I have been spending a significant amount of time lately inside businesses, family offices, organizations, and even universities, and I will tell you something that has become very clear:
The animals are not getting along!
The cows are stressed, the horses are spooked, the dogs are multiplying, and the shooting stars are going off everywhere.
And when that happens, everything starts to slow down, break down, or quietly drift off course.
Over the years, working across hundreds of businesses, I kept seeing the same pattern. Smart people, good intentions, strong effort, but one core mistake being made over and over again:
We blend unlike things and treat them the same.
We take stable producers and inject chaos into them.
We take growth engines and over-structure them.
We keep feeding things we love that are not working.
And we let new ideas run without guardrails.
And the truth is, this does not just happen in business. It shows up in our personal lives as well, where one small thing can quietly consume our energy, distort our focus, and if we are not careful, make us feel like we are carrying something alone far longer than we should.
So I simplified it.
I call it:
The Animals of Enterprise™
Here is the lens:
Cows — your producers, the parts generating the milk and the butter. They need structure, consistency, and methodical leadership. Take care of them properly and they sustain everything.
Horses — your growth engines. They need fuel, energy, and strong leadership, competitive or humanist. Ride them well and they grow.
Dogs — the ones we love. They wag, they follow, but they eat, and eat, and all they do is poop. If we are not careful, they consume everything. At some point, we have to tell the truth, cap them, send them to the pound, or even kill them for the good of the system.
Shooting Stars — the new ideas. Exciting, important, and dangerous. They stress the cows, spook the horses, and create chaos if left unchecked, so we quarantine them, guardrail them, and let them prove what they are.
Once you start to see your business this way, something shifts.
You stop reacting and start identifying.
You assign the right leadership, the right resources, and the right expectations to the right animal.
And everything begins to settle.
I have turned this into a simple one-page model you can use immediately inside your business, your family enterprise, or your organization.
You can download it here:
https://richchristiansen.com/
Most businesses do not struggle because of lack of effort.
They struggle because they are feeding the wrong animals.
Let’s get the right animals in the right place and move out of chaos and into clarity.
Out of chaos,
Rich Christiansen
P.S. Where have you seen these Animals of Enterprise in your life?
Whenever you’re ready, here are some other ways I can help you:
The Free Values Blueprint Video Course – A step by step journey to help you clearly define your core values, create personal doctrine, and move from force into flow. This is the same process I have used for years with my face-to-face clients.
Free Tools to help Calm the Chaos – Practical frameworks and tools designed to help you regain clarity, steadiness, and alignment in everyday life.
Legado Family– A framework and community centered on strengthening family systems, legacy, and generational integrity.
