Author, commentator and Pulitzer Prize winner, Thomas Friedman shared recently some principles from his encounter with Mother Nature after he asked Her ask about strategies for resilience and propulsion when the climate changes.

After reeling out the strategies, Friedman concluded ‘that the company, the community, the country, the city, the town that most closely mirrors Mother Nature’s strategies for building resilience and propulsion when the climate changes, is the one that will thrive in this age of acceleration. ‘

Unfortunately, Friedman didn’t include the individual in his categorisation but surely, there is a huge space for the individual in that group, and as we place some details from the life of the world’s current richest female musician, Rihanna, beside some of these principles, we can more easily see why her fascinating results can be reproduced.

According to Friedman, Mother Nature’s first principle for producing resilience and propulsion when the climate changes is adaptability. She told him, ‘She’s incredibly adaptive. In her world, it’s not the strongest that survive, not the smartest that survive. It’s the most adaptive that survive. And she teaches that lesson through a process called natural selection.’

Looking for evidence of Rihanna’s adaptability?

Consider the following: She makes music, goes on tours, streams music, appears in movies on a regular basis.

Mother Nature’s second principle to Friedman is that She is ‘incredibly entrepreneurial. Wherever she sees a blank spot in nature, she fills it with a plant or animal perfectly adapted to that niche.’

Looking for evidence of Rihanna’s entrepreneurial side?

Consider the following:

She invested in Tidal, the music streaming service; she’s made significant investments in beauty, make-up, clothing lines, etc. And she has made significant investments in real estate.

Another of Mother Nature’s principles, which can be observed from a close monitoring of Rihanna’s success is what Friedman described thus: ‘I noticed that my ecosystems that are the most resilient and propulsive build complex adaptive systems where all the parts network together. The soil, the plants, the animals, the trees, they network together. That really maximizes their resilience and propulsion.’

Looking for evidence of Rihanna’s networking side?

Consider her many partnerships with the likes of LVMH, Puma, Armani, Dior, MAC and the others.