Meridian
ECHO Internal News from Meridian Group International June 2019
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
To Succeed, Be Like Them! The 1954 classic big bug sci-fi film “Them!” was based on the premise that the only thing keeping humankind safe from destruction by ants is that we’re bigger than they are. Not only were the movie’s monsters of unusual size, but they could also communicate with each other for coordinated attacks. “Them!” may be fiction (phew!), but ants’ ability to communicate is real. According to myrmecologists (a real job), ants use scent, touch, sound and body language to communicate in at least a dozen different categories. They use communication to tell each other to help gather food, be alert to dangerous aardvark attacks, tend farms, influence others through enticement or peer pressure, and exert influence over various groups. An individual ant’s own skills and abilities surely contribute to the insect family’s survival, but if they hadn’t developed means of communication, they never would have attained such complete success — 12,000 species and counting! That’s about one quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) ants invading our global picnic baskets. If a queen ant couldn’t pass down directions, workers wouldn’t know what to do for the good of the colony. If scouts couldn’t pass on information to the queen, she couldn’t make informed decisions. If a worker encounters a flood but was unable to alert others, there’d be no alarm to tell populations to evacuate to higher ground. News of a nearby food source, if not passed on, could mean needless starvation. Opportunities to expand, overcome obstacles, increase production and avoid disasters would all be lost.
“Communication is necessary for organizations to evolve.” We would not be the first to note the similarities between ant colonies and corporations. Communication is necessary for organizations to evolve. Without communication — be it between management and project teams or engineers working in separate verticals on opposite sides of the world — organizations can become stagnant. From the dawn of publishing to the handheld internet, sharing information is what moves civilization forward, and gives members of civilization the opportunity to keep pace. Whether you’re an ant or an electrician, it’s your means of communication that makes it possible to not only survive but help the organization you’re a part of to grow, innovate and change. Communication is imperative, because the future is made of change.
Fran Blumenfield VP, Communications
Meridian ECHO