Happy Silver Anniversary to Dayna and Janine, co-founders of Biomimicry 3.8!
Their story is not only an incredible rootstock for the biomimicry community, but also of an enduring mutualistic partnership! Leading up to the Silver Anniversary Virtual Celebration on April 4, we will be dropping into your inbox to share lessons inspired by mutualisms in nature (of course!)—and the principles behind how Dayna and Janine’s partnership in biomimicry has thrived for two and a half decades!
Mutualisms in nature take many forms, yet all ultimately share the same outcome: prospering in a reciprocal partnership, where the success of one party supports the success of the other.
There are 4 key criteria for enduring mutualisms.
Today we’re highlighting the first:
For Dayna and Janine, there were clear benefits from the beginning for each party: after their whirlwind introduction in early 1998, Janine found not only an equally passionate and geeky biologist in Dayna to bounce ideas and dreams off of, but also a partner willing and eager to grow a team and engage with clients, as well as someone who loved to teach others and was passionate about developing the content to launch biomimicry as a discipline! For Dayna, Janine brilliantly opened doors and opportunities with her very popular book and awe-inspiring keynotes. She suddenly had instant credentials by association, and most importantly, she had a partner in generosity—someone to share ideas and future plans with—as well as someone who naturally loved cataloging and tracking biomimicry emerging around the world.
For both, there were some challenges and growing pains—or mutualistic costs: for Dayna, she was sometimes overlooked, especially when it came to name recognition in our celebrity culture; for Janine, who loved her quiet writerly life, all of these new opportunities meant more responsibilities to a team and clients, as well as lots of travel far away from her beloved home. Nevertheless, the benefits clearly outweighed the costs, resulting in a net win for each of them.
Key to a mutualistic partnership are reinforcing feedback loops: As Dayna found easier access and open doors, it made it easier to grow the team and engage with clients. As more clients were engaged, more content on how to do biomimicry was able to be developed. With more content, more educational and application opportunities materialized which led to more name recognition for both parties. As the organization grew, Dayna could reach more individuals and build more content and put biomimicry even more into practice with clients.
As Janine found herself with a supportive team and client opportunities, she dove into client work with Dayna, evolving the ways that biomimicry could be applied to the redesign of everything from clothing to carpets to company strategies. Helping clients mimic ecosystems to produce ecological benefits from built environment projects (Project Positive) has been especially rewarding, allowing Janine to explore Nature as Measure, as well as Model and Mentor. These real-world successes led to more keynotes, attracting more people to the meme which helped grow the discipline and field of practitioners which resulted in more case studies. With a growing field, more examples, more practitioners, and a successful business, came the opportunity to step back into writing with a ready audience eagerly awaiting the next book’s release.
Over the past 25 years, these loops continued to support the net mutual benefit for both Dayna and Janine. No doubt they will continue to do so in the years to come.
How might you apply this lesson to help your partnerships thrive?
To learn more about Dayna and Janine’s story following the principles behind successful mutualisms, stay tuned for three more emails in this series! And be sure to register for the April 4 virtual celebration—you won’t want to miss the fun. Hang out with Janine and Dayna, join themed virtual spaces, interact with other biomimicry enthusiasts, and more!