Today, a friend of mine brought an interesting video/concept to my attention. Ants are blind and when they travel to collect food, they follow a leader based on scent. This gets a little dicey as the leader isn't a designated ant, its just the one who happens to be walking in the front of the pack. So, a major problem can arise when an ant from the middle of the pack veers off course and suddenly moves to front of the group. The effect is that the pack doubles back on itself and the result is thousands of ants marching in a spiral until they die of starvation. The article is from NPR and can be found here. There is a pretty neat video on there too.
In terms of a small business, this idea of playing a deadly game of follow the leader is a little scary. Not having a clear reference point to your goals and not having the right person leading the way can be catastrophic. If your vision for your company isn't clear and you are easily taken off track, much like the ants, productivity will cease until your company eventually starves to death.
