I’ve been growing tomatoes for years and am always looking for ways to improve. There are a couple of schools of thought on how to make the vines more productive. One school advocates for cutting off suckers, the energy consuming growth that does not produce fruit. And what I’ve noticed over the years is that if I don’t, the plant does it itself. When the fruit starts growing and ripening, the plant needs to direct the energy there and the suckers die off on their own. It naturally eliminates non-productive parts.

Nature has a way of demonstrating what should happen. In business, we should look every year for non-productive activities, business lines, services, etc. and eliminate them. Things that don’t produce or support growth should not continue to consume energy or investment that is better used elsewhere.

ChatGPT has been in the news for months now. And it has been incredibly helpful for many people. Writing letters, getting an overview of an industry or a product, summarizing a complex topic. It can do a lot. But it does have a limitation. It’s free database is current through September 2021. As with anything, knowing limitations is important to making decisions with the best information possible.

At the entrance to the trail, there’s a driveway with a chain across it with sign that says “Do Not Block Driveway.” You’re not supposed to block driveways, but just in case, most driveways have a sign. And one day recently, someone parked in the driveway. They were probably so excited to hit the trail, they just missed the sign.

The same thing happens in business all the time. People are excited to get going or not paying attention and they miss the signs that indicate a different action is needed. And that’s why it is so important that leaders make the signs big enough so people don’t miss them.

Somehow they just know. Every year, I grow tomatoes. And somehow the plants know early in the season what the size of the harvest will be. Temperature, light exposure, precipitation. Nature signals the plant telling it what will come. The bigger the harvest, the bigger the stem to support what will come. The plant grows the infrastructure it needs to support what it will produce. And it is usually spot on.

Business isn’t always as intuitive as nature. Leaders don’t always know how fast to build out the infrastructure of an organization such that it is in place as the business grows and fills in. Sometimes the signals are there, other times they aren’t. The trick is to watch for them and build out the infrastructure to support growth.

The battle raged for weeks. The people riding bikes liked long, straight, downhill trails. But those steep, straight trails lead to erosion when it gets rainy. So, the trail keepers created switchbacks years ago, planting over the trail they eliminated. This year, the bikes rode through those plantings and started re-establishing trails. The trail keepers moved logs to block the trails, which were promptly moved by the bikers. After several back and forths, the logs were tossed down the hill. Then piles of thick branches appeared and have been there for a few weeks, signaling the end of the battle.

The battle over the trail design was a classic battle of interest. Bikers wanted straight paths to ride down quickly. Trail keepers want to keep the trails from eroding. These sorts of battles happen all the time in business. People have different interests, and often times come from a place of good intentions. The trick is understanding what is driving the interest and finding common ground.

The crackle of movement through the woods caught our attention. Moments later, a deer came leaping down the hill, across the trail and disappeared into the trees and brush on the other side. It didn’t stopped, it just proceeded full speed ahead. Behind it was another deer that stopped in the brush to observe the two people and dog looking at it from the trail. We stared at each other for a few moments until the deer decided it could proceed leaping down the hill, across the trail and disappear on the other side. Two deer, two approaches.

There are all sorts of business models that are more or less effective depending upon the environment. Like the deer, full speed ahead without worrying about risk can be highly effective. Other times, observing risk before proceeding makes sense. And sometimes either one will work. Figuring out which makes sense and when is important to long term survival.