I remember as a kid my family planting a tree on Arbor day. It was quite an event; we all went outside, dug a deep hole and carefully placed our little sapling in its place with lots of tender love. We filled it’s hole up carefully with manure and stood round auspiciously as if waiting for a tree to begin growing instantly. Finally, my mom said some words about how ‘we were changing the world’ and, with the act done, we left … almost in an anti climax … with the tree still a sapling.
For the first year I waited expectantly for the tree to grow. Regularly checking on its progress and measuring how much it had grown. I was probably eight or nine at the time. Eventually I gave up. The other day I passed my parents home and was struck by this magnificent tree that stood on their verge with kingly branches and lush foliage. It stood confident and of age, nothing like that spindly sapling we planted twenty five years before.
What boggles me as I look at that tree now is how all that growth, that life, that incredible power to split
sand and stone came from within a tiny seed. Everything that our tree needed to become mighty was contained
in something smaller than a piece of chewing gum. How remarkable.
What is my point? I think business is not too dissimilar to our tree or seed.
We start with something tiny and insignificant and yet infinitely powerful under the right conditions and care. With time, nurture and patience a little idea can become something kingly. Something that can truly change the world.
At Tomfoolery I would like us to be mature. To take the long view of things. To look beyond our infantile inclinations to a natural process that is bigger than us. To trust in the power of growth over time, to yield to patience.
I hope that makes sense. Patiently change the world.
Love
Tom