STRUCTURE

To be ENTREPRENEURIAL is to create. We often think of what we create as content (at least in the publishing space), but to create that content we need to develop and create people, processes and systems.

Permeating the content, processes and systems (and providing the people a tool or a barrier) is STRUCTURE.  STRUCTURE is the organization, the arrangement of and relations between the parts or elements of something complex.

If STRUCTURE dictates growth this can be limiting. If growth dictates STRUCTURE this can be limitless.

To understand this just look at a tree, especially a tree in an asymmetrical environment (perhaps uneven distribution of sun and shade, or physical objects blocking even growth in all directions). Part of the STRUCTURE at the base or foundation (trunk, main root) must be strong and unyielding to hold in place and support the entirety of the organism.  But most of the STRUCTURE needs to be flexible and adapt to survive and grow. The branches that bend survive instead of breaking when forces of nature exert pressure in multiple ways. The branches that grow towards the sunlight and roots that grow away from light and towards gravitational pull produce shapes that show you their journey, creating much of the STRUCTURE we see when we see the tree. When growth dictates STRUCTURE the patterns and options become limitless, and survival and sustainability increase.

STRUCTURE is perhaps the most valuable thing to create (it in turn creates and supports content, processes and systems, and facilitates growth and development of people) yet we can become limited if we confuse our foundational STRUCTURE (that which should remain inflexible) from our developing STRUCTURE (that which will serve us best by finding the best places and ways to reach and grow).