Tallest Trees

Posted on June 17th, 2009 by Kindling Spirits and currently 3 commenting.

The following post comes from Brandy Amidon, one of Brains on Fire’s CPAs and the Princess of Particulars.

I just finished one of the most thought-provoking books I’ve ever read. “The Seven-Day Weekend” by Ricardo Semler (support your local booksellers!!) was recommended to me by Ron Baker, our BFF & anti-time-sheet guru. I could talk about a million different astounding points Ricardo makes throughout his book regarding how Semco company operates everyday: How the employees decide who is hired, which ideas go forward, when they want to work, what meetings they want to attend and which department they want to work in.

But one quote keeps coming back to mind. “The tallest trees are the first to get struck by lightning.” Semler is referring to company growth and how every company strives for continued growth. But here’s his point: It’s not organic or natural to continue growth forever. A tree doesn’t continue to grow exponentially in the forest and neither will a company in the real world. Eventually, the tallest tree is struck down and another one comes up in its place.

I started thinking about why companies place so much emphasis on growth. I completely understand the urgency of ROI for shareholders and investors. But what happens when the focus is solely on growth, increasing net income, increasing the number of employees/stores or creating yet another joint venture?

We lose site of our first priority, which should be to focus on the qualities that make us unique. Then, strive to perfect them or change them completely into something totally new & innovative. We should want to create sustainable companies that add value to people’s lives and continue to do so for many years. We don’t want to lose sight of what drives us to come to work everyday and truly make a difference.

If we only focus on growth, we are increasing our chances of being the next big tree in the forest to get struck down.