Build #36: Being more mycelium

Late Autumn is my favourite time of year to get out running in the woods near our house.

I love the combo of the near freezing temperatures, a clear blue sky and the colours of autumnal leaf fall.

On one of my regular routes last week I spotted that an animal had been digging a lot under the trees. Among the muddy mess it had exposed a dense root network that’s normally hidden beneath the undergrowth.

My curiosity was piqued just a bit so when I got home I did a bit of research (and I admit…a useful distraction from writing an academic essay about coaching practice).

It turns out that the roots I spotted are something known as mycelium.

And the more I read, the more interested I became.

My wife tells me I’m at risk of getting a bit boring as I approach 50 and I fear you may now be thinking the same. I get that but please bear with me.

Mycelium is fascinating (I wonder how many unsubscribes did that statement get me?).

I learnt that it’s an underground web of fungi that connects plants, trees and lots of other forms of life in the woods.

It’s not just holding the forest soil together. It’s facilitating communication and resource sharing among plants and creating a thriving ecosystem.

The parallels with working as a COO screamed out at me and started a slightly random thread of thinking.

So strap in and hold tight for my four “being more mycelium” observations for company building founders.

1. Foundations and connections

Mycelium spreads beneath the surface in the woods, connecting trees and enabling nutrient flow.

In the same vein, a good COO is a connector of the dots within your company.

When you’re scaling everything can quickly get chaotic and feel out of control. That’s where a COO steps in. They establish processes and ensure lines of communication work well across teams.

A good COO makes sure everyone’s on the same page, just as that clever mycelium ensures that all the plants it connects are getting just the nourishment they need.

2. Managing resource

I also learnt that mycelium is a master of resource management.

It breaks down organic matter in the soil and redistributes the nutrients where they’re needed most.

It acts like the super efficient ninja traffic manager of the forest, making sure that each plant gets what it needs to thrive.

As a founder, who’s really thinking about your teams and resources as you scale up?

A good COO helps you optimise these resources and thinks several steps ahead. They’ll identify bottlenecks, streamline processes and ensure that every team has what they need to get their stuff done.

3. Fostering growth

Now, let’s not forget about growth as I disappear further into this world of funghi-related fun.

Just as mycelium facilitates the growth of trees, leading to a healthier ecosystem in the woods, your COO is all about pushing for growth in your scale-up.

They’re not just a process obsessed number-cruncher; they’re proper horizon-scanning strategic thinkers.

A great COO will analyse data, sense shifts and spot trends to help you scale sustainably.

This is the kind of growth that mycelium encourages within the woods —it’s not just about adding more trees to your forest; it’s about making the whole woodland ecosystem balanced, healthier and thriving.

4. Cycles of change

And here’s something else I found fascinating (last one, I promise).

Mycelium helps ecosystems heal.

When a dead tree falls over, the mycelium network springs into action. It breaks down and recycles the dead organic matter, creating resources that are used for new growth elsewhere in the network.

As businesses scale, change is part of that journey. Systems, processes, teams and activities that used to be a vibrant, healthy part of the business can become obsolete. Sometimes COOs need to clear away some of that dead wood that accumulates.

Rather than seeing that as a loss on the journey, founders can benefit from thinking about how to capture and recycle the energy that’s gone into these now redundant parts of their scaling business.

In other news

You’re one of nearly 900 Build readers (thank you!).

This autumn I’ve been experimenting a bit with different formats for Build. The feedback and analytics tell a clear story - the long form posts seem to be winning out, so I’m committing to writing a deeper dive into a topic about scaling businesses every other week.

And next week Build goes weekly too. I’m launching a shorter round-up of interesting articles, links and podcasts that’ll alternate with my longer form articles.

Thanks for reading Build and for all the feedback you’ve given me as I’ve reinvigorated the newsletter over the past few months.

As ever, just pop me a message on LinkedIn or contact me via my website.

Until next time please take a moment to reflect…how could your business be more mycelium?

Best regards,

-sw

ps for those recent subscribers here on LinkedIn, I realised I never introduced myself. I’m an independent Chief Operating working with scaling founders as a fractional and consultant COO, advisor and leadership coach. If you’re scaling and want a chat, I’m always happy to talk. More about my work here.

pps if you've got this far, well done and I'm guessing you might want to get Build directly in your email to avoid missing it in the LinkedIn feed. If that's right, you can sign-up to get it direct here.