The 7 Ages of Management

Every company differs in one respect or another. From small, one man operations to megalithic corporations, they each have their own identities.
How individual companies are structured is dependant on many things, primarily, the age of the company
Which category does your company fall into.

The 7 Ages of Management

As with children, young companies are dynamic and innovative. Their first steps are often unsteady, and sometimes need encouragement to persevere.
As the young company grows, it has an insatiable thirst for knowledge and a sense of adventure. Just as children have a wonderful imagination, so does the youthful company, it takes great pride in its innovations. The rules by which the company plays are very simple, and this coupled with enthusiasm enables it to take great strides, often admired by its elders.

At some stage the company must decide whether it is happy playing the games of youth, or to make the commitment to grow and move beyond its adolescence and the playground. This change, although providing the company more stability, also comes at a cost. The enthusiasm and innovation are still an integral part, but gone is the dynamism of youth.

The company now has the struggle to establish itself as one of the major players. For many companies, this is as far as it will grow, a constant round of campaigns trying to maintain its ground against stiff opposition.

Success brings with it rewards and a sense of calm heralding the onset of middle age. For some this maturity comes much quicker than others, but each must manage the changes.Keeping up with current practises and technology is paramount in ensuring the survival of the company. Comfort can very easily become complacency, and with it the need to make radical decisions. These are the companies that have tried to ignore middle age and responsibilities that come with it.

For those companies for whom change has come too late, there is only left the memories of youth and its ultimate demise.

For some young companies, their first steps in the big wide world will come to nothing, and they will never realise their full potential. Each company must make its own decisions and learn from its mistakes.For senile companies, the writing is on the wall, and the mourners are already waiting by the bedside.
The mature, middle-aged company is where there is most to be gained or lost.

For those of you who are interested, here is the original text.

All the world 's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard;
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

William Shakespeare ~ As You Like It. Act ii. Sc. 7