wonder 404

A gardener sees the world as a system of interdependent parts -

where healthy, sustaining relationships are essential to the vitality of the whole.

"A real gardener is not a person who cultivates flowers, but a person who cultivates the soil."

In business this has translated for me into the importance of developing agreements and partnerships

where vision and values, purpose and intent are explicitly articulated,

considered and aligned among all stakeholders of an enterprise - 

customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders,

and the broader community and natural environment.

I've learned that it's not just what you plant,

but how you plant it that brings long - term rewards
in life, work and the garden.

Gardeners know that once strong roots are established, growth is often exponential rather than linear.

Gardeners, like entrepreneurs

are obsessed with latent potential -

and can be known to be 

pathologically optimistic.

We can vividly imagine the bloom

and the scent of the rose

even in deepest of winter.

As the American naturalist

Henry David Thoreau once wrote:

"I have great faith in a seed.

Convince me that you have a seed there,

and I am prepared to expect wonders."

I am just coming to understand

this work of business gardening -

and investing in keeping people healthy -

as an act of universal responsibility.

His Holiness Dalai Lama reminds me:

"Each of us must learn to work

not just for one self,

one's own family or one's nation,

but for the benefit of all humankind.

Universal responsibility
is the key to human survival.

It is the best foundation for world peace.