Formula for success

Formula for
Success
Formula for
Success

Managing Partner
Phenomena Communications

PhD Ali Anani - Managing Partner
PhD Ali Anani : As General Manager, Dr. Ali Anani
heads and supervises a team of talented young
professionals, and manages the overall brand strategy
- ensuring the cohesiveness and creative parts of each
campaign for all Agency clients.
Dr. Ali Anani holds a PhD from the UK (1972). He has
a wide experience in many fields. His
accomplishments include the writing of more than
eighty publications in international journals, the writer
of three printed books in Arabic and one E-book in
English. He has written widely for the media and
presented a TV program and many radio programs.
Dr. Anani main credit is his creativity thinking where he
scored among the top %5 creative people worldwide.
Dr. Anani is an invited lecturer for more than fi y
international conferences and an author of many
business slogans. Moreover, he has travelled to more
than fi y countries as an invited speaker and
consultant and has consulted for many international
agencies including UNIDO, Atomic Energy Agency,
UNDP, ESCWA, private businesses and governmental
agencies.

4
Why I started Writing for beBee?
A Creative Metaphor for Storytelling
BeBee Is to Be Persistent
Not All that Glitters Is Honey
Preparedness Capacity
Standing on Feet of Clay
New Insights on Dealing with Competition
Defeating the Impossible
Collective Adaptations
Pollination of Inspiration
Freezing Options
Failure of Social Networks-Beware beBee
Can We Manage Fractal Time?
The Bees Metaphor and Business
Healthiness
The Sting of Habits
Ideas Sleeping Patterns
The Strategy of the Guilty
The Bee as a Metaphor for Storytelling
What Is in My Jar?
The Honey Paradoxes
Suspended Doubts
The Hedgehog in My Honey
Buzzstorming more than Brainstorming
Strategic Perceptions
Ideas Waggling Dance
Dancing for What?
Creative Marketing Attractions
Bees Butterfly Effect
Watch out for Business Ideas from Bees
Businesses Driving to Success
5
7
8
10
11
12
14
15
16
18
20
22
24
26
27
29
31
33
36
38
40
42
45
48
50
53
56
58
63
68
70

5
Why I started Writing for beBee?
Of more than (170) presentations I wrote, one presentation occupies a dear place in my
heart. The presentation is titled «Reverse Businesses-Trends and Applications». One
magnet that attracted me to write to beBee is the fact that the brains of bees age in
reverse. The older the bee gets, the younger its brain becomes. As I am getting quite
old, I feel the need for my brain to grow in reverse. I want to be a bee. The bee produces
an antioxidant that protects the brain and I want to protect mine as well through the
interactions with other «bees» on the beBee platform.
I want to reach the readers and by using the shortest paths possible. Bumblebees fly the
shortest distances between flowers. No other creature knows how to do that and I need
to follow the steps of bees to shorten my steps. Not only have that as the bees do that
equally welled in sunny and cloudy days. They use different navigation tools to guide them.
I may face similar conditions with sunny days by having many readers or cloudy days when
readers walk away from my posts. I need to keep the proximity with the readers at all
times.
Bees use the minimum amount of wax in building their honeycomb structures. At beBee

6
we need to use the minimum number of words so that a reader may finish reading a post in
less than one minute. I have the opportunity to learn from beBee authors and readers on how
to do this.
Bees produce honey, which has all the necessary healthy food components. I am here to
feed my brain with many concise ingredients. The bees buzz on this platform all types of
ingredients that may keep my brain healthy. Like honey is a perfect food, so be Bee is a
perfect platform. A honey bee visits between 100-50 flowers per trip. On beBee platform I may
visit fifty buzz posts in one trip.
Bees dance to alert each other to the source of food. On this beBee platform authors and
readers alert each other to great post by sharing, commenting, liking and messaging. I want
to dance for a grand purpose.
Bees pollinate flowers and «bee-ing» authors we pollinate our flowery ideas on this platform.
Bees live in colonies. Each colony smells different to bees, this is so they can tell where they
live! beBee has many different hives and a reader may find his/her way to them as a bee finds
its way to its colony.
I am privileged to be a bee with beBee

7
A Creative Metaphor for Storytelling
Telling stories is a great marketing tool.
Turning this potential into results is a major
goal of marketing. Stories have their power.
The word power inspired me with the idea
of batteries as a source of power to move
stories. Using batteries as a metaphor for
storytelling is worthy. The flow of current
in a battery and the flow of events in a story
is one example. The battery potential and
story potential is another line of thinking.
The resistance to current flow and the
resistance the protagonist faces from
protagonists are related. The medium of
the story and the electrolyte in a battery
inspire many relevant ideas. The genre of
the story and the type of battery to select
may suggest many lines of thinking. The
parasitic reactions in a battery and the
parasitic events in a story both harm.
Dealing with such parasites in batteries
might act as eye-opener for a storyteller
and what to do.
There are so many lines of parallel thinking between telling a story in form that
emulates how a battery works. I discussed these possibilities in a post on LinkedIn. I
would love your feedback on this idea and if it would be helpful in telling your story.

8
BeBee Is to Be Persistent
I watched a video, which was released only
three days ago, showing a bee with great
persistence to find her way to survival.
The bee nested in a preexisting hollow in
a wall of a house. To block her in the wall,
one member of the family owners blocked
the hole with a big nail so that it would not
be possible for the bee to go out. To the
surprise of the family, the tiny bee with no
light to see and small size compared to the
nail managed to move the nail. The family
happened to be there to be surprised by
the wonderful bee and its persistence to
find her way out of all troubles. The family
captured those great moments by taking a
video, which is certainly worthy of watching.
A bee managed to remove a nail planted
in a cement wall. This is a tough task for a
human. It shows how difficult it was for a
single bee weighing less than three grams
to do the job. Apparently, the bee has
sufficient intuition or intelligence to work
first on the cement surrounding the nail
inside her prison. These are the weakest
points to deal with. Having persistently
done that, it eventually managed to find
her out to remove the nail with greater
flexibility to take the nail out completely and
throw it.
We build tunnels of hope and then we block
them with nails of doubts, suspicion, and loss
of self-confidence, excessive negative thinking
and loss of persistence. We need to take those
nails out instead of implanting them. They
darken our lives and make the problems more
difficult to solve. Even if the nails corrode
into powder on their own they shall corrode
our minds. A small bee is teaching the world
to throw obstacles away, be hopeful and
persistent to do it alone if necessary. If a
single bee managed to move away a problem
weighing many times her own weight alone,
are we less able to do more?

9
Not All that Glitters Is Honey
I envisage beBee platform as a field of
different flora. The members are the bees
that pollinate the flora and produce honey in
different varieties. It is not only that not all
that glitters is gold, but also is extensible to
honey. The reverse is true, if honey doesn›t
have a striking golden color it could still be
a high quality one.
I love creative metaphors. They are the real
flora that attracts me to hopefully produce
good-quality honey. The bee metaphor is so
rich and inviting and in honor of this great
metaphor I am writing this post.
Honey has many qualities depending on
the type of bees (we readers and authors),
type of flora (posts and ideas exchanged
here), the environment (how suitable it is
not only to produce good quality posts), the
processing of honey and its storage and
transportation.
Honey has many great ingredients. Harsh
treatment such as heating it fast will
degrade it. We need to keep the discussions
warm; else we degrade the quality of our
posts and ideas. Honey has sugar which
may convert to other undesirable materials
by heat or yeast. Compliments are sugary,
but if offered with constant pumping may
convert to undesirable products. Posts
should not be too «watery» because they
may invite in yeast in and convert the sugar
into undesirable products. To keep the
yeast out, keep your comments just watery.
Storing honey under the wrong condition may
deteriorate it. If you have a «stored» idea in
your mind waiting for the right time to publish
then make sure it is stored probably. Honey is
kept in tight glass jars because its component
might not attack glass. It is different with
metallic jars. Prolonged storing is also
undesirable for the same reasons.
Honey is true to itself. It is us who might cheat
and add sugar and other materials that make
it of less value. It is up to us to keep the value
of what we write on this platform so as to
stay with our inner and respected values. Low
quality honey has a lot of inverted sugars; let
us not invert our sugar as well.
Cloudy honey loses its commercial value. Let
our honey be free from the clouds of doubt,
negativity and selfishness.

10
Preparedness Capacity
We have different
preparedness to
fulfill our needs.
We may increase
our preparedness
capacity in varying
ways. If we limit
our capacities we
may tend to become
aggressive and
belligerent. Is that what makes a bee a bee and a wasp a wasp? This question hovered over
my mind and I am presenting my thoughts here.
A bee has the body to serve its needs. Its hairy body and legs helps bees collect pollen from
plants. Even the eyes of bees are hairy. After sticking the pollen to their hairs the bees move
the pollen to their hind legs which where they are kept in the pollen baskets. The bee then
mixes the pollen with nectar to feed the bee larvae. The flowers too reciprocate by sending
patchy ultraviolet light to guide the bees to their nectar. On top of that, some flowers have flat
surfaces so that the bee may comfortably suck their nectar. The structures of the flower and
the bee serve to make the life of the other easier. The bees work extended hours and don›t
hibernate. Their life is devoted for others. In arid areas some bees raid other bees› colonies
to steal food. Those bees who work hard don›t steal. They remind me of authors who «raid»
other authors› publications and steal them. This is the reflection of their «drying up» of ideas
and falling on wrong practices. We may consider doing what bees do in these cases. Bees
collect the resinous was from trees to fill in cavities and to stop parasites from entering their
hives. It is not enough for bees to hold nectar on their tongues so that the liquid evaporates
and honey is produced. It is equally important to protect the stored honey.
We need to produce honey-like posts. To do so, we need the equivalents of nectar and pollen
to produce great articles. We need great readers who are willing to take the nectar and
carry it on to other readers through recommendation, commenting, sharing and the rest of
disseminating great posts. This beBee platform is for bees and not wasps who are predators

11
Standing on Feet of Clay
In one of his comments on my last post
titled «BeBee Is to be persistent», @Javier
Cámara Rica wrote «beBee is competing
with giants, but some of them are giants
with feet of clay». I found myself imagining
somebody walking with feet of clay in a hot
sunshine. The clay dries up and this person
having his feet breaking into pieces.
There are businesses that have feet of
clay. They give many promises which they
can›t fulfill. As soon as those businesses
are exposed to the sunshine of reality they
lose their customers. Loss of customers
means loss of revenue and drying up only to
shatter into pieces. Those businesses shall
never have feet to stand on again.
Research has established that more than
%75 of business developmental ideas come
from customers. Losing customers means
losing their ideas as well. Customers
abandon a business to a competing one and
in the process provide them with their ideas.
This way the original businesses not only lost
its customers, but also strengthened their
competitors.
The relationship between a business and
customers shall survive if both parties find it
beneficial. The bee-flower positively symbiotic
relationship serves as a great metaphor for
businesses-customers relationship. The bees
need the pollen from the flowers to as vital
source of protein in the diet of adult bees, but
it is also important as a feed for the young
bees. Pollen structure varies and the plants
bees favor certain pollen because they have
the right structure. Not only that, bees need
nectar and some plants Re able to offer both
pollen and nectar. In return, the bees pollinate
plants. Businesses have to offer the customer
something of value to attract them. The more
they may offer, the greater they shall attract
the customer. Every business should ask
itself «what pollen and nectar» may I offer the
customer bees? Answering questions like this
one are of vital importance if the businesses
shall not have feet of clay.
It is difficult to grow many plants that attract
bees in clay soils. Businesses should look for
the right type of soil to decide what plants to
grow so that they may offer customers with
the right pollen and nectar. Only then those
businesses shall get their honey.
I find the beBee platform serves a great
metaphor and model for growing healthy
businesses.

12
New Insights on Dealing with Competition
Dealing with competition is a tricky issue. The blue ocean strategy calls for creating your
own space away from competition. As I commented to a post on competition written by
Jean L. Serio, businesses don›t sell to competitors; they sell to customers. Focusing our
attention to competition might distract us from paying enough attention to understanding
customers and how to deal with them. The result is swaying the customer away to the
competitor.
We have a saying in Arabic «show them a red eye», meaning warning disobeying people
with punishment if they don›t conform. But a bee doesn›t see red color. What if a person is
too blind to this color then what value it serves to show red-eyed color? The same reasoning
validates for competition. A business shall only be threatening a competitor with colors that
he doesn›t see. What waste of effort this can be!
Your competitor might be a bee-like in hardly sleeping. The competitor is hyperactive and is
alert to your move. It is only when the competitor is having a shot snap that you may attack
him. Knowing the habits of your competitor serves in making timely actions. The competitor
could be wasp-like and killing him may fire back at you. Approaching the territory of a bee
or wasp may cause them to react vigorously and harm you and your business. You need to
fully protected with clothes (and preferably white clothes because wasps are cool to them)
before attempting to approach the nests of bees and wasps. However; it is this strong desire

13
to protect their colonies that we may trick bees and wasps alike. Building a fake nest of
suitable colored sack, which looks like a nest, shall keep these insects away. They are
very hesitant to enter a costly battle by invading these «fake nests».
Your competitor might be smarter than you think and killing his business will only
bring greater harm to you. Some insects like wasps when squashed release a volatile
chemical that brings the attention of other wasps. Soon, the place will flood with them.
Killing one competitor might bring along tens of them. Not only that as we may repel
bees and wasps with sprays only to invite other insects that happen to enjoy the smell.
Beware of repelling a competitor only to invite the unexpected competitors.
We make other mistakes when dealing with competition as we do in dealing with bees
and wasps. The sting from either of them may swallow and look more terrifying than
it is. We tend to magnify our fear. The competitor might bite us and our skin swelling
because of it. The bite may look much more harmful than it is. We focus our attention
and resources to deal with a worry that is not worthy.
The above discussion leads me to say that as important as it is to know your
competitor; at least equally important is to know your customer so as not to repel
him to your competitor. Remember there are always alternatives to going into direct
competition. Killing your competitor could be costlier than distracting him. Even though
you may visualize the competitor as a wasp, he may be repelling other competitors
away from you.
Be creative in dealing with competition.
I want to extend my genuine thanks to Kevin Pashuk for permitting me to use his photo
as the background image of this post. Even the image shows a red eye which serves
the purpose of this post; I eye Kevin as a great supporter and human. To enjoy Kevin›s
great photography I urge you to visit:

14
Defeating the Impossible
You may stretch your mind immediately upon reading the two following statements. Even
though they appear to be ocean apart; still they share a common factor.
Bees aerodynamically shouldn›t be able to fly, and
Leicester started the campaign as1-5,000 outsiders for the titleafter almost being relegated
last season- the «most unlikely triumph in the history of team sport».
These two statements are myths. The mere fact that the bees fly contradicts the notation
that they shouldn›t be able to fly. That Leicester City Football Club won the league title
doesn›t fit with the slim prediction that they would win it. How then the bees and the
football club defeated the almost impossible imagination to happen?
First of all we need to defeat our self-defeating attitudes. We imprison ourselves in false
assumptions and then we believe these assumptions. Why do we tend to imprison our
imagination by negative thinking?
If there is a will, there is a way. The bees found their way by changing the game rules. To
compensate for their small size which renders them aerodynamically inferior they do two
things. First, they flap their wings faster. Second- the bees create what I would call «bee

15
effect», in emulation of the butterfly effect. Bees rotate their wings while flying.
This rotation creates pockets of low air pressure. This in turn creates small
eddies above the bee’s wing which lift it into the air. This makes flying possible
for the bee. We need to find alternative ways of doing things. We need to widen
our imaginations and think differently to arrive at new and more efficient
approaches of doing works.
Likewise Leicester City football club they flew to victory and became
champions. They had less infamous players, less fortune and on the surface
they appeared distant winners. They won because they flow a many in one. The
players lifted each other. The coach flapped his wings to make the team fly
easier with great results to defeat what seemed a far possibility.
In addition of coining «The Bee Effect» as mentioned above, I want to coin
another word. «Beetweeps» to refer to messages made on this platform.
The bee has still much more to teach us.

16
Collective Adaptations
Bees continue to amaze me with their behaviors and adaptations at all levels. I believe it is
the collective adaptations that make bees a subject of worthy consideration. It is through
simple societal classification with agreed roles for each class that creates the fractal
complexity of their behaviors and collective adaptations.
Complexity starts from following simple and few rules that feedback to each other leading
to the emergence of fractal structures. Flying birds that fly with a V-shape is one example. I
believe that it is the dividing of the bee society into three classes that led to the emergence
of unique fractal structures that is conducive to collective adaptation. The adult bee
society consists of: The drones (male bees), the workers and the queen. Three classes
communicate so well leading to complex fractal behaviors that we notice in bees such as
their dancing. The triangle of the three classes isn›t an ordinary one because it allows for
rapid communications through dancing and excreting pheromones.
The collective adaptations of bees during difficult times that attracted my attention as I
believe we may draw many lessons from them. The synchronization between roles to allow
for the maximum collective adaptability is what truly amazes me. Local actions move fast
across the while colony consisting of about 80,000-60,000 bees. For example, during winter
times, the bees act to adapt collectively. The workers collect a sticky material from the buds
of trees to glue cracks and openings in the hive. They also limit the size of the entrance to
keep cold air out. But they have also to adapt collectively internally. They do that by getting

17
closer to each other and form clusters so that enough attention may be given to the still
maturing bees. Not enough food, drones are kicked out so that the maturing bees may have
enough food.
Simple rules not only lead to the emergence of great social structures, fractal honeycombs
with astonishing fractal structure and qualities, but also of fractal adaptations to external
AND internal conditions. It is all fractals in fractals that make the world of bees magical.
The hexagonal cells of honeycombs have been shown to use the least amount of wax while
incorporating the maximum number of living units. It is using the maximum space with the
least requirement for wax that amazes the mind.
Apparently, it is not only enough to have simple rules for making beautiful fractal
structures; it is equally important to have «behavioral structures» leading to fractal
adaptations. Are human societies guilty of ignoring one or both of these necessary
structures by ignoring simple rules that lead to their formation any way?
Lots to ponder on and for long times and the beBEee Society could provide unique results
by just being simple, communicating and following simple rules of classes and behaviors as
bees do.

18
Pollination of Inspiration
Bees act as pollinating agents. Bees on beBee platforms are indifferent. We read a buzz,
get inspired, write a buzz and publish. Flowery ideas may go in many forms like bees do.
They might go into complete metamorphosis, or stay as an egg, develop to larval and pupal
stages before becoming adults.
This buzz started upon reading a post which resonated with me and authored by Karthik
Rajan. The post reminded me of a promise that I made to my father at the age of ten by
never gambling. I never did. This promise stops me from taking very risky issues. But, what
shaped my identity more is refusing to accept «easy money». Cheating people by stealing
their money, their time, their comfort and you name it are actions that I disrespect, the
least to say.
I don›t like stealing, but do we steal honey from bees? Is that ethical? This question
suddenly popped up in my mind and found that indeed it is an issue. Bees produce honey
and store it to live upon in winter. We steal it even before the bees mature enough to be
able to starve for a while. The result is that bees die and their numbers are dwindling.
Some authors steal the honey (ideas, works, publications and you name it) and accredit
themselves with the «stolen honey». I wonder how money young bees starved to death
because their managers stole their ideas and then drove the young talents out of the hive!

19
Do we have to be ethical with bees if bees aren›t ethical themselves? The bees throw out
the drones (male bees) once they do their job of fertilizing new queens and especially
when food supplies are limited.
We are living in the age of corroding identities and ethics. It is not only materials that
corrode. When materials corrode they may turn into a powdery form which easily blows
away. I hope we aren›t turning into powders. We do when we lose our values. We gamble
our futures. We become slaves to bad habits.
A gambler risks not only himself, but also his/her values as well. I know of a gambler
who offered his wife to get money to gamble. The issue becomes terrible when gambling
affects our environment. We pollute it and gamble our survival like we tend to over draw
honey from hives and kill the bees. The bees are pollinators of about one hundred crops.
The Bee Effect is operating again wherein what appears a personal issue scales up and
cause great harm to all societies.
The Bee Effect has consequences not less than that of the butterfly effect

20
Freezing Options
Is it better to have one option, few options or many options? As important as these
questions are, answering them is not as easy as it sounds. We say it is better to select from
a big heap of options than from a small one. In facing threat we have two options: fight or
flight. As I was watching the video below it became evident to me that the option of fighting
the source of fear is frozen. The passengers in the plane facing terrible turbulence had
one choice- to fight their fear with praying to God to save them. Flight was not an available
option.
Being in a physical plane or an imaginary one may lead to the same conclusion. I visualize
social groups as a plane in which individuals conform to the majority and thus freezing
many of the options available to them. Let us think of the video example again. The
passengers shared the following:
·Common fate
·Similarity of behavior as passengers were all praying for their safety
·Proximity

21
These three factors have been discussed in literature. Limiting choices can lead
to conformity among groups because they have a common and purposeful goal: to
survive. In a bee colony we find conformity because of limited option on the roles of the
queen, the drones and the workers. Even though huge numbers of bees live in a colony
yet it runs smoothly because of strict role definition.
A second great advantage of freezing options is focusing. We experience this daily
while watching TV with hundreds of channels. If you have one TV set and each member
of the family wants to watch a different channel conflict starts. This is one evil of having
options. The second evil is even if you are alone at home you keep using the remote
control moving from one channel to another. You end up watching almost nothing.
The value of freezing options is having more engagement. We see this in nature. In
bees colonies every bee is engaged doing its job. Again, we have different options
of engagement and having many options. Is it different from having many opinions?
Which level of engagement to take especially when this engagement expresses an
opinion? For example, you are reading this buzz right now. You could leave reading it
(I hope not), or continue reading. When you finish reading it you would favor it, tag it,
share it, write a comment and recommend it. There are other options available. It turns
out that engagement itself follows a power law in which one or few options have the
real power and many options have low power and the remaining one have moderate
power. In the bees colony the power is in the hands of queen and the rest have to do
their jobs in coordination with others. They have this option: conform or die.
This could explain why Pareto›s Rule exists. Few employees (%20) do most of the work
(%80) and many employees (%80) do only (%20) of the required work. Performers
limit their options and therefore their engagement is high. They are the oxygen of the
work while the nonperformers are the nitrogen-like. Like air composition it is almost
%20 oxygen and %80 inert nitrogen. Does the atmosphere composition relate to the
working atmosphere?

22
To focus we need to limit options sensibly. Bees teach us how. Several groups go in
different directions foraging. Once a group finds food they start dancing so that other
groups may join. Or, if needed, they send smells to alert far away groups. Now, options
are limited. All bees go for the food source. They help each other, but then each bee
knows what work it has to do.
Having many options is great for their initial screening mindfully. Once an option is
reached the group dynamics work. All conform and only limiting the options will lead
to focusing and engagement. We can›t be Jack of all trades. Trading in our selected
option is then the way to go. Those employees who don›t conform are like the drones in
a bees colony- show them the way out.
These three factors have been discussed in literature. Limiting choices can lead
to conformity among groups because they have a common and purposeful goal: to
survive. In a bee colony we find conformity because of limited option on the roles of the
queen, the drones and the workers. Even though huge numbers of bees live in a colony
yet it runs smoothly because of strict role definition.
A second great advantage of freezing options is focusing. We experience this daily
while watching TV with hundreds of channels. If you have one TV set and each member
of the family wants to watch a different channel conflict starts. This is one evil of having
options. The second evil is even if you are alone at home you keep using the remote
control moving from one channel to another. You end up watching almost nothing.
The value of freezing options is having more engagement. We see this in nature. In
bees colonies every bee is engaged doing its job. Again, we have different options
of engagement and having many options. Is it different from having many opinions?
Which level of engagement to take especially when this engagement expresses an

23
opinion? For example, you are reading this buzz right now. You could leave reading it
(I hope not), or continue reading. When you finish reading it you would favor it, tag it,
share it, write a comment and recommend it. There are other options available. It turns
out that engagement itself follows a power law in which one or few options have the
real power and many options have low power and the remaining one have moderate
power. In the bees colony the power is in the hands of queen and the rest have to do
their jobs in coordination with others. They have this option: conform or die.
This could explain why Pareto›s Rule exists. Few employees (%20) do most of the work
(%80) and many employees (%80) do only (%20) of the required work. Performers
limit their options and therefore their engagement is high. They are the oxygen of the
work while the nonperformers are the nitrogen-like. Like air composition it is almost
%20 oxygen and %80 inert nitrogen. Does the atmosphere composition relate to the
working atmosphere?
To focus we need to limit options sensibly. Bees teach us how. Several groups go in
different directions foraging. Once a group finds food they start dancing so that other
groups may join. Or, if needed, they send smells to alert far away groups. Now, options
are limited. All bees go for the food source. They help each other, but then each bee
knows what work it has to do.
Having many options is great for their initial screening mindfully. Once an option is
reached the group dynamics work. All conform and only limiting the options will lead
to focusing and engagement. We can›t be Jack of all trades. Trading in our selected
option is then the way to go. Those employees who don›t conform are like the drones in
a bees colony- show them the way out.

24
Failure of Social Networks-Beware beBee
A question keeps buzzing my mind on the failure of social networks and their root causes.
The idea that bee› networks fail and we may draw lessons from their failure and causes
deemed worthy to me. I discuss in this buzz this possibility. What lessons would be
pertinent to the beBee social network?
Bees› colonies are experiences declining numbers of bees and colony failures. This
prompted some guiding research on this topic. A leading research on «Chronic sublethal
stress causes bee colony failure», revealed some very interesting findings. One major
finding is that many pathogens and parasites can be found in both failing and surviving
colonies and field pesticide exposure is typically sublethal (below lethal doses). How can
below lethal doses stress bees› colonies and impair colony function? It turns out that
what I coined previously «The Bee Effect» is functioning. Two colonies, with similar stress
levels can have divergent fates. This study demonstrates two key aspects of how stress on
individual bees can disrupt colony function and lead to colony failure. First, a stressor must
have a chronic impact (over a period of several weeks) before we see any noticeable effect.
Second, a how a stressor that impairs colony function by causing them to be susceptible
to failure experiences from stress at earlier points in their life cycles. Stress is causing
bee colonies to fail. Bees experience high levels of stress when exposed to pesticides,
preventing colonies from functioning properly.

25
The dominance of social bees as crucial pollinators stems primarily from their social
organisation: large colony sizes are supported by the efficient coordination of tasks
across group members, such that colony performance is better than a collection of
uncoordinated individuals. It is a paradox that while bees who work together to succeed,
it is the weakness in this strength that leads ultimately to their failure. Several stressing
factors which are damaging, but not lethal combine and unpredictably collapse the colony.
Eventually one bee gets stressed cascades its stress to the whole colony. The strength in
weakness and the weakness in strength are operational. A bee has its power to work
Lessened, its memory weakened and foraging capability reduced becomes «epidemic»
and cause the same for other bees. Pathogens, parasites, cold weather and other factors
combine to stress a bee. These factors combined can stress a bee even if singularly each
factor is below its stressing level.
What drew many bees to the colony of beBee? Nagging factors such as reducing the
quality of services provided to the previous colony. The answer is in reducing messaging
among bees, frequent breakdown of services, pathogen members and a host of other
factors. One major factor is what I coined as «The Expectation Stress». Members expect
improving services when in fact they deteriorated. The unexpected collapse started
as evidenced by withdrawals, less engagement of authors, less comment on posts,
complaining messages and a lot more of negative impressions. A single factor might not
cause the collapse; combined we witness their negative impacts.
BeBee team should benefit from these facts and only have one direction: keep removing
the stressing factors and never fall in the expectation stress trap. Very hopefully, they
shall.

26
Can We Manage Fractal Time?
Fractals show similar patterns which recur at progressively smaller scales, and in
describing partly random or chaotic phenomena such as heart beats. The question is time
fractal? If yes, can we then manage fractals? Can we manage the partly chaotic time?
Pareto Rule says that we spend %80 of our times doing %20 of what we should be doing.
I hope that reading this buzz falls within the %20 things worthy of doing. Pareto Rule
follows a power law meaning that a relationship between two quantities such that one is
proportional to a fixed power of the other. This way the relationship is scale-free. No matter
how you zoom in or zoom out in a shape it keeps its shape similarity. To have a feeling for
what I say I strongly advise the reader to watch the embedded video below.
Fractals means there are few events that have very strong impact. There are also many
events with small impacts and a range of events with moderate impact. Likewise; do we
tend to spend the bulk of our times in a similar fashion? Do we tend to allow ourselves to
get immersed in few activities that take most of our times and in many activities that take
small percentages of our times? How important are the activities we spend most of our

27
times on? In simpler words, are there many hours in doing few things and few hours in
doing many things?
My Google search led me to
fantastic source on surveys about
time usage by the American Time
Use Survey. On digging, I found the
following chart:
The graph shows that we tend to
spend our times with few activities
consuming most of our time and
many activities consuming a little percentage of our time.
Is time fractal, or are we making it so? Our heartbeats show fractal patterns. Is time the
heartbeat of our activities?
May we treat time as we treat our heartbeats? When electrical impulses, which direct and
regulate heartbeats, don’t function properly we may suffer from fast heartbeat, too slow
heartbeat, or too early (premature contraction), or too erratically (fibrillation). Time is the
heart of what we do and we may diagnose it and treat it as we do with our hearts.

28
The Bees Metaphor and Business Healthiness
Our heads are like hives filled with ideas. Some of them keep buzzing in our minds and
don›t sleep. Other ideas are like some bees that hibernate in winter only to wake up later.
Some ideas take a short rest before staring buzzing and looking for a flowery idea to suck
its nectar and pollen to produce a honey-like idea, pollinate their ideas and in the process
produce beeswax.
Beeswax is very useful as antiviral and antimicrobial wax in many industries such as in
cheese protection. Hopefully, you don›t need to ask «who spoiled my cheese». Beeswax is
a source for creative ideas and innovations. It also represents variety of seasons, aroma
and flavor. It is reinforces flavor and make sure your ideas become tastier. If your ideas
were pollinated by bees which visited pollution-free flowers then you shall have a high
quality wax. Negative thinking and other toxic pollutants will pollute the flowery idea and
bees taking nectar from them shall only produce low quality wax. Toxic work cultures
are polluted and produce low quality wax. No wonder organizations with good bees and
flowery ideas are sometimes unable to preserve their ideas and talents for they produce
inferior wax. Again, «The Bee Effect» emerges as polluting the culture of an organization
also pollutes its flowers and workers (bees) are taking polluted nectar. A low quality wax
is produced which can›t properly protect the organization and a culture of blame prevails.
And the vicious cycle repeats. Instead of gluing the organization together, it intoxicates it.
This thinking is in full alignment with the very thoughtful Buzz which Dr. Edward Lewellen

29
published on beBee recently. In his buzz titled «Vision, Execution, and
Culture», he wrote «Vision, execution, and culture are inextricably linked
together. And, I wonder, have you ever considered the mental and emotional
context each one creates».
The beauty of organizations acting like a bees› hive is that they live on
flowers, bee pollinating them so that more flowers will produce and all
products have great uses. It is polluting the culture that leads to inferior
products. A healthy culture is of great significance in ensuring the quality
of otherwise great products. Allowing wasps of negative thinking shall
only turn flowery ideas into thorny ones. A healthy organization shall
only produce healthy products. It is not enough to produce wax; it is more
important to keep the quality of wax high to glue the organization together
and to protect its interests against wasps. We need organizations with the
right bees, right flowers and right culture. The role of leaders is to ensure
the alignment of these three factors. The selection of bees (employees),
flowers (product ideas) and keeping a good culture are pre-requisites for
the success of any organization. This requirement is the assurance that the
organization will feed the queen (customer) with the right jelly products so
that the customer may not churn. If an organization lacks something it shall
not be able to offer it.

30
The Sting of Habits
Understanding habits is a great way to enhance selling and marketing efforts. If people have
the habit of chewing mint gums after eating a certain food then it takes little effort to sell
both together. Habits are thus the attractant that bring the bee to your flower (product).
Habits have the structure of a -3Act story. You need a trigger which reminds you of the habit
routine to perform it and then the joy of performing it. Notice it is all joy because for the
customer, whether the habit is a good one or not. The bee that discovers a flower to extract
its nectar soon forms the habit of re-visiting the same flower. During daytime it depends on
its color as a trigger to the bee and on its fragrant smell to attract night insects to perform
their habit of sucking the flower. The beauty here is that enjoy the nectar and flower enjoys
being sucked because this is the way for the flower plant to reproduce.
http://www.slideshare.net/hudali15/habit-marketing
There is a big lesson here for salespersons and marketing staff. If they visualize their
business as the flower and the customer as the bee then they need to do what the flower
does to the bee. Of all the competing flowers a certain bee species will favor a plant to
suck its flowers. The bee (customer) shall search for the same flower and makes a habit
of re-visiting. Breaking habits is difficult and loyalty-based habits are the assurances
your customer shall stay loyal. Habits are great motivators and conduit of keeping your

31
customers charged. Habits reduce resistance of customers to your products and
services. You may find many examples in the presentation below:
http://www.slideshare.net/hudali15/habitbased-marketing
Remember the simple rule: build joyful habits with the customer and you shall
win.
Visiting beBee site is becoming a habit. The fact that you are reading this buzz
is the proof. This is a good habit, which I hope to continue. The variety of flowers
allows for the satisfaction of all bees (readers) because not all bees shall
favor the same flower. Somehow, people developed the habit of visiting social
websites that proved only waste of time. The visitors know it is a bad habit,
but can›t get rid of it. A habit is a habit and it sticks. This prompted one person
(Maneesh Sethi) towrite an ad stating «I›m looking for someone who can work
next to me. When I am wasting time, you›ll have to yell at me or if need be, slap
me.» In fact, he offered money for slapping him. You see, the cost of removing a
bad habit is high and sometimes need painful treatment. How about replacing
the human slap with an electric shock? In fact this was done and there is a
product in the market (Pavlok) that does this.
There is a better solution when a habit stings you is best to be internally-
motivated to change it. Or, better make a habit of rejecting bad habits.

32
Ideas Sleeping Patterns
Ideas are like bees in the head. Do bees sleep? Similarly, do ideas sleep? We keep saying
sleep on your idea, but can we truly do that.
For a long time people believed bees don›t sleep. Recent researches proved this to be
untrue. Two major factors determine the pattern of sleep in bees. These are: age and type
of work they do. Young bees are in charge of cleaning the cell and nursing. These jobs aren›t
physically demanding. The work shapes up the sleeping habit. Young bees sleep in quick
naps. The job requirements change unpredictably. Who knows when larvae would need help
at pre-defined times?
This brings the idea that ideas require continuous catering and when we have a fresh ideas
we can›t sleep on them for long times. These larvae-like ideas need attention at unexpected
times and we may afford only quick snaps if we wish to give due attention to them. Can a
mother afford more than quick naps when she has a newly born baby?

33
As the bees grow older they become workers. The workers have to forage
outside the hive. They labor and therefore their sleeping patterns change to one
with a rhythm. They need to relax. If not, they shall get stressed.
Old ideas are the same. They do the hard work. They need to have their rhythm
of sleep. They are like old worker bees if stressed they lose their communication
ability such ability to dance meaningfully. This means failing to tell other bees
where the pollen is or where a new hive location is. The same with ideas if we
tire them and don›t let them sleep they lose their communication skills and
don›t find where interested parties are. If an idea buzzes in your mind then treat
it as a young bee till it grows older and then to serve other jobs.
BeBee is a new idea and it needs to do cleaning work- removing unnecessary
issues. The beBee Team can only afford short naps. Hopefully the idea shall
grow and then the beBee Team shall be able to have a stable sleeping pattern.
One thing for sure is the Team shall not need an alarm clock to wake up. The
buzz shall do it.

34
The Strategy of the Guilty When somebody knows or is
accused of being guilty what he /
she do? Admit, and if not, which
action to take? Do they follow certain
strategies or take actions randomly?
The «bee and flower» metaphor
helps us charting out the answer to
these questions.
One of the biggest environmental
conflicts we have is when a popular
and profitable commercial product
is supposed to protect us turns to
be a real health hazard. Certain
insecticides that were making huge
profits to their manufacturers turned
out to be bees-killers. This is hugely
alarming as bees pollinate at least
two-thirds of the food crops we eat.
Scientific findings can be a cause of
huge conflicts and accordingly many
stories start rolling.
companies relying on making huge
profits are facing the dilemma of
accepting scientific research and lose
the profits, or defend their positions
by claiming they aren›t guilty and
strategize their actions? The second
option has been the one of choice.
How a guilty party could find ways to
defend its actions?
This brings me back to the mini-

35
buzz I made yesterday asking for what illumination the background image produce? Yes,
the orbits meant communicating well to defend a guilty case. But there is more! The guilty
companies used different strategies to attract some parties to defend their case and get
them orbiting in their clouds.
Strategy of Dilution- Two chemicals shall not react fast if in much diluted solution. Dilute
the issue by attracting some writers and speakers to the «orbit cloud» to defend the
harmful insecticides. They are expanding the orbits cloud by having more parties involved
and even making it more complex to deal with.
Strategy of Cosmetic Coating- by coating the issue of conflict so that it shall have a different
facial value. Like limestone that sinks in water; however if coated with a fatty material it
floats. This is how ducks, for example, float on water. The companies coat their evil products
and actions with cosmetics such as donating money to good-will organizations.
Strategy of Substitution- An important thing to know about substitution reactions on
benzene is that you will NEVER get exactly what you want. You must then use methods to
separate the stuff you don›t want. The guilty companies use similar strategies by changing
the issue and substituting it with other issues so that many new issues may appear and
their opponents shall NEVER get what they want. They consume the opponents› resources
in clearing the by-issues and consuming up their resources wastefully. It is diverging
strategy as well.
Strategy of Attention Diversion- You may make a reactant change its direction by favoring
another reactant. These companies know that noisy swarms of bees distract our attention.
These companies do what the bees do- create noise and make it so noisy so that it becomes
our main troubling issue. The noises they make vary from holding seminars, radio and
TV symposiums, contracting authors to defend their products and place the blame on the
users. The users find themselves in face-saving situations and a new issue emerges.
Strategy of Enantiomers- there are many asymmetric molecules that are so similar, but
with one difference in one enantiomer will turn polarized light to the right, whereas the
other one shall turn it left. Thalidomide, which caused great problems to babies born
from mothers who took it during pregnancy, is one example. The guilty companies pool
defenders who turn the light to the other direction. They play on asymmetry to turn the

36
polarized right to their advantage by supporting research that their products are safe to
use.
The Spinning Strategy- We feel our heads spin when our body balance is lost because
of infection in the middle ear. The guilty companies try to get their opponents to spin-off
balance by bombarding them with accusations, threats and use of some influential people.
It is like an electron losing its spin in its orbit. The result is that their opponents lose focus
on the main issues, being in a state of unable to think because of their heads spinning very
fast. They become like a drunken bee.
There are more strategies. It is amazing how the «bee-flower» metaphor is so versatile. I
could derive many strategies directly or indirectly from it. Grow the thorn, change the color,
use deterring smells (such as guilty companies do to pollute the smell of a rosy issue» are
again strategies that guilty companies use.
To be guilty and to defend your guilt with smart strategy requires finding a smarter strategy
to deal with. Let us formulate one together. Let our voices be heard. Alone, this is not
doable. For a bee knows that the noise of their swarms shall be heard gar more greater
than one bee. We need to tune our sporadic «noises› into a musical one that don›t make
people feel off-balance; but rather chanting their cause.

37
Stories are the flowers that attract readers and customers and keep them glued.
Unfortunately, the reverse is true and a bad story can repel readers and customers alike.
I find the bee-flower metaphor a living and dynamic one in helping writing an attractive
story.
You need a conflict to write a story- a conflict with yourself, the family or the society. I
wrote a -20slide presentation on how to build a conflict. This presentation won the status
of Presentation of the Day and so far has attracted more the forty thousand views. You
may wish to read it.
http://www.slideshare.net/hudali15/visual-storytelling32366375-
The bee-flower metaphor is strikingly helpful. The -3Act story structure is just right for
this metaphor. The lock finds its key by using it.

38
In Act 1 we have the setup for the story. Bees leading their normal life till an issue appear.
The place (hive) is crowded, communication with the queen is interrupted, crowdedness
stress makes the bees unable to perform their dance well or the weather becomes too chilly
for the bees to stay.
The -2Act starts with the bees deciding to find a better place. A place that gives them plenty
of flowers to suck, warm weather, water to drink and a place that keeps the bees away from
creeping ants. The bees realize that they need to fly together as a swarm because they make
their buzz more heard this way. They have a common purpose and fly together. The queen
gets tired and they have to find a temporary place to rest. They find a tree and their numbers
in thousands make a huge mass on the tree. They need to send scouts to find a permanent
place. Many things can happen, which allow for increasing the challenges for the bees. The
humans may try to kick away the bees from their temporary hive. Or, the scouts find different
suitable locations for a new hive, but have a conflict on which one to select. Or, the scout
bees get cheated. They forage for nectar in flowers that were caffeinated so that the scouting
bees get stimulated. Their prime concern is diverted from finding good nectar to finding
stimulation. Struggle starts between the stimulated scouts on where to live. Their normal
decision-making process is deformed and the struggle continues. Instead of solving this
conflict, the antagonist enriches the flower with a caffeine-enriched liquid so that instead of
the bees buzzing him, the antagonist is buzzing them with nicotine. The conflict heightens.
Act3- solves the conflict. A pharmaceutical company finds a product that removes the effect of
nicotine from flowers. Or, the bees change the scouts.
Businesses look for locations to expand and start new ventures or branches. Isn›t that
relevant to what the bees do. The story of bees is also our story. Donna-Luisa Eversley
commented on my last buzz «The Sting of Habits» by writing:
My new-found habit is facilitated by various social media publishing platforms. The hosting
platform that encourages engagement and welcomes the sharing of my words to an

39
international market meets my needs. Habits can generate loyal followers, and the
hosting platform should develop its own habits or culture to encourage this. Though
I was stung by the bookstores I moved on, not unhappy with their service, but their
relevance in my life changed. Maybe I need to be continuously stung, as a reminder
that change can create disloyal followers, but keeping abreast of customer needs,
requires paying attention – hence stinging yourself and the customer. Thanks Ali
Anani for your thought provoking post! Isn›t this transformation a story by itself? Yes
and the comment of Donna-Luisa is a mini-story on its own.
beBee- you are the new location for many writers and readers. I know you shall keep
your flowers nicotine-free.

40
What Is in My Jar?
Two experiments conducted in two jars brought the idea of this buzz. The jars are similar,
but their contents differ. In the first experiment if you fill a jar with contaminated water and
a similar jar with pure water and freeze them they shall give you different ice crystals. The
pure water shall give well-shaped crystals whereas the other impure water shall give ill-
shaped crystals. Dr Masaru Emoto is the pioneer of this work.
It is not only the contamination of water; it is also the purity or contamination of our
feelings that lead to the formation of «healthy» or «ill» crystals. Fill two jars with the
same pure water. Label one with love and the other with hatred. Freeze water in both jars
and again healthy feelings give healthy crystals and the bad feelings- labeled jar produce
shall produce bad crystals. Interestingly, if you label the jar with more than label, say one
for love and one for appreciation you shall get different, but well-shaped crystals. Is it the
energy of emotions in action?

41
Contamination could be from the material filling the jar or externally from what
feelings we give to the jar. It doesn›t matter if you fill the jar with water or rice. This
was experimented and same results were obtained. Filling two jars with rice and
labeling one jar with love and the other with hatred showed amazing results. The rice
in the love jar lasted longer. See the video below:
We are filling jars with honey. Honey and honesty share the first four letters which
make the word hone. We fill the jar with honey honestly and both sharpen each other
so that better and long-lasting honey shall result. The purity of honesty adds to the
purity of honey
What Is in My Jar?
There are practices which lead to filling the jars with poor-quality honey. Honey
to which sugar is added, pollen has been removed, vitamins and enzymes cracked
and minerals remove. Few honey producers fill the jars with poor quality honey and
label it as original. Double faking in action: faked products and faked labels. You may
imagine the harm they may cause.
Let us remember that our chests are the jars. We have the choice of filling them with
pure love and label them accordingly. Or, we may fill our chests with grudge and
hatred and label them with grudge. Let us fill the jars with pure honey. The honey
shall give crystals of great shape or, you know better by now.
BeBee- the bees are filling your jars with their honeys. I hope we continue filling
it with pure honey in association with great feelings of love, respect, gratitude and
acknowledgement.

42
The Honey Paradoxes
BeBee describes authors as producers of honey. We produce buzzes like bees. Not all
buzzes are of the same grade honey. So, what is a good buzz? Amazingly, answering this
question reveals many paradoxes. An appealing and clear honey to the eye isn›t a high
grade honey. Our senses mislead us to buying an inferior product. We may even pay more
for it. Turbid honey has pollen in it which is highly enriched in proteins, but it causes the
turbidity of honey. It is the ill-extraction and/or treatment of honey that deprives it of its
pollen and other useful ingredients. Processing honey should be minimal if the honey is to
keep its valuable ingredients such as antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.
Turbid honey is in fact a sign of quality.
Turbid Buzzes
This brings the question the quality of buzzes here on beBee. Producers of honey (authors)
try to use the best nectar while avoiding polluted nectar. However; there initial drafts shall
be turbid. We say that the art of writing is re-writing. But re-writing is in fact «processing»

43
of the draft. We run the risk of losing the «pollen» and other useful ingredients and
make the buzz clear, but devoid of substance. Have you experienced this? I did and found
that my defined drafts were of lesser quality than the original. Cosmetically, the buzz
reads better, but its value diminished. I write when I have the idea crystallized in my
mind. The linkages between ideas are strong. However; like processing honey with heat
resulting in converting its fructose sugar into an inverted sugar, so my over-heating the
draft by critical revisions. We don›t add sugar to an already sweet cup of tea; else the tea
becomes to sweetened to drink.
Is intervening with a natural process a harmful thing to do?
Honey Wives and Honeymoons
“Love drips like honey from the hive, constant, sweet, precious, into your heart each and
every moment if you let it.”―Amy Leigh Mercree
When we address our wives as honey, do we wish our wives to be «clear» or «turbid»?
In trying to make a wife look clear some husbands tend to yell and use an overly force
to make things «clear» to her. A wife may have great pollen-like and vitamin-like
ingredients that degrade under processing. Not different from this is trying to «filter
wives› behaviors». The ultra filtration process removes most of the pollen and also
mixes water into the honey. Excess water invites the yeast to spoil the honey. The honey
candle of love shall not lighten because of the dampness of water that will absorb the
«heat of love». Bubbles will rise faster in honey that contains more water.
Don›t make your married life bubble with nothing. Keep the honey natural if you wish to
extend the «shelf life of your honeymoon».
Sugary Praises
Adding sugar-like praises to authors quite often may deteriorate their buzz. Adding
sugar to natural honey lowers its quality. Press the favorite button and the share button
only when true. These actions are sugar-like; they spoil rather than sweeten a buzz if
used undeservedly. Sharing is a great sweetener and the same rule applies.
I hope this buzz merits your actions of liking, sharing and commenting!!!

44
Suspended Doubts
Intriguing questions cross my mind such as:
·When to suspend writing to beBee?
·When to suspend commenting?
·When to suspend negotiation?
·When to suspend dealings with a business partner?
·And many more
The «bee-flower» metaphor is of great help in answering these questions. I wrote here a
post on «The Honey Paradoxes» in which I explained that suspended honey has a better
value than pure honey because the suspended particles (pollens) are rich in proteins.

45
We devalue honey if we remove the suspended pollen particles. However; the paradox is
that people prefer transparent and clear product to a suspended one. Our senses deceive
us. Sara Jacobovici responded with a beautiful buzz titled «When Turbulence Clearly
Makes Sense». In the buzz, she elaborated on the idea by asking « Does clarity allow you
to see better or are our senses being deprived of being able to experience the quality
of turbulence? Are we a culture that defines “murkiness” or “opacity” as unclear or
impure versus engaging in the challenge of extracting those valuable elements within the
conflict»?
We are seeking clarity from turbidity. Is this sensible? In fact, this is not only sensible,
but is also much needed in business, life and even in drug administration. Suspicion is
lack of trust, which leads to suspension. Yes, again suspension emerges in lack of trust.
Suspension serves as an indicator whether to continue «swimming in the turbid waters»,
or suspend and eventually withdraw.
Let me show by example. You are negotiating a deal. At one point you become suspicious
and suspend the negotiation. Why do you suspend? Are you leaving pollens in the honey
of negotiation that makes it cosmetically unappealing? May be the counter negotiator is
making it turbid for you to quit and leave behind the goodies? Remember that suspensions,
no matter how turbid the waters of negotiation are, are pausing periods and the suspended
issues may settle on its own.
This brings another issue to the negotiation table. There is need to differentiate between
trust and suspension. I like this quote from Marwan Sinaceur «While distrust (trust)
involves having negative (positive) expectations about another’s motives, suspicion is
defined as the state in which perceivers experience ambiguity about another’s motives».
Suspicion creates suspension and turbidity. That is to say suspicion creates particles that
suspend in the «water of negotiation».
The Suspended Doubts Metaphor
«Suspended Doubts» is the metaphor that I suggest here. Doubts are the particles that
make our waters turbid and air cloudy. Beware of what particles you have. Remember that
removing suspended materials may cause harm if dealt with improbably. Suspended flour
in a flour mill may catch fire and cause huge harm. Wouldn›t be better to suspend it in

46
«waters»?
Do not burn your suspended flowers or pollen. They are inflammable. When I have suspicion
people are no longer interested in my buzzes on beBee, for example, I know how to tame
my suspicion so as to reduce the suspended doubts without losing trust in self. Suspensions
are alarm lights to pause and think positively.

47
The Hedgehog in My Honey
Scattered items they may seem, but they have something in common. I collected the item
and put them in the figure shown below:
The image shows chestnuts and a chemical molecule both looking like a hedgehog. The
amazing thing is that the molecule also functions the way a hedgehog protects itself. The
story of the fox and hedgehog is alive. The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows
one big thing- how to protect itself from the predators such as foxes. As soon as a fox gets
near a hedgehog it shall stay back because the hedgehog will show shoot up its scaring
prickly spines. The predator stays away.
Some plants use same strategy to protect themselves. They roll-up like a hedgehog does.

48
But what does this buzz have to do with all this info? The next section shall reveal the
analogy. Now, a Cornell food scientist has identified an antimicrobial compound in a
honey that makes it a promising candidate as a natural preservative to prevent food-
borne illness and food spoilage. This amazing compound has the shape of what the
authors describe as a rotary hair brush. The unique chemical structure of the compound
allows it to create hairpins, which are then twisted into a helical structure. These pins
are aggressive and can penetrate the membranes of other bacteria and thus creating a
passage for itself. They work as a hedgehog does by piercing the enemy. To me they look
like a helical hedgehog.
Honey has many more secrets remain to be uncovered. Its healing power reminds us to
be real bees and realize that we too have great potentials to be discovered. Instead of
cheating the quality of honey, let us mine out the valuable secrets hidden in the golden
drops. Another lesson is the to appreciate the unity of our universe. Honey, plants and
hedgehogs defend themselves using same strategy. Are they talking to each other?
I dedicate this post to Sara Jacobovici for her continuous support and prompting me to
write and keep on writing. Her inspiration goes beyond description.

49
Buzzstorming more than Brainstorming
We seek for finding ideas blossoming to give flowers enriched with nectar and pollen
so that they may get pollinated and spread fast. We brainstorm to get better ideas with
greater potential to flourish.
Seeking an idea is not different from a bee seeking a new location. Great ideas carry us to
new locations with new challenging landscape. Do we have the fitness to occupy the peaks
of the new landscape? How do we know it is the fittest?
It is amazing how that the «bee-flower» metaphor may help us in answering these
questions. When the space is filled with competition and movement becomes very
restricted one option we have is to find a new location where we may have enough space to
move more freely. We need new ideas to take us from the red ocean to the blue ocean. We
may split groups like bees do and go in swarms finding a new location. Bees don›t assume
and are patient. They don›t rely on one opinion. They scout different possibilities before
choosing a new home. To do that they take first a temporary shelter like a tree branch.

50
They stay there till they find a new home spacious and kind enough to attend to their
needs. They send hundreds of scouts to find new places to live. Now, the bees have to
select on place to live as we have to decide on one idea to work on. The scouting bees do
a waggle dance that has significance. The dance points to the direction of the potential
new home and its suitability. Not only have that, the scouting bees try by their waggling
danced to attract the maximum number to its new-found location. The scouting bee that
gets a critical number of bees wins. Still amazing is that the duration of the dance is
proportional to how far the new-found would be home is. Depending on the richness of
the food source, she may perform up to 100 waggle runs in a single dance.
In holding buzzstorming sessions the bees› model may serve us very well. The person
who finds a great idea is the most authorized one to defend and do waggling dances to
attract others to it. He/she needs to dance to his/her idea to show which direction it shall
take us. Group storming suffers from peoples› tendency to conform. However; the bee
avoids this as each bee is responsible for attracting others to its flower. Who is better
equipped to do that than the owner of the idea?
Sara Jacobovici commented on my previous post by writing «I think your ebook should be
titled Formulas for Success Ali Anani. This buzz, «strategy formulation» is an example
of another formula you created. With your permission I would like to summarize it in the
following way: Boundaries/space (where you stand, what your capacity is) over Direction
(which way you are heading) minus Rationalized Fear («ignorance based fear») plus
Sense of Time = Positive Strategic Positioning. Is there a better way to describe this post
with the same formula? I tend to believe it is also applicable to buzzstorming. I formulate
this as «Strategy Consistency».

51
In strategy formulation we need to know where we stand before we may decide where to
go. Knowing where you stand is helpful in knowing your areas of strength to build on them.
Equally important is realizing your areas of weaknesses because no matter how strong you
are your strength is determined by your weakest «bone». To know where you stand throws
the challenge of knowing also your limitations as well as your limits and boundaries within
which to move.
The Liebig›s Barrel is a great reminder that the capacity of a barrel is limited by its
shortest stave. Sometimes we waste our resources by filling the barrel above its capacity
only for these efforts only to overflow and pour out. It is total waste. You need to raise the
lowest stave before you may add certain ingredients.
In life we tend to do the opposite by shortening the shortest stave. The «bee-flower»
metaphor is helpful in picturing what fear does to us. You need to know your customers
(type of bee) you are dealing with. Strangely enough and worse we may turn a customer

52
into a competitor due to misunderstanding your customer. A bumble bee is safe to
handle. It shall not harm you unless she feels threatened by you. If threatened, it shall
sting the aggressor. But that is assuming it is a bumble bee and that it is a female as
well. If a male, it can›t sting. Moreover, a bumble bee doesn›t have ears. May be they feel
the sound vibrations. Be like a bee and don›t hear gossip or rumors and rather «feel»
your way through.
Keep your customer a customer and don›t turn him/her to an enemy. You may hold a
bumble bee in your hand safely. It is fear that makes us react negatively and threat the
bumble bee so that is replies by stinging us. Unnecessary fear or ignorance-based fear
makes us do the wrong actions and use our resources inadequately and then wonder why
most strategies fail. Deep fears make customers disengaged and then withdraw.
Adaptive strategy is realizing the situation and adapting to it accordingly. If a bumble
bee is lying on its back don›t approach it. In this position the bee is ready to sting.
It is not only enough to understand your strategic position; equally important is the
understanding of the strategic positions of your customers and competitors.
How much «honey» you may collect is determined by the shortest stave of your honey-
collecting barrel. Your strategic thinking is your barrel and try to make it as large as
possible to accommodate your «dreamy goals».
Sensing time is an important element in any strategy. When to act? How to sense
what your customer needs are? When to ask for customers› suggestion and ideas?
When to increase the capacity of your customers so that they may buy more from you?
How to establish a symbiotic relationship with your customers like a bee does with a
flower? Does your customer hibernate? If your customer is like a bumble bee then he
hibernates. Before hibernating, this bee collects lots of nectar and pollen to eat before
hibernating. You need to sell this bee before it hibernates.. It is seasonality in action. Or,
your customer could be like some bees that don›t hibernate. You do business with them
differently.

53
You need active indicators. Well, then the bumble bee bobbing around your flowers then
you know that your spring has arrived and so «spring» on your opportunity.
Avoid rusty information in a rusty barrel. This is a formula for strategies failure.
I dedicate this post to @Javier Cámara Rica and all beBee Team on the occasion of beBee
first birthday.

54
Some ideas emerge suddenly. You try to track their origin, but in vain. The idea of this post
occurred to me while watching the video embedded below. All of a sudden my eyes froze on
an image in the video. Here it is:
I took a screen shot of one of the scenes of the video, which mesmerized me. I combined
with two images one for electron orbitals and one of a butterfly. All sorts of crazy ideas
started their waggle dance in my head. Truly, I felt my head turned to an idea hive.
Do bees generate electromagnetic waves as they dance? Do they follow certain rules so
that their dances have quantum levels as electrons do resonating in their orbitals? The
bees waggle dance with orientation to the sun. Are bees orbiting the sun as electrons orbit
an atom (the atom is the sun in case of bees)?

55
Startling for me is the shape of the orbitals resulting from the waggling dance of the bees?
Doesn›t it look like a butterfly? I wrote before in few of my buzzes here about «The Bees
Effect», in emulation of the butterfly effect. Well, here I see it visually. The bees waggling
dance show the two wings of a butterfly. If so, will electrons also show a butterfly effect?
Yes and recent scientific research has shown this to be true.Poul Jessen, at the University
of Arizona in Tucson, and his colleagues has found the fingerprints of chaos in a quantum
system. Their discovery links chaos to entanglement — the purely quantum property in
which multiple particles can become inextricably intertwined, so that making changes to
one instantly affects its partners. Are bees the equivalent to the multiple particles and as
they waggle dance they become intertwined and that the movement of one bee affects the
movements of others? Does a bee dance affect neighboring bees and their environment so
that they create «The Waggle Dance Effect»? Is it following simple rules of waggling that
lead to this waggling effect?
·Make a round dance only if food is nearby
·Perform a waggle dance is food is far
·Follow the sun orientation to indicate the location of the food
Simple rules may lead to complexity. But then does a bee waggle dancing affect the
immediate environment for its neighboring bees? And so we may observe a phenomenon
similar to the butterfly effect?
I am back to what Sara Jacobovici and I have been exchanging waggling dances and in
the process affecting each other by taking both of us into new paths- and completely
unpredictable ones. Based on my last two buzzes Sara concluded the following formula
for success: Boundaries/space (where you stand, what your capacity is) over Direction
(which way you are heading) minus Rationalized Fear («ignorance based fear») plus Sense
of Time = Positive Strategic Positioning.Is there a better way to describe this post with the
same formula? This buzz shows that bees follow the sun direction and as the sun direction
changes so the angle of the dance of the bees. It is again the sense of direction and sense
of time that bees do perfectly well. Their direction is controlled by the sun and it varies
accordingly.
When we comprehend in greater depths our senses for direction and time some great
discoveries shall emerge.

56
Dancing for What?
One of the most fascinating dances to watch is that of bees waggle dance. This is not a
dance for joy only; it is far more to invite other bees to join in a new hive location or nectar
source. It is a way of communication. We dance for joy. We humans dance for fitness,
expression of joy, fitness and reflecting a lifestyle. We dance to the music of a great idea.
We may dance slowly, lovingly or we may dance as fast as a bee. Are these expressions of
our moods?
In my previous post «Ideas Waggling Dance», dear CityVP Manjit made this challenging
comment «We can try to model the world over and over but that is the same modeling that
human beings have been doing for so long. I am seeking transformational effects. The
dance within us is a good starting point. I discovered today that one group of scientists are
moving away from brainstorming to bodystorming - using dancers as organic modeling to
better understand the world ofmolecules.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/11/2012/bodystorming-dance-grooves-show-how-
molecules-move
The change in this dance is this movement we explore and through that we emerge. Society
is the change in our hive, and our home changes from that waggle within us»

57
I responded to the comment as follows, in part «We build on new info and adapt our
thinking accordingly@CityVP Manjit. This is a great comment because it is now possible
to study how molecules dance in far better and visual ways than we could have done
before. Technology is opening many new horizons to see things beyond our human
capability». Do molecules dance? We human bodies are mostly water and a bunch of
molecules such as lipids, proteins and polysaccharides. Do these chemicals dance
in our bodies? Do these dances mean anything? It is the advancement of science and
technology that enabled us recently to probe these questions in depth. Or, as Manjit
asks, the change in this dance is this movement we explore and through that we
emerge. Society is the change in our hive, and our home changes from that waggle
within us.
The pollination of ideas extends further as I dance to its music. This is again reflected
in the exchange of comments between a notable thinker and me: «If beBee is to
define its mission I find this segment from this post that@Anees Zaidiwrote serves
as a compass to show the directions «He let them swim in the ocean of obscurity,
vagueness, curiosity and intellectual appetite. He encourages them to compete,
discuss, debate, argue, agree and disagree. He always encourages bees to produce
excellent grade of honey». Ideas need to collide. Ideas are like molecules they
energize each other, twist each other, bend each other, rotate each other, and stretch
each other and a lot more.
Research has revealed fascinating facts how molecules dance in our bodies to perform
certain tasks. Just the following video and dance to its depth. It is an astonishing video
as it shows we are dancing bodies. Amazingly also is how molecules look like zippers
as they open and close. You don›t have to be a scientist to appreciate music as much as
I don›t have to be a musician to enjoy music or poet to enjoy poetry.
For which idea or purpose our societies dance?Chas Wyatt asked in his comment on
my previous post « If you wanted to know something would you waggle it, instead of
googling it»? I hope this post is of help in finding an answer to your question, Chas

58
Creative Marketing Attractions
It is a dream for a business to attract repeat customers and keep their loyalty. Not only
that, but also to waggle dance to their friend to attract them to your business. This is a
form which I call «Perfect Marketing» because the business owner has his clients do the
marketing for him willingly and at no cost to the owner.
It is amazing how bee-flower metaphor may teach us how to arrive at this perfect
marketing. It happens because the bee and flower maker a perfect «lock-key» mutual and
beneficial symbiosis between them. Till recently, our apprehension of this relationship
was missing newly-found facts. What we knew is that the flower has many cues to attract
bees such as smell and color. Recent research findings have disclosed astonishing facts.
The flowers send electric signals to the bees inviting them for to their nectar and pollen.
To build trust, the flowers change their electric signals to inform the bees that their nectar
has almost depleted so that the bees do waste time visiting an empty source. I just wonder
how many businesses tell their customers they are out of stock!
Plants generate a very slight negative electric charge from their connection to the ground.
That is not the only way as I shall explain later. Bees generate slightly positive charges by
their physical movement. Waggle dance is very hectic physical movement. Now, you may
imagine the attraction between flowers with negative electric charge a positively-charged

59
bee! It is attraction. Even more surprising this attraction has a three-pronged advantage.
It helps the pollen stick to the bee to pollinate other plants and to make it easier for
the bee to find the flower. But more dazzling is that the flower let the bee know when to
visit the flower or not. The flowers send a different electric signal once their nectar has
been consumed. Bonding the bee to a flower serves as a great metaphor for bonding
customers to a business. Will businesses move fast enough to create signals that invite
the customers to them? Flowers try to stand out from the crowd by using different electric
signals. Are bees the originators of the Blue Ocean Strategy?
Plants generate electricity from photosynthesis. These electrons may be trapped and
used for power generation. It is possible to harvest electrons to generate electricity. In
fact, every photon of sunlight that is captured by plants is converted to electrons. Pilot
plants have been successful in capturing these electrons and generate electricity. The
electrons may be connected directly to a power source or captured as a chemical reactant
to control the behavior of plants. See the video below as an example.
The bee-flower metaphor is of great value for us to capture the sunlight of information
so as to generate not only electricity to light the lamps, but also to lighten our way to
finding more creative ways to attract, keep and build lasting relationship with customers.
Electrify your customers and send them the right signals to stay within your «electric
field».
What electric signals is beBee sending?

60
A small change in a parameter might cause a drastic effect and in much greater
magnitude is referred to as The Butterfly Effect. Bees create their own butterfly effect
in many ways. We may learn a lot from this bees› effect and draw important lessons.
I shared the following image on beBee and it invited for some very interesting
comments. This fact encouraged me to write this buzz. As you see from the image a
small act may with a simple look at a bee and end up with a sting. What is interesting is
what happens after the sting.

61
Source: https://www.bebee.com/content/528733/558836
The buzz generated lovely feedback from prominent minds, to which I am very
grateful. To accommodate for these views I am expanding on this graph by going
beyond the Get the Sting phase in the above figure. I find a good way to incorporate
all opinions by adding the Expanded Golden Circle and the Five Whys Tools as is
shown in the figure below, The original Golden Circle addresses three questions:

62
Why, How and What. In the Expanded Golden Circle I am adding also «Where» and
«When» for reasons I am revealing later. Where and when cover the space-time
relationship.
Let me illustrate by example. If you approach bees when they are hungry or thirsty
they become aggressive. Because they are aggressive they try to rob other bees
from their stored food. This makes the prey bees angry and a fight start. To alert
the whole colony of a starting fight the bees release a pheromone. A «bees fight»,
in emulation of dogs fight, starts. As the fighting intensifies bees release more
pheromones. The release of pheromones invites for more trouble as more bees
join the battle. A positive feedback that quickly leads to havoc. Some bees get
killed and their bodies invites for more pests and insects to feed on them. The
bees fight that started as a small one ended in chaos. Now, if you get close enough
to the fight and without protection you may get the sting. Not all stings are of same
pain level. If you get it on the head it is less painful than getting it in the nose.
So, selecting the wrong time (when) and the place where the bees were fighting
combined determined to what extent to you were harmed. You may decrease the
pain caused by the sting by how you treat it. Using false treatment methods may
lead to the worsening of the pain.
Not all stings are bad. In fact, we need them sometimes if we want to advance. You
may be aware of the analogy to fish. If you keep a tiny shark in a pond of fish the
fish shall keep moving for fear of the shark may eat them. Likewise; ideas that are
quiet in our minds may stay dormant. We need the bee sting to keep them moving
and alive. On beBee we are the bees who sting each others› mind so that our
thoughts may pollinate each other.
I dedicate this post to CityVP Manjit for he has been a real sting of ideas in my
mind. Stings that keep ideas alive so that they may propagate and develop. He
commented on he original buzz by saying «Instead of saying «Get the Sting» I

63
would say «Get the Honey». We live in a society that is politically stung, and
where marketing buzz is being highly questioned. No one will ever find fault
with the land of milk and honey. This is after all the honey bee and it is the
bumble bee that can sting many times and Bumbles don›t make honey. Let›s
not be a bumble bee like the politician or the marketer - be the honey bee,
protect the hive, and make the honey. Even if I compare the honeybee to a
Samurai, it is in the romanticism of the Bushido Code, and not the true reality
of actual Samurai history. Focus not on the sting for it a reminder of the
stung». I welcome all of your stings, dear Manjit.

64
Watch out for Business Ideas from Bees
I honestly believe this buzz is relevant to all businesses and that beBee should consider
it seriously. Studying bees provide us with valuable lessons and business ideas. The
world of bees is amazing with its complexity; yet an illuminating one. «Bee-ing in the
bee» and observing their habits may provide ideas for businesses to capture and apply.
What the bees hate and what the bees like are two areas worthy of consideration. Let
us start with what the bee hates as an analogy to what your customers hate. Bees hate
thirst. Bees don›t store water in their bodies and so depend on its availability. We tend
to do the wrong things in providing them with water. If we don›t understand the bee
(customer) our offers shall go astray. Many people add sugar to the water so that the
bee shall be delighted twice by having water and food simultaneously. During summer

65
days this can be very wrong as sugary water makes the bee get thirsty fast. Same with salty
food and as sugar and salt particles drive water out of body cells and make us feel thirsty.
The bee gets angry if feels thirsty and may turn aggressive and sting us. Customers behave
similarly and if you leave them thirsty for information, good service and good treatment
shall get angry and may sting the business provider.
Business may turn these facts to their
advantage. If customers enjoy sugary
products then they may feel thirsty
and in order to satisfy this need they
drink sweet juices! This is only to feel
thirstier soon and order the sweet
drinks again and the loop goes on. This
is why people who realized this fact
try to neutralize what they eat. You
find people taking milk and cookies
so as not to feel thirsty. This is a great
example of habit marketing. People buy
what with what so if these businesses
sell one product they may sell the
other. To be honest, these businesses need to sell a product that doesn›t inflate the thirst;
instead they sell two products, which jointly extinguish the need and in all cases it is a
temporary satisfaction as people need to drink again.
Bees don›t like deep water and they drown in it. It is not enough to give the bees water; it
has to be the right water and place too. We need to help the bees reach the water without
drowning and with convenience. That is why beekeepers use pebbles or rocks and the like
so that the bees may stick to while drinking water. Businesses tend to forget these simple
facts. Knowing your readers, for example, helps you as an author to decide the content and
style of your writing. The bee loves shallow water and some readers may prefer simple info.
Some authors drown their readers (I do sometimes) with complex and highly specialized

66
info. The result is the sinking of the reader (customer).
Beekeepers may intentionally leave a leak
in a faucet so that it is reachable for the
bees and ensure the water availability at
all times. Business should realize that
their bees (customers) may thirsty for
information. Keep the faucet of information
leaky and your customers shall be grateful.
If the customers find no info available
they shall start the rumors mill. Again,
businesses should realize that if they leak
sweet information it should be neutralized;
else the customers shall get thirsty and
demand for more sweet info. The more they
get, the thirstier they become. Many businesses tend to leak very sweet info to raise their
stock prices. But they should beware of very thirsty customers!
Not all smells attract the bees. Some smells actually repel them. Marigold flowers have
very pungent smell and are bee-repellent. Business shouldn›t assume that bees like all
flowers. They should observe and learn what attracts the customers and what repels them.
There is also a second reason why bees hate very strong smells. Bees communicate by
releasing pheromones (volatile chemicals) to bring the attention of other bees to a message
such as their hive is under attack. Very strong flower smells may overwhelm the smell of
the pheromone and the bees lose their ability to communicate. Businesses tend to do the
same mistake that flowers do: they outcry the customers› voice and customers lose their

67
communication. We are experiencing
this. Look at the attraction beBee
is getting from customers who lost
their voices and communication on
some other competing platforms. No
more able to comment, share info
or messaging are but few examples
which repelled customers to migrate
to friendlier platforms.
BeBee is a great example of lessons
derived from bees. People got
drowned in competing platforms,
lost communication, found the smell
repellent and their thirst for good service was only satisfied with sweet promises
to make people thirstier. I hope beBee and all businesses realize these simple, but
powerful lessons derived from bees.

68
Businesses Driving to Success
I have shown the analogy between driving cars and driving businesses. The presentation
highlighted the role of the driver in driving safely to the intended destination. However;
the role of the vehicle and passengers was not discusses. This post shown the forgotten
facts that business drivers may overlook.
Humans and cars share one thing- only one part touches the ground. When we walk
or run it is our feet that are touching the ground. In cars it is the tires. Our feet and
the tires are on the ground and they both need special attention. The synchronization
between the steering and wheels is crucial to safe driving. Strangely enough, we care
about our shoes whether it is comfortable, sized well, branded, appropriate and of
matching color. We replace them before they are torn out. In cars, we fail to do the

69
same. We change tires only if terribly torn out or punctured to the extent that they have
to be replaced. I may claim that we also tend to drive businesses on torn out tires.
It makes me wonder why we care for shoes more than tires. A manager cares about his
shoes being of the last fashion, clean, matching to his suit and don›t pay attention to the
tires. Why managers insist on driving businesses on worn and unsuitable tires? Is this
the way to drive a business?
Like driving cars on different terrains and climates we drive business on changing
terrains and climates. We have pebbles sticking to the tires, nails the roads that may
puncture the tires, rain that makes the tires slippery, heat that may inflate the tires and
make them liable to exploding. I experienced this recently when traveling. We were four
in a car taking us to a very important meeting. It was a very hot day and all of a sudden
one tire exploded. The smell of smoke was terrible and the dust around us made it hard
to breathe. Sitting in the car was impossible because of the smell of the exploded tire.
Staying outside was difficult because of the sand storm. It was an experience in which
spoiled tires may drive a business to predicaments. We were late to the meeting. Our
clothes were dirty adding to the troubles we faced.
A business leader knows on which land he/she is driving the business. If on rocky
roads the leader opts for tires that are flexible enough to conform to irregular surfaces
and with biting edges to adhere to the rocks. The tires shall have a flexible rubbery
component to have a better grip. It is not the tires which determine the road; it is the
road which determines which tires to use.
It is always advisable to change tires in pairs at minimum. Leaders should think about
what changes they need to make in pairs to keep the balance and drive the organization
to success. Replacing one tire with a different model, size or tread depth can cause a
noticeable pull in the steering wheel or other handling issues. The leader shall lose the
ability to steer the organization safely.
True leader cares for the knowing the ground on which to drive the business so as to

70
have a grip on the rocky and slippery roads ahead. They choose the right people who have:
· the correct» inflation»,
· material, structure and characteristics which fit with the road ahead,
· The adaptability to changing conditions, and
· Characteristics to get ahead without «burning out» or torn out or exploding
We can›t drive a business to success on faulty tires. It is as simple as that.

Formula for success

More Related Content

Similar to Formula for success

More from Ali Anani, PhD

Recently uploaded

Formula for success