I read something the other day about how Darwin and one of the other major contributors to the study of evolution had a disagreement between whether it should be called "natural selection" or "survival of the fittest", and coincidentally the two terms became intertwined not just in the scientific realm, but more importantly, in the common understanding thereof.
The problem being, that the idea of "the survival of the fittest" has encouraged a perspective that this is some kind of "kill or be killed" competitive race, and that qualifiers like enjoyment should be considered secondary to success. However, this is a highly flawed form of thought because in the natural balanced order of things, not everything is out to kill everything. Even natural predators only go after enough to feed. It is as important to the predator to not "over-kill" the prey, as it is to eat, because over-killing, means that there will be no future generations of prey. In fact, it has been observed that predators in emergencies like fires, will even help to evacuate other animals from the threat.
One of the largest threats to modern society, is the over-killing attitude of the business world. So many people are driven solely to acquire profit, for profit's sake that they are killing off the source of their wealth. Even now, in such a technologically advanced, and quite wealthy global economy, there is rampant homelessness, and a lack of general social well-being. In America many economists and politicians talk about the extraction of wealth from the American People, and that's very much what it is. Enormous businesses are draining us(and our natural resources) dry to a point that it will soon cease to be self-sufficient when the working class can no longer afford to buy what these monolithic businesses are trying to sell--or for instance, when we run out of rainforest to destroy. It's an economic bubble unlike any we've seen before, and I fear what will happen if it is allowed to continue it's exponential growth.
To conclude, there is a fundamental change that needs to be encouraged among the leadership of today, and ingrained into the leaders of tomorrow: It is not that evolution or success depends on being a cutthroat competitor, it's that success depends upon making and maintaining healthy relationships with your colleagues, economies, ecosystems, and the customers you serve.
Once again, and louder, for those at the back of the class:
Success depends upon making and maintaining healthy relationships.
I hope that one day this will be the standard of doing good business, and I pray that each and every one of us will survive to see that day.
--Kyle Goodman