Leadership: Tale of Two Tomatoes

A few weeks ago, in early August, I added two tomato plants to our garden.

We can do this in Southern California because it results in a fall corp.

And something remarkable happened.

One of the plants is now almost twice the size of the other.

Why?

The larger plant is in a place that receives more sunlight. So, of course, it's doing better.

The same thing happens in your office.

The employees who receive more sunlight outperform the rest. In business, that sunlight appears as praise, training, and encouragement.

So here is an amazing possibility: What if you gave everyone a generous amount of sunlight? Could this make a difference? Is there any chance that adding some praise, training, and encouragement might make your employees more effective? More productive?

Could this make your business more profitable?

At this point there's some critic who's thinking, "My people have to earn these rewards."

I suppose, I could have used the same approach in my garden. I could have told the tomato plants that I'd give more sunlight to the one that produced the most tomatoes. Of course, you know what would happen. I'd end up with two small plants and few tomatoes.

PS > I added a third tomato plant two days ago. This time, I put the plant in the best possible location (i.e., most sunlight). I did that because I'm growing tomatoes, not trying to ration sunlight.

Key Point: Leaders inspire greatness by being a source of light.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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