The Natural Laws of Business: How to Harness the Power of Evolution, Physics, and Economics to Achieve Business Success

Richard Koch, a London-based consultant, entrepreneur, investor, and author of 1998's well-received The 80/20 Principle, contends in his latest work that the code governing the cosmos also controls the way companies run. In The Natural Laws of Business, he convincingly supports that admittedly esoteric contention with a fascinating (and surprisingly accessible) expedition through the biological, physical, and nonlinear wisdom that has shaped our worldview from Darwin and Newton to Moore's law and the tipping point. "We have no other sources of power than those provided by the universe, our own brains and instinct included," he writes. "We need to understand the natural laws, whether these control tiny particles, huge planets, or our own behavior." With that in mind, Koch agilely takes us on a dazzling tour through scientific concepts such as natural selection, genetics, relativity, quantum mechanics, and chaos theory to provide both a specific grounding in these principles and a precise understanding of their explicit relationships to corporate life. In the chapter called "Resolving the Prisoner's Dilemma," for instance, he discusses this famous "game theory" conundrum and the way the self-interest it illuminates can be used to build successful collaborations with competitors like those found at Silicon Valley leaders Sun Microsystems and Cisco. In all, it's an enlightening and enjoyable trek with real-life business applications that can be employed on numerous levels. --Howard Rothman