Ancient Future: 5,000-Year-Old Traditional Knowledge For Modern Leaders
8 Best-In-Class Values To Help Truly Go The Distance
"Who's givin' out this much return on investment? After my run, man, how is that even a question?" - Drake
The R-Word
Though the "Big 3" strategy consulting firms (BCG, Bain, and McKinsey) might disagree on tactics and timelines, they're 100% simpatico in their message about a mission-critical value for modern leaders: resilience, resilience, resilience. It's an organization-wide imperative insisted upon by virtually every monolith of management thought leadership, from PwC to Deloitte and MIT to Harvard.
No one wants to get caught lacking the way we did the day everything changed. The unrelenting barrage of system shocks in its aftermath highlights the need for nonprofits, governments, and corporations to invest in resilience to endure future surges in volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. I'd even go as far as to say that resilience—the ability to sustain productivity over time—is the price of admission when it comes to the future of work. But therein lies the rub: Historically, organizations have an appalling track record of going the distance.
Where could we find better blueprints for longevity? If you know where I'm going with this, skip to the solution ("The Best-In-Class System"). If not, hear me out.
I'm Slippin', I'm Fallin', I Can't Get Up
What if I told you that your dog could outlive most companies in your investment portfolio? It's the bleak truth.
The overwhelming majority of organizations ever created have either failed, are failing, or will likely fail (with 75% of S&P 500 companies disappearing by 2030, according to McKinsey). All of this is hardly hyperbole. Roughly 25% of startups fail within the first year, and 50% fail within the first five years. And of the ones that graduate from startup to "stay up," up to 70% will fail by the tenth year. In sum, it's hard out here for incumbents. But what about behemoth, well-resourced organizations? Check it out: The very first Fortune Global 500 list debuted a complete industrial revolution in 1955. Since then, in just 67 short years—one human being ago—88% of companies listed either went bankrupt, got broken up, or got acquired. In one way or another, they ceased to exist. And this level of destruction appears consistent across global indices and exchanges. For instance, the first FTSE 100 list popped up on the London Stock Exchange in 1984. Since then, 72 of the 100 companies have withered away. If this isn't bloody depressing, wait till you hear this: In 1958, the average lifespan of an S&P 500 company was 61 years. But by the end of this decade, it's estimated to be 15 years. In the dog-eat-dog marketplace, every type of organization—from healthcare startups to established pet conglomerates—is having a rough time going the distance.
Modern leaders drawing inspiration from the usual lineup of contemporary case studies are learning how to succeed from organizations destined to fail. It's the equivalent of learning how to build a powerhouse record label by studying Drake's OVO Sound imprint—a valiant effort to establish a Toronto-based musical institution. But with no clear heir apparent, it's lately felt like an afterthought in the 6 God's plan, destined to stagnate and fade away like countless organizations before it. (Fortunately, he's getting serious about passing the mantle).
In the words of Peter Drucker, "There is no success without a successor."
The Looooooooong Game
During my recent Ashley Fellowship at Trent University, I was astounded by a presentation on Inuit “Traditional Knowledge”—a constellation of guiding principles far more nuanced, future-friendly, and comprehensive than any corporate equivalent. And here's the kicker: it’s over 5,000 years old. To say that Inuit culture is time-tested would be a colossal understatement—it's older than the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian empires combined. It outlasted the Ice Age, European colonization (including cultural genocide), World War 1, World War 2, modernization, and globalization. I'd be hard-pressed to name a more resilient system.
"The land and culture offer more solutions, I think, than most institutions can. And, as I say, cultures are medicine, and I believe strongly that Indigenous wisdom is the medicine the world seeks in addressing these issues of sustainability…Rather than seeing us as victims to globalization and to pollution and to climate change, that we can become the teachers if given the opportunities of respect and equality and equity on every front.” - Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Let's quickly return to the Fortune Global 500 list. The average age of a company on it is 46 years. The youngest company among the top ten is State Grid, at 19 years old. The oldest is Royal Dutch Shell, at 114 years old. Juxtapose this with the list of the world's oldest surviving and growing Indigenous populations. The average lifespan of these tribes and nations is a whopping 10,500 years. The youngest population among the top ten size-wise is the Oglala Sioux, at 600 years old. And the oldest is the Aboriginal Australians, at a staggering 75,000 years old.
What I ask of my fellow modern leaders requires considerable imagination and abstraction. If we seek to enhance organizational resilience, could we not benefit from studying the world's most resilient, enduring "organizations"? If the goal is to sustain productivity over time, why not learn from enduring systems that have truly stood the test of time?
The Best-In-Class System
To build a truly resilient nonprofit/government/corporation that can survive longer than any comparable in-class organization, we'll need to broaden our definition of "organization" to include whole systems. This creative thinking would introduce case studies that survived for several thousand years into the mix, such as the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.
Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) refers to the Inuit people's traditional knowledge, values, beliefs, and cultural practices. The term encompasses the collective wisdom and ways of life developed and passed down through generations within Inuit communities. "IQ" reflects the Inuit's deep understanding of their environment, relationships, and holistic ways of living. It encompasses a wide range of knowledge, including survival skills, resource management, social structures, communication methods, oral traditions, and spiritual beliefs. Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit emphasizes the interconnectedness of all aspects of life and the importance of maintaining harmony within the community and with the natural world.
Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit contains the following tenets:
Inuuqatigiitsiarniq (Respecting others, relationships, and caring for people)
Tunnganarniq (Fostering good spirit by being open, welcoming, and inclusive)
Pijitsirniq (Serving and providing for family or community, or both)
Aajiiqatigiinniq (Decision making through discussion and consensus)
Pilimmaksarniq or Pijariuqsarniq (Development of skills through practice, effort, and action)
Piliriqatigiinniq or Ikajuqtigiinniq (Working together for a common cause)
Qanuqtuurniq (Being innovative and resourceful)
Avatittinnik Kamatsiarniq (Respect and care for the land, animals, and the environment)
Now here's where I need the greatest leap of faith: re-read that list as though they're workplace values. Do they not read like the values of a workplace to which you'd want to belong? One in which everyone feels like they belong, are engaged, and do meaningful work?
Here's the best part: It's hardly hypothetical. Let's back it up:
Inuuqatigiitsiarniq: Organizations that prioritize employee well-being and respect have 14% better engagement and 48% fewer safety incidents. (via Gallup)
Tunnganarniq: Organizations with inclusive cultures are twice as likely to exceed bottom-line targets. (via Deloitte)
Pijitsirniq: Organizations with community involvement programs see a 13% increase in employee productivity. (via Forbes)
Aajiiqatigiinniq: Teams that prioritize group decision-making outperform individual decision-makers 66% of the time. (via Harvard Business Review)
Pilimmaksarniq or Pijariuqsarniq: Organizations that invest in employee training and development have a 24% higher profit margin compared to organizations that spend less on training. (via Association for Talent Development)
Piliriqatigiinniq or Ikajuqtigiinniq: Organizations that promote collaborative working are 5 times as likely to be high-performing. (via Institute for Corporate Productivity)
Qanuqtuurniq: Organizations fostering innovation are 6 times more likely to be ahead of the competition and 3 times more likely to have increased profitability. (via PwC)
Avatittinnik Kamatsiarniq: Organizations that are leaders in environmental sustainability have a 67% higher average return on investment than organizations that are not leaders in sustainability. (via MIT Sloan Management Review)
Admittedly, I feel awkward trying to justify something as sacred as Inuit Traditional Knowledge for business. But I'm hopeful that business could be a force for good, supporting the urgent transformation of the global economy into a more inclusive, equitable, and regenerative system.
For The Ages, From The Ages
Is infusing IQ into a modern organization practical, let alone realistic? Absolutely. Not only that, it's inevitable. Across the ages, we've been experiencing a gradual transition toward greater belonging, engagement, and sustainability—the essential ingredients of true resilience. I've seen the zeitgeist shift from valuing CSR to ESG to IDG & B-Corp in my relatively short lifetime. And I'm convinced that the logical conclusion of this sequence is a return to ancient concepts of collaboration and stewardship. But how do we reconcile the apparent differences between a modern business and a distributed native population? Simple. Focus on the systems, specifically the importance of culture as a binding agent. And there's no better time than now, while increasingly hybrid workforces are harmonizing, and cultural best practices are still up for debate.
We're living through a time when organization lifecycles are shrinking, trust in institutions is plummeting, biodiversity is collapsing, and several developed countries are experiencing declining birth rates. Meanwhile, growing native populations (such as the Inuit) model exemplary resilience informed by transcendent constellations of collaborative values. To emulate them requires respect, bravery, and creativity. By agreeing to embrace a whole systems worldview, we could liberate ourselves from myopic management thinking and (re)create a more inclusive, equitable, and regenerative system—a “life economy.”
The oldest surviving business in the world is 1,300 years old, the oldest surviving nonprofit in the world is 1,396 years old, and the oldest surviving government in the world is 1,722 years old. All the while, the world’s oldest continuing living culture is 75,000 years old. For modern leaders willing to embrace our ancient future, a 5,000-year run is hardly unprecedented.