If your business feels like it’s on fire, you might be doing something right. Growth is chaotic by nature — and order comes later.

I remember sitting in the cramped office of a founder who had just landed their biggest deal yet. On paper, they were flying. In person? It looked like a war zone. Sticky notes on walls. Phones ringing off the hook. Half-finished onboarding processes. No one could tell me where the latest invoice was — but everyone was running full speed.

“This is a mess,” he said. “I think we’re failing.”

I smiled. “No — you’re evolving.”

The Myth of the Perfect Business

Somewhere along the way, we were sold the myth that successful businesses are smooth, predictable machines — like Swiss watches. That if things aren’t under control, something is wrong.

But real businesses, especially growing ones, don’t operate like clocks. They operate like jungles.

Chaotic. Noisy. Full of overlapping systems, unexpected growth, and survival decisions.

Chaos isn’t a sign of failure. It’s a sign that you’re building something bigger than your current systems can handle.

What Chaos Actually Means

Let’s redefine chaos in business terms:

• It’s more opportunity than you’re staffed to handle.
• It’s decisions made before formal processes exist.
• It’s departments overlapping because your structure hasn’t caught up.
• It’s people stepping outside roles to solve urgent problems.

Yes, it’s messy. But it’s also proof of momentum.

The Jungle Grows Before It’s Tamed

In my consulting work across dozens of companies, I’ve seen this over and over again:

The best businesses experience chaos before clarity.

The successful ones aren’t the ones who avoided the mess — they’re the ones who listened to it. They built systems in response to the chaos, not as a way to escape it.

3 Rules for Thriving in the Mess

1. Don’t rush to clean it up.

Premature structure can kill innovation. Before you start writing SOPs or building workflows, observe the chaos. Where is the real energy? What are people doing that systems don’t yet support?

2. Build systems around natural behavior.

Good systems don’t impose — they absorb. Let your workflows emerge from how your team already solves problems, then design tools to support that.

3. Accept that evolution beats perfection.

The goal isn’t to create a perfect system — it’s to create a living one. One that evolves with the business, adapts, and survives.

Chaos Is Oxygen

Without chaos, there’s no signal. No growth pain. No feedback. It’s oxygen for transformation.

So the next time your business feels overwhelming, don’t panic. Breathe it in. You’re not off track. You’re in the jungle.

And that’s exactly where the strongest businesses are born.