Postcard from the Edge

How do we solve problems at scale, when scale is the problem?

The oldest company in the world is in Japan and was founded 1,445 years ago. The next four oldest are also in Japan, the youngest a mere 1,252 years old. The list of companies is instructive, and they have one thing in common: they don’t do “scale”. Their values are different, and their activities are constrained by the quality of what they do rather than the excitement they generate regarding potential future value.

The logic of our markets has made scale a route to value not through purpose but through hype. We find ourselves with promising companies being treated like foie gras geese, suddenly force-fed capital to provide a delicacy at the cost of the quality of life of the bird that produces it.

In the natural world, scale has limits, and nothing scales so much as to lose touch with its source. It remains in touch with its purpose.

Scale in the way that we talk about it in business is an artificial construct driven by a singular focus on profit, and with little or no regard to other consequences. As such, it flies directly in the face of the instincts and values of the artisan, for whom “wholeness” is the purpose they serve, and what the goods and services they create are part of.

Each time a promising new venture listens to the siren song of those investors and consultants who encourage it to scale (in their own interests of course), something important withers.