THOUGHTS FROM A TROPICAL RAINFOREST

Well, it's been a while since I last wrote on this particular blog. The past few weeks (months) have been really exciting and I've embarked on various new personal and business projects. These have been quite time consuming but they have been most rewarding.

Recently, I purchased a book called "Rainforest Strategy" by Michael Q. Pink and I thought that in this post I'd summarise a few pages of the book for your benefit. There is also an enclosure link to his website (www.rainforeststrategy.com). As the name suggests, the book is about the rainforests with a bias toward tropical rainforests. In essence this book presents a business model based on the ecology of the world's rainforests. Tropical rainforests are the most productive and fruitful ecosystems in the world and they teach us how to "transform scarcity into abundance". If we reverse engineer the processes that they employ we will find a wealth of wisdom which allows us to move to greatness in business and, I believe, in our personal lives as well.

Tropical rainforests are different to so-called temperate rainforests. What makes them unique is their ability to produce abundance? Three things, viz. light, warmth and moisture. Let's look at each and what each translates to in terms of business and personal life.

1. Sunlight in Abundance
Tropical rainforests are positioned around the globe along the equator line. Exposure to sunlight is pretty consistent all year around and the times for sunrise and sunset hardly vary from day to day.
Light speaks of vision. What does vision do? It generates the energy that is required to break inertia and spur one (or a business) into action. Vision is what drives us into our future. It's critical to be clear on what your vision is - set time aside to review what your vision is. See it. Think it. Write it down. Talk about it. In a business context, make it an integral part of business discussion at all levels within an organisation. Of course vision changes over time and you / the business grows, so keep reviewing it and let it grow with you. Remember that there are many people / business organisations that have sight but little vision. Be strong on vision.

2. Warm Temperature
It follows that if sunlight is consistent, then there will be consistently higher temperatures and this will be so even on the shaded rainforest floor. It speaks of incubation and encouragement. Often in business, there is a macho, self-preserving culture which manifests itself in management being rather conservative and selective in the amount of "true" encouragement given to employees and to peers. (Maybe it's a fear that sub-ordinates could excel and take their jobs?). The rainforest teaches us to practice encouragement and to foster a culture of sharing of new ideas, innovations, suggestions, etc. It teaches us to nurture, protect (not in a mothering sense), offer praise, et al. Failure is treated as an opportunity for new / stimulated growth. William Arthur Ward is an inspirational writer who said the following: "Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticise me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you". At a personal level, my experience is that as I encourage others I receive the same back. It's a case of reaping what I sow. I have learnt that the word encourage literally means to fill with courage or strength of purpose. Remember the following words - affirm, listen, enquire, empathise, minimise and offset, observe, deny and correct. What does each mean to you?

3. Rain in Abundance
"Water is analogous to information/communication. Half of the rain a rainforest receives comes from outside sources like the ocean, and the other half comes from its own processes of transpiration where water evaporates from the leaves back into the air".
In a business context, this means gathering marketing intelligence, listening to internal and external stakeholders, et al. It means gathering, evaluating, and disseminating useful information. Information is quite unique in that it has the capacity to create value.
In application to our personal growth, it's about seeing the world through our eyes AND through the eyes of others. It's about learning, asking questions, reading more, listening to tapes and CD's that will help us in our vision. It's not about "navel-gazing".
Rainforests in the Amazon region have very deep roots and even in dry weather they still flourish. Why? They are able to access those deep reservoirs of water and in combination with abundant sunlight they prosper. Thus, in business/personal life, the power of vision combined with depth of knowledge = prosperity.

I encourage you to get the book and to learn from the rainforests. Nature has so much to teach us. Remember that know-how is essential to fulfilling your dream.

"Within you right now is the power to do things you never dreamed possible. This power becomes available to you just as soon as you can change your beliefs" - Maxwell Maltz