Learning and unlearning can happen anywhere. My apartment garden has become my classroom. It helped me realise that a gardener and a business tycoon need very similar lessons to thrive.
I failed over 8 times in growing a money plant as a simple climber in water. From there, I have created a terrace garden with over 10 veggies and a lot of house plants to refresh my space.
My Apartment Oasis: How 50 Plants Became My Unlikely Business Mentors?
My daughter’s favourite hideout place is this 5 feet tall plantfall (like a waterfall). Why do I have this?
Somehow this act of nurturing really soothes me. It has helped me stay calmer. I guess that’s what is called ‘garden therapy’. Now, gardening is a serious hobby for me. And, I do a bit of pruning, tilling or propagating for atleast 30 – 40 mins every other day.
My home is a mini jungle with plant mementos of different species. They are on the walls, in my balconies, outside in the corridor, utility area, inside my house, and everywhere.
A friend of mine calls them my “Plant pets”.
From Seedlings to CEOs: How my addiction to gardening taught me 3 business lessons?
Top 3 lessons that I learnt from my Plant Pets
Lesson #1: Resilience is possible when you remain rooted.
Plants are a very resilient species, and so are humans.
But, why is it that we humans cannot be resilient all the time. Only because we are not rooted enough. Comeback Stories of Steve Jobs and Sam Altman to Apple and Open.AI talk about this. They were called back to their original position after being fired from their own company. This tells us their soil stayed nurtured and they remained rooted. Their soil has been their tribe and internal compass.
I have learnt that plants thrive better in a nursery rather than a newly adopted home. Why is it? Because there are similar plants surrounding every sapling. They feel belonged and can communicate. I’m not saying this because I feel it.
They have a tribe to feel belonged. Dr. Perez Barrales found in his research clear evidence that the seedling and nurse tree beside it were more likely to thrive when grown together, compared to either plant growing alone.
This tribe helps even an entrepreneur jump back into action.
Lesson #2: Cloning is inevitable when you grow.
Propagation is a “must” after every 6 months for a house plant. With every growth spurt, plants grow faster and bigger than before. If they are not pruned or grafted well enough to be propagated, they die either because of a disease or they whittle. Diseases could get contagious killing other plants too.
If a leader does not expend enough effort to clone herself and make more people like her, then the organization will remain diseased. Or it will meet its diminishing growth. A leader needs to create more people like herself. Start cloning.
Lesson #3: Be prepared for your creation to be somebody else’s reward.
Whatever the crop yields, the plants don’t sit and eat. The plant’s creation is always given away rather taken by humans, us. It could be the fruits, leaves, roots, stem, or flowers. We enjoy its creation and we are rewarded by its yield. I have had a huge success with greens, tomatoes, carrots and radish in my terrace garden.
Even in business, if I create something, it also needs to be propagated in no time, when done well. If we are creating a product that is extremely consumable, it will be taken away. The customers will nurture the business to have more of it.
Whatever is being created, it will be someone else’s reward. In business, if your creation (product or solution) is not being someone else’s reward, then it won’t spread.
Bonus lesson: The seed that we sow or the sapling that we graft determines the plant that comes out of it.
Why talk about it now?
I have been giving away plants that I propagated to many of my neighbours and friends. Over the years, it feels like I have become a friendly official gardening consultant for many in my neighborhood.
I recently discovered that today, the 14th of April is the National Gardening Day. If you work from home, plant pets can be very easy to care for and save some good head space for you with their aura.
They help you focus and refocus while you are working from home.
For all work from home folks out there, happy to help you start ‘gardening as a hobby’.
DM me. It’s just a friendly gesture.
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