The Red Queen is a fictional character from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass. In the book, the Red Queen explains to Alice that her world works differently: “Here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast!” 

Subsequently, the Red Queen Hypothesis was created to explain many concepts in evolutionary biology: 

• A continuous race among interacting species: As one species evolves a new adaptation, its competitors, predators, prey or parasites also must evolve to counteract that change and maintain their relative fitness. 

• Staying in the same place: Even with constant evolution, the well-being of a species in its environment might not actually improve over long periods. If a species stops evolving, it risks falling behind and potentially facing extinction. 

• Reciprocal evolution: This can be seen in predator-prey relationships (faster predators select for faster prey, which in turn selects for even faster predators); host-parasite interactions (hosts evolve resistance, parasites evolve to overcome them); and even among coexisting species (for instance, those that are harmonious but rely on the same food or water sources). 

The Red Queen and your career 

It’s unsurprising that the Red Queen’s warning can also be applied to business and professional development. In essence, it highlights that ongoing effort and growth are fundamental requirements for staying competitive and progressing in a constantly evolving professional landscape. This might translate to embracing change, pursuing continuous learning and development, or taking on projects that feel a bit outside of your wheelhouse. Importantly, the imperative to evolve comes not from aspirational pursuits, such as a promotion, but from the need to continue providing value in an environment where even running your fastest might not be enough. 

Following is a list of key themes related to how to advance professionally by adapting and growing, viewed through the lens of the Red Queen Hypothesis: 

• Continuous skill development: Just like species must always be evolving in order to survive, people need to continuously acquire new skills and knowledge to remain relevant in a dynamic job market. Stagnation, even with past successes, will lead to falling behind as others advance. 

• Embrace lifelong learning: The running in the Red Queen's world equates to a commitment to lifelong learning. This includes formal education, certifications, industry conferences, online courses and seeking out new experiences and challenges within your current role. And it requires proactively seeking opportunities for growth, rather than just reacting to required changes. 

• Adaptability as a core competency: Learning and maximizing new technologies, changing with industry trends, redesigning organizational structures, and problem-solving to address unexpected challenges are all crucial. Professionals who resist change will find themselves increasingly out of sync with the demands of their field. 

• Cultivating a growth mindset: A belief in your ability to learn and grow is essential for embracing the continuous evolution demanded by the Red Queen dynamic. Seeing challenges as opportunities for development, rather than fixed limitations, fuels career advancement. 

• Collaboration and networking: The professional landscape is also a co-evolutionary environment. Building strong networks and working well with others exposes you to new ideas, opportunities and perspectives, fostering your own growth and keeping you competitive. 

• Embracing innovation and experimentation: The business world rewards those who innovate and find new solutions. Monitoring industry trends, technological advancements and the shifting needs of your field allows you to anticipate demands and proactively develop the necessary skills to meet them. This is about running in the right direction as well as running fast. Also be willing to experiment, take calculated risks and learn from failures to "run at least twice as fast" as the competition. 

• Feedback and self-assessment: Just as species are subject to the selection pressures of their environment, professionals need to actively seek feedback on their performance and identify areas for improvement. Regular self-assessment helps you understand where you can improve. 

The Red Queen and your management style 

So, what’s keeps your team members from running faster; and, perhaps more importantly, why are you, as a manager, sometimes ineffective at encouraging them to do so? 

Adapting and evolving as a management practice can be remarkably difficult. To overcome the inherent challenges, it's important to keep in mind that change typically involves more than a documented update to an employee’s responsibilities and an expectation to reshape interactions with others. Indeed, change can significantly affect a person’s sense of value or belonging. 

Change management is often taught through a commitment curve, which explains the stages of personal transition as an individual’s support of an organizational change increases over time and with exposure. The curve implies that a manager should identify an individual’s current stage and provide the requisite information to help them reach the next level. 

While the commitment curve might explain the markers and milestones of change management, it doesn’t offer much insight into the nuances of resistance. Those in leadership positions should therefore be careful not to oversimplify this effort or underestimate its significance. The central challenge is how to encourage change, continuous learning and development. Given that evolving environments are uncertain by design — and people are likely trying to understand how to make sense of these scenarios — it follows that individuals struggle with the idea of knowing if and how a particular action will lead to a successful outcome. 

You can help by sending clear signals that change is desirable, creativity is encouraged and failures are acceptable. It is also imperative to understand the norms that your team has grown accustomed to within the organization and if any course correction or compensation are needed to ensure the right actions are being shared and reinforced. 

You also must account for the context not only with the individual and team, but also at the departmental or organizational levels. There may be a general willingness to embrace change and express creativity. But if there is a distinguished resistance in the broader organization, this will limit the amount of change that can be driven or supported by one person. 

Finally, managers often see the need to run more clearly than their teams. Therefore, it is your responsibility to lead. The Red Queen can help with this too: 

• Embrace the treadmill: As you've now learned, in a dynamic environment, standing still equates to falling behind. Clearly communicate to your team that continuous adaptation and improvement are not optional extras, but necessary for the team's and individual's sustained success and relevance. 

• Foster a culture of perpetual motion: Encourage a mindset of continuous learning and proactive evolution, rather than reactive responses to immediate threats. Highlight that even incremental improvements contribute to staying competitive in the long run. 

• Lead with speed: When significant change is required to truly advance, articulate the need for a more substantial effort. Clearly define the desired future state and the compelling reasons for the increased effort, connecting it to tangible benefits and opportunities. 

Ultimately, the Red Queen Hypothesis serves as a potent reminder for both individual professionals and the managers who lead them: In a constantly shifting landscape, whether biological or professional, sustained success isn't about reaching a static endpoint but embracing relentless movement. By understanding this imperative, fostering a culture of adaptability and growth, and actively leading the charge for change, you can empower your teams to not just keep pace, but to outrun the competition and thrive in the long run. 

Read more about The Red Queen Hypothesis for dynamic teams in the next blog post in this series.

Editor’s note: Some of the information in this blog has been updated to reflect current research and insights. The original publish date was March 1, 2019.