Lord of the Flies or The Odyssey?  The Choice Every Company Must Make.

By Athena Boulgarides, CEO, HappyTails Canine Wellness, Inc. ____________________________________________________________________________________________

The moment everything changes, there’s a choice.

Some companies go Lord of the Flies—power struggles, panic, and paralysis. Others go The Odyssey—navigating change, adapting, and leading forward.

One ends in chaos. The other in legend.

And the difference? Who has the map.

What Happens When Leadership Disappears?

In Lord of the Flies, a group of stranded boys start with rules, structure, and purpose. Then, one by one, they abandon it. Fear takes over. Leadership disappears. Instead of working together, they turn on each other. And in the end? They destroy themselves.

It’s easy to see this play out in business.

Look at Blockbuster. Leadership saw streaming coming—but instead of navigating it, they ignored it. Factions formed. Debates dragged on. By the time they made a decision, Netflix had already set sail.

Kodak invented digital photography—then buried it. Why? Because leadership wanted to protect the film business. They weren’t lost on an island. They were lost in their own history.

Companies don’t fail because they run out of ideas. They fail because they stop listening to the right ones.

The Odyssey Companies: Masters of the Unknown

Now, contrast that with The Odyssey.

Odysseus didn’t survive because he was the strongest. He survived because he was strategic, adaptable, and relentless.

He read the winds. He didn’t fight the storm—he navigated it. He didn’t just try to return home. He redefined the journey.

The best companies do the same.

Netflix started as a DVD rental company. But before the industry changed, they changed themselves.

Apple doubled down on mobile computing before the market caught on. Now, we don’t even call them “phones” anymore—we call them iPhones.

Tesla didn’t wait for demand to rise for electric cars. They created the demand.

That’s what winning companies do. They don’t just adapt to change. They harness it, shape it, and turn it into something bigger.

Which One Are You Building?

Every company, at some point, has a choice.

The Lord of the Flies companies hold on too long. They fight over power instead of progress. They think they have time, but time is never on their side.

The Odyssey companies? They move. They stay ahead, not by chance—but by choice. They don’t react to the future. They create it.

So, the question isn’t whether your company will face disruption. It will.

The question is: Are you navigating it—or just hoping to survive it?

Because in the end, there are only two choices:

Get lost. Or lead the way.