The Wolves of Yellowstone
After being absent for over 70 years, wolves were finally reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995. And it resulted in a whole lot of surprising, beneficial ripple effects:
The elk population stopped over-grazing at riverbanks, preferring to stay vigilant and on the move
This allowed trees like willows and aspen to return to the riverbanks
With the willows returning, beaver populations increased again
The beavers then built their dams and changed the landscape of the park further, leading to an overall healthier ecosystem
For a more detailed writeup of this, check out the official park site: https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/wildlife/wolf-reintroduction-changes-ecosystem/
Why am I writing about wolves, elk, and beavers? Because it’s the beginning of a New Year, where we traditionally look at making changes that in one way or another improve our wellbeing, whether in private or in business. To sift through the many options and many things you could be focusing on, ask: What’s the equivalent of Yellowstone’s wolves? What is something you can introduce or aim toward whose ripple effects will have countless benefits?
Some examples:
You want your team to “get better at software development”. Aim for speed, as in, multiple deploys per day. That forces adoption of all sorts of good engineering practices as well as good interpersonal skills.
You want your startup’s product to be genuinely useful and loved by your users. Aim for referrals. If you want your existing customers to essentially be your salespeople, the product must be delightful and hit a genuine need.
You want to use AI in your company, but without falling for hype. Aim to have a case study with clear before/after numbers, as if tying to convince a skeptical CFO. That forces selecting a relevant problem where AI can make a meaningful difference.
The beauty of these approaches is that the one decision upfront takes care of countless smaller decisions downstream and forces a focus on what matters and moves the needle versus endlessly trying a little bit of this and a litte bit of that. So try it out, in your business or your personal life and see what it can do for you!
