Book: Scale, de Geoffrey West
4 recommendations for seeing what no one else looks at.
Last week I recommended Acquired and the long view. Today we continue with a book: Scale, by Geoffrey West.
West is a physicist, not a consultant. And he asks a simple question: why doesn't a city that doubles in size need twice the gas stations? Why do large animals live longer than small ones? He discovers there are mathematical laws that govern how living things, cities and companies grow.
Why it matters to you: because we grow without understanding the rules of growth. Doubling revenue doesn't mean doubling structure. Growing well isn't doing more of the same, it's understanding what scales and what doesn't. West shows you from outside the business world, and that's exactly why you see it more clearly.
A book to think differently about something we thought we'd mastered.
Let's see.