19 pandemic to facilitate “platform-based biotech” that could provide scalable responses to global health crises in months rather than years.
Alongside this upending of business models, we’re seeing increases in hybrid work models and the gig economy, enabled by platforms such as Upwork and Taskrabbit. AI advancements are now augmenting and automating professional work, while sustainability concerns are requiring organizations to rethink how they operate. Meanwhile, our own lives are impacted by major changes in the geopolitical order and new social movements.
Economic and social reinvention is not new. In the late 18th century, the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain. It led to the growth of cities and the creation of factories – new, efficient ways of producing goods harnessing the power of steam.
Ironically, in our own age, variously termed the fourth Industrial Revolution or the digital age, this level of external disruption and innovation has mostly been addressed through traditional organization. Yet traditional organization is static and inadequate. Bloated bureaucracy and mechanistic processes can still be found across both government and commerce, stifling innovation and growth. According to the Munich-based Ifo Institute, the average German worker spends a fifth of their time doing bureaucratic tasks; German firms spend around 6% of their revenue on external consultants to navigate complex regulations.
People and nature do it better
At the heart of this lies a challenge to the traditional command-and-control leadership style that views organizations as a machine. In my book Alive, I share a perspective of organizations as living, evolving organisms that have the potential to liberate the potential and ingenuity of their members. Nature, people and our human bodies work as networks of living organisms, adapting to their environments, evolving and developing over time. If organizations can reflect this living reality then it offers the opportunity for innovation, evolution and growth. So what does this look like in practice?
The Asa Group, an Italian metal packaging manufacturer, offers clues. After poor performance in 2018 and 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic exposed serious weaknesses in how the company was run. Traditional top-down management and slow internal processes made it hard to adapt to supply chain issues, customer needs and rising costs. The company realized that its outdated ways of working meant it couldn’t compete.
To fix this, Asa created a network of “mini factories,” inspired by ideas from Chinese firm Haier, which has built around similar concepts. The core idea was to break the company into small, independent teams. Each team focused on a specific part of the business, like logistics or digital printing, and were given control over their own budgets, decisions and customer relationships. Teams were rewarded based on performance, and cross-functional groups helped tackle shared goals. This shift aimed to increase ownership, innovation and responsiveness.
“The new model brought greater energy and focus,” says Asa’s sales and marketing director, Michele Amati. “Employees have felt more empowered, with one team member saying the change was ‘like waking up to a new reality.’” Meanwhile, profit-sharing and closer contact with customers has helped teams feel more invested, leading to faster decisions and more creative problem-solving.
Organizations are living beings
While organizations have regularly claimed over the years that “people are our greatest asset,” the evidence that leaders are failing to engage employees is overwhelming. In 2024, Gallup found that only 23% of employees were actively engaged or thriving at work, while 77% were either quietly quitting – that is, not engaged – or loudly quitting, meaning actively disengaged.
Organizations, like people, are driven by purpose – with a unique personality, culture, capabilities and physical form. Given freedom, they adapt, maintain balance, grow and build partnerships in ways that reflect their uniqueness. Organizations should not seek to imitate others, but develop and outwork their unique purpose.
The parallel can be extended. Biologists have identified seven biological principles and mechanisms that underpin life: unique identity, which is embodied in DNA; cellular life structure; organic specialization (that is, organs or systems with specific functions); sensitivity (life responds to its environment); homeostasis (ways of maintaining balance and stability); evolutionary growth; and reproduction. I believe these biological principles are mirrored by seven characteristics of living organizations.
1. Purpose driven Shaped by unique purpose and identity
2. Cognitive, physical and emotional embodiment of purpose Embedded in skills, structure and culture
3. Capability based The ability to perform specific tasks and solve problems (based on purpose and its embodiment)
4. Living/adaptive Able to adapt and change in response to the environment
5. Integrated/balanced Through cross-cutting mechanisms
6. Lifelong growth Growing and developing over life stages
7. Networked Connected and related to wider alliances, networks and platforms
When these characteristics are present in a healthy organization, it can be sustainable, successful and profitable.
How healthy organizations adapt and grow
Healthy individuals have a strong sense of purpose – and healthy organizations adapt and grow by empowering all their people to fulfill their purpose. The power of purpose can be seen in firms like Patagonia, Buurtzorg, Apple, and Intrepid Travel.
Intrepid Travel was founded by Darrell Wade and Geoff Manchester in 1989 to provide immersive, responsible travel experiences. Unlike traditional tourist firms that prioritize comfort and conventional sightseeing, they deliver real-life adventures that connect travelers with local cultures and sustainable tourism. The power of purpose has made it successful. In 2023, Intrepid Travel solidified its position as the world’s largest adventure travel company, operating in over 120 countries with more than 1,150 tours – achieving a record-breaking AUD$621 million in revenue and raising over AUD$14 million through The Intrepid Foundation to support global community initiatives.
Individuals and teams, like parts of a body, are sensitive to their environment, clients and colleagues. If they are properly empowered then they will innovate and adapt to better serve clients and deliver great products and services. This requires ways for individuals, teams – and teams of teams – to continually learn and adapt.
Different organizations achieve these in different ways. Spotify was a pioneer of agile organization, where multi-disciplinary squads (teams) are responsible for a product or service. Each squad is empowered to create this product
in a rapid, iterative way (sprints), developing an initial version (minimum viable product) and continuing to develop new versions in response
to customer feedback.
A contrasting approach is seen at Favi, a French automotive supplier, which is known for pioneering human-centric, team-based organizational design. Before its transformation, Favi was a traditional, hierarchical company marked by control, disengagement and slow decision-making. After shifting to self-managed mini-factories, it became agile, customer-focused, and highly motivated – delivering better quality, faster responses, and stronger client relationships.
Key elements of the approach included the creation of self-managed, customer-aligned teams; decentralized decision-making; removal of hierarchy and control systems; and a culture of trust, transparency and purpose. Favi’s transformation shows how autonomy and trust can outperform command-and-control in demanding, competitive industries.
How to avoid falling ill or failing
Organizations can get stuck, even traumatized, if their development and growth is not supported and focused. Like living things, they need to be nurtured to avoid falling ill or failing.
Problems often emerge over time as a company changes. Typically, firms start off with a distinct identity – often thanks to an innovative startup leader who creates a unique concept. For instance, Lego was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Danish carpenter who began making wooden toys before developing the classic Lego blocks after World War II.
Growth often results in organizations losing focus – and by the early 2000s, Lego had lost its way. It faced a financial crisis after overextending into theme parks, video games and lifestyle products, straying from its core brick-building identity. Sales plummeted, and by 2003, the company reported a loss of nearly $220 million.
At Lego, an ‘organizational doctor’ arrived in 2004, in the form of a new chief executive, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp. He led a major turnaround, refocusing on Lego’s core purpose of creative play. He streamlined operations, sold off non-core ventures, empowered teams, and reignited innovation with products like Lego Star Wars and Mindstorms. By realigning culture, leadership and strategy, Lego returned to profitability and regained its place as a global toy industry leader.
Again, businesses are like human beings. A human moves through numerous growth stages: through childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. At each stage, our bodies adjust, our minds need to develop and our emotions change. However, our core purpose (and underlying DNA) doesn’t change. It is our physical, emotional and cognitive characteristics that need to adapt. If we have issues, we turn to family, friends and professional help – such as doctors – to address them.
In organizations, we regularly see issues emerge in the shape of growth dilemmas, such as those between focus and innovation, control and empowerment, and quality and scale. They face all types of firms. For instance, a mid-size accountancy business that I have worked with found it had reached the limit of growth possible with a location-based approach. It realized it needed to collaborate at a national level to serve larger clients. Skilled leaders act as organizational doctors, stepping in when they see ill health and dysfunction developing as the organization grows.
A living organization mindset
If we’re prepared to learn and think differently, then a brighter future is within our grasp. Research, such as the classic work reported in Built to Last by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, has long demonstrated the power of organizational purpose, which precedes sustainable profit and progress. This requires us to understand that organizations are living organisms, not machines.
A living organization mindset requires us to jettison the assumptions that come with think about the organization as a machine. This involves four key shifts.
1. Be clear on the organization’s ultimate purpose, and engage staff, stakeholders and customers in the expression of this purpose
2. Identify the capabilities (cognitive, physical and emotional) required to deliver on the purpose and strategy
3. Ensure leaders continue to measure and address the underlying health of the organization against the seven living organization characteristics – particularly through key growth stages, and when there are signs of dysfunction
4. Maintain and develop relationships, partnerships and capabilities for the organization to remain dynamic and relevant within its wider market ecosystem.
Organizations need to grow and develop like humans. They can’t be programmed for the right outputs. The longer we persist with over-layered bureaucracy and reducing everything to prescribed processes, the further we will fall behind in a consumer age that expects greater customization and innovation. To survive and thrive, today’s business leaders need to develop a living organization mindset.
Paul Lambert is founder of Living Work Consultant and the author of Alive: Cultivating Living Organizations for Success in a Digital Age (LID Publishing)
