What's Next > What's Now. Part 6

Over the last few weeks, I’ve read several articles in which the journalists/authors reference all the new words and phrases that have been added to our vocabularies in the last 8 weeks or so.

Herd immunity. Shelter in place. Flattening the curve. Contactless pickup. Etc.

I kindof imagine Merriam and Webster gleefully watching the news every night with m&ms in their popcorn, hoping for some new word to emerge, and knowing that the next day the traffic to their site would benefit in an unprecedented way.

Yep, that one too. Raise your hand if you’ve heard “unprecedented” an unprecedented number of times since mid-March. Same here. I promise I won't use it again in this article.

But I have another word for you, one that you probably haven’t heard on the news or in your social feeds...

Homeostasis.

Up until a week ago, as with many of the expressions above, I’d never heard the word before. But as I’ve watched venerable brands and sizeable “too big to fail” companies shed employees and entire divisions, I realized that the innate desire to keep their business and brands alive at all costs had an interesting parallel to the human body, which does much the same thing when put under tremendous stress.

So I did what I always do when I have a personal medical question - I checked WebMD. And after learning that all my symptoms point to an extremely rare (and mostly incurable) disease because let's face it that's what all searches on WebMD lead to, I did what I should've done in the first place.

I called my mother-in-law.

A registered nurse for 30 years, the depth of her knowledge is staggering to me, and she’s typically able to listen to symptoms over the phone and come to a conclusion, also offering some practical suggestions for treatment (no, she can’t write prescriptions for you, nice try).

But I stumped her. She didn’t know a word to describe what I was trying to explain. So she did the next best thing and put me in touch with a good friend whom she described as one of the smartest people she knows with an encyclopedic knowledge of medicine. I emailed her friend, Joan, and by the next morning, I had the answer - homeostasis.

Defined as “the tendency toward a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, especially as maintained by physiological processes,” it’s explained well in this Scientific American article, which says:

“Homeostasis...refers to any process that living things use to actively maintain fairly stable conditions necessary for survival. The term was coined in 1930 by the physician Walter Cannon, [who described] how the human body maintains steady levels of temperature and other vital conditions such as the water, salt, sugar, protein, fat, calcium and oxygen contents of the blood. Similar processes dynamically maintain steady-state conditions in the Earth's environment.

Homeostasis has found useful applications in the social sciences. It refers to how a person under conflicting stresses and motivations can maintain a stable psychological condition. A society homeostatically maintains its stability despite competing political, economic and cultural factors. A good example is the law of supply and demand, whereby the interaction of supply and demand keeps market prices reasonably stable.”

Bingo.

It’s in that second paragraph where you can really see the connection between the word as something to describe the function of a body and also well beyond that.

More on that in a bit, but first, additional explanation from Joan. “When you are in the desert without water, you will dehydrate because you will lose water through sweating and breathing. To conserve fluids, the kidneys will shut down to conserve water. Blood flow to the extremities will decrease and to maintain and keep the vital organs (heart, lung) functioning as long as possible.”

OK, sorry, I know we’re talking about the desert but that’s just freaking COOL.

For some reason, when I heard the “in the desert without water” comment, it reminded me of Aron Ralston, and although I know it takes the whole homeostasis thing to the next lev…

Wait, you don’t know who Aron Ralston is?

You may not recognize the name, but I bet you know the story.

An experienced outdoorsman, rock climber, mountain biker, Ralston was on a solo hike and climb through the hills and crevasses of Moab in Utah, when a giant rock he was climbing past shifted and caught his wrist, rendering it - and him - unmoveable.

The story was captured authentically (and frighteningly) in the Danny Boyle film “127 Hours,” and depicted the young man, in a desperate bid to save his own life, cutting off his arm, rappelling down into the cavern he’d climbed into, and then walking for miles before being rescued. It’s an incredible survival story, and he owes his life to his extensive climbing experience, to his mental and physical toughness, and to the rescuers that found him.

And also to homeostasis.

When I asked Joan about this case in particular, she confirmed the principles were absolutely at work here, adding “Part of homeostasis is the role of adrenalin (epinepherine) and noradrenalin (norepinepherine). They are hormones that are produced when the body is under stress which results in the “fight or flight” syndrome. If you research the hormones you can see that they cause vasoconstriction which changes the arteries to diminish in size and change their cellular structure to increase blood flow to the major organs. They also impact the major organs (heart, kidneys, etc.) Of course, damage to the body can overwhelm the body so much that homeostasis fails.”

In the case of Ralston, homeostasis didn’t fail. He lost his arm but saved his life.

Individually, many of us are experiencing our own version of homeostasis, considering what in our monthly household budget is absolutely necessary, whether purchases can be delayed, or whether credit card payments can be deferred. Keep the body alive, even if it means buying non-organic chicken, and eating frozen veggies instead of fresh.

Whatever sustains our lives while we try to re-attain our livelihoods.

And businesses are doing the same thing. Furloughing employees to protect as many as possible in case they need to be re-deployed immediately. Eliminating divisions that are currently impractical, such as retail staff who can’t work because stores are closed. Diverting resources away from bricks and mortar to e-commerce. Consolidating operations to streamline logistics and minimize capital costs.

Find equilibrium. Achieve steady-state. Do whatever’s essential for life to continue.

Getting through the now isn’t easy, so people - and brands - are doing whatever they can to survive in order to get to the inevitable next.

But (and this is important) you know the expression “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face”? It’s typically meant to, in the words of website Word Histories, “carry out a vengeful action that hurts oneself more than another, usually with the implication that the person who carries out this action knows its likely consequences beforehand.”

Aron Ralston didn’t cut off his arm to spite his body. He did it to save his body, and to save his life. Homeostasis worked.

As he walked out of that canyon after 127 hours and waited to be rescued, I’d guess he wasn’t thinking that his climbing and adventuring career was over (no surprise, it wasn’t). I’d guess he was thinking about how it would be different, and what he’d be doing in the coming weeks and months to get himself prepared for whatever that would be.

Joan’s last sentence is as prophetic for people as it is for businesses: “...damage to the body can overwhelm the body so much that homeostasis fails.”

Yes, we’re in times that no one precedented (didn’t say it!). So in the coming weeks and months, companies must be wise in their cutting, selective in whom they furlough, and most of all, they must be thoughtful about doing what’s essential now to sustain their business in order to prepare themselves for what comes next.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this, please do consider Liking, Commenting, and/or Sharing. In future installments, I'll continue to discuss more of what you can be doing now to prepare for what's next. As always, I welcome your thoughts, suggestions, questions, and contributions below, or you can DM me directly.

Haven't read the whole series? Binge them now with these easy links!

What's Next >What's Now. Part 1 - Apollo 13

What's Next >What's Now. Part 2 - Breakfast Club

What's Next >What's Now. Part 3 - Apple & Frederick

What's Next > What's Now. Part 4 - Shawshank Redemption

What's Next > What's Now. Part 5 - LL Bean

What's Next > What's Now, Part 7 - Live Nation

What's Next > What's Now Part 8 - Listening

What's Next > What's Now Part 9 - Jigsaw Puzzle

What's Next > What's Now Part 10 - India and Showing Up