Balance your ecosystem to succeed at business

In this talk, O’Reilly President Laura Baldwin describes how O’Reilly’s mission-driven approach works, and she outlines why companies should apply a balanced strategy for running their organizations.

Highlights from Baldwin’s presentation include:

Many companies think about their businesses as a set of three things: customers, employees, and shareholders. These are important, but if you’re only thinking about these things in isolation, you’re not considering your entire ecosystem. (3:37)

An ecosystem approach means the communities O’Reilly serves need to be part of the thought process. This includes customers, contributors, business partners, vendors, and competitors. O’Reilly aims to keep all of these constituents in balance. (8:35)

O’Reilly’s online learning platform has an ecosystem of talent because the company thinks about what the talent needs, not just what O’Reilly needs. This focus ultimately benefits customers. (16:08)

Baldwin is an an avid reader of business books, but she says many of them over-complicate things. Paying attention to your whole ecosystem and keeping it in balance is the way you succeed. (19:44)

Watch Baldwin’s full presentation in the video above.