Who Let The Bugs Out - The Leadership Lessons We've Been Ignoring - Episode One

Let’s get something straight right off the bat...

Organizations?
They’re fragile.

📉 Most don’t last.
📆 Very few survive beyond a couple of generations.

According to a report by Innosight in 2020, the average lifespan of a company on the S&P 500 was 21 years...You can barely drink by then... Meanwhile…

🪲 Insects have been here for 300 million years.

Let that sink in.

🐞 The Original Organizational Designers

While organizations are busy reinventing themselves every five years, insects have been quietly mastering:

• Adaptability

• Efficiency

• Environmental awareness

• Survival under brutal conditions

There are more species of insects than all other animals combined.
That’s not luck—that’s good design.

So the question becomes…

👉 What if organizations stopped only studying other organizations… and started studying bugs?

🦗 Welcome to the “Bug Lessons for Business” Series

In this series, I take a look at insects that have stood the test of time and ask:

• What do they pay attention to?

• How do they use energy wisely?

• Why do they adapt faster than most companies?

And yes—
🧪 If you hate insects, you should definitely read this series.

🪲 Part One: The Praying Mantis (It's not a religious story)

One hot day in the forest, I met a creature that looked like a leaf…
👀 had alien eyes…
🙏 and appeared to be praying.

A praying mantis. I looked it up.

Turns out, this little bug has three powerful lessons for organizations.

👁️ Lesson #1: Turn Your Head

The praying mantis is the only insect that can rotate its head 180 degrees.

Translation for organizations?
🔄 Stop staring straight ahead.

Pay attention to:

• Market shifts

• Competitors

• Technology

• What’s happening outside your bubble

Surprises aren’t surprises when you’re actually looking.

🥋 Lesson #2: Every Move Has Purpose

Entire martial arts systems are based on the praying mantis movements.

Why?
Because nothing is wasted.

Every action is:

• Intentional

• Disciplined

• Efficient

Imagine if organizations operated that way instead of reacting, scrambling, and burning energy on things that don’t matter.

🧠❌ Lesson #3: Sometimes…You Need to Lose Your Head

This is a bit of a weird one.

Female praying mantises are known to bite off the male’s head during mating.
Why?

Because without the brain (inhibition), the body performs better.

😬 Awkward? Yes.
💡 Insightful? Also yes.

Organizations are way too stuck in their heads.

Lots of thinking.
Lots of controlling.
Lots overanalyzing.

What they need instead:

• ❤️ More heart

• 🧍 More embodiment

• 🌱 More trust

Less ego. Less posturing. Less “command and control.”

🐜 Final Thought

If insects—with brains the size of a grain of rice—can survive for hundreds of millions of years…

Maybe it’s time organizations stopped assuming they already know everything.

Sometimes the smartest leadership lessons come from the smallest creatures.

And this is just the beginning...

🚀 Ready to Bug-Proof Your Organization?

If your organization feels stuck, brittle, or one bad season away from extinction…
let’s have a conversation...

👉  Send me a note at herkycutler.com
Because survival isn’t about being the biggest—it’s about being the most adaptable.