Alain explores how Ernest Gmunder uses tree metaphors to explain the benefits of an hybrid operating model to the companies he advises. In this hybrid model, a company is considered as a “tree”. This is his way to go beyond the “agile” buzzword. Ernest recognises that the organisation behind a product line, the “branches” in the tree, needs agility to serve well its customers. But these branches need to be supported by a common "trunk" of shared functions, like billing, that provides scale and efficiency. This is a very original and elegant illustration of what was presented in the “Living Being Everywhere” episode.