It’s a shame that Jonathan Cook’s blog, This Human Business, hasn’t updated in a while because it offers plenty of interesting ideas. One I particularly like is using the metaphor of a garden to describe a business. He recorded an entire podcast episode exploring that comparison. Growing a business is a lot like tending a garden, and Cook makes a point to dive deep into the human component of both business and gardens.
Cook traces the very beginnings of business to the gardens of nomads, thousands of years ago. As they slowly decided to quit their roving and put down roots (more gardening metaphors), gardens became sites of trade and negotiation. Imagine being an early gardener. You have more beans than you could ever use, but no tomatoes. The gardener one field over had plenty of tomatoes, but could really use some beans. In no time, you’d become business partners. Like today, growing your business in those times meant finding ways to meet the needs of your customers.
Cook goes on to think about the variety of plants we cultivate in our garden. As he says, gardeners have a saying to describe the community of plants they are working to support: “Right plant, right place.” Most gardens thrive only when we find the right balance of plants, and through variety, our garden becomes stronger. It works the same way as we work on growing a business. The strongest businesses are composed of a variety of people, with skills, backgrounds, and stories that complement each other. Through variety, both gardens and businesses become stronger.
Like gardens, businesses need to be fed. The compost of business is new ideas. Like compost, ideas sometimes need to be tossed around and mixed up so they get air to breathe. It’s good to air out new ideas and new approaches because they support growing a business. Cook also makes the point that sometimes gardens, and businesses, grow in ways we didn’t plan. Sometimes the plant we didn’t expect, or even want, flourishes into something beautiful. I guess it’s the concept of the “pretty weed.”
Bugs, too, which we don’t usually think of as something positive, can have their uses. In our garden, bugs are pollinators. The garden won’t thrive without them. In business, bugs are the challenges that we must manage in order to ensure our business grows.
Like tending a garden, growing a business takes patience, attention to detail, the right materials, and passion. Most importantly, grow your business the same way you’d grow your garden: with love. The efforts are worthwhile. There are few things as satisfying as seeing your business thrive, or enjoying one of your own home-grown tomatoes.
Jack Fallon
