Bees Know Their Business

Bees can teach today's business owners a thing or two about running a well-oiled operation.

Tuesday, May 17, 2010 2:55 GMT

Business owners trying to avoid getting stung by the poor economy might want to study the way bees run their hives.

In The Wisdom Of Bees: What The Hive Can Teach Business About Leadership, Efficiency, And Growth (Portfolio), Michael O’Malley does just that.

After taking up beekeeping with his son, O’Malley discovered that the way bees work is not unlike a tiny, yet incredibly successful business.

In his observations, he found several lessons business owners can take from bees.

For one, bees distribute authority, with a queen bee delegating all responsibilities while worker bees go about putting those strategies into practice to make honey.

Bees also keep communication simple, limiting it to relevant information only, and don’t get greedy.

When one especially rich vein of nectar is found, they don’t rush off to drain it and ignore their other plentiful resources.