The Pod Pays for Losing Its Grandmother at the Next Salmon Shortage, Not the Day She Dies
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The pod pays for losing its grandmother at the next salmon shortage, not the day she dies.
Researchers tracked four decades of census data on resident killer whales off Washington and British Columbia. In a poor salmon year, a whale that lost its grandmother in the past two years faces about 4.5 times the mortality risk of one that didn’t. If she had already stopped breeding, closer to 6.7 times. In a good salmon year the gap nearly disappears.
She held ecological knowledge: where the fish are when there aren’t many. The only way to learn it was to follow her: no records, no formal training, no lateral hiring.
Companies have all three. They still pay for the person.
Kate Gutmann ran UPS’s international, healthcare and supply chain businesses. She retired on September 1 after nearly 37 years, for personal family reasons. UPS promoted Wilfredo Ramos, a 20-year insider, into her seat the same day and kept her as a strategic advisor through March 2027.
Planned exit, internal successor. UPS still bought seven more months of one person’s judgment.
Berkshire went further. It elevated Greg Abel to chief executive on January 1 and kept Warren Buffett, 96, as chairman. Buffett initiated the Alphabet position. Abel added to it this year, to roughly $37 billion at the last filing. Buffett in July: Abel “is the decider.”
But does Abel adding to a position Buffett started read as conviction or as deference? The title has moved. The judgment may not have. A second handover, from a 96-year-old chairman, is still ahead.
We weigh every retention arrangement against the successor’s first downturn. An advisory term that expires before it arrives hasn’t bought much.
UPS also created a commercial strategy seat and hasn’t filled it. Matt Guffey ran strategy and marketing until September 1. He now runs the U.S. business. Ramos can call Gutmann until March. Whoever takes the new seat can call Guffey, if Guffey has the time.
Which of those two UPS seats would worry you more?
🔗 Source: Postreproductive Killer Whale Grandmothers Improve the Survival of Their Grandoffspring
