Evolutionary biologist Edward O. Wilson has spent much of his career studying leafcutter ants. In a book co-authored with Bert Hölldobler,  The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization by Instinct, he argues that their success is due to division of labor. There are four different kinds of leafcutter workers: gardeners, defenders, foragers, and soldiers. Each type of ant is specialized to its task, and together the colony does much better than colonies of non-specialized ant species.

Humans specialize too, and — even better — we can adapt our specialization to each situation: whatever is most important. Here are five business lessons that can be learned from leafcutter ants:

1. Know what you do best, what your strengths are, and focus on what you can contribute that is of greatest value.

2. Collaborate with others on personal growth and professional development, both theirs and yours.

3. Forget about who gets credit for what and celebrate whatever is achieved together.

4. Avoid or eliminate anyone and anything that threatens to undermine mutual respect and trust.

5. Constantly re-evaluate priorities in terms of what is most important and determine division of labor accordingly.

In essence, all natural histories are stories – animal stories, plant stories and stories of how the two interact. This book, while the story of leaf cutter ants – primarily the species of Acromyrmex and Atta – is also the story of their communications and cooperation, their air conditioned architecture and their ability to start, cultivate and protect vast underground galleries of fungi. It is also the story of the fungi and the bacteria the ants use to protect the fungi. The book is 145 pages (with glossary, extensive references clear drawings and outstanding photographs) of jaw dropping examples of how these extraordinary creatures have evolved and how they live now.