On January 11, 2017, a new Osborne Principal, Gail Picco, posted a blog titled “Fired Up and Ready to Go”. As a fellow Osborne Principal, I certainly appreciated Gail’s natural enthusiasm, something I really needed, especially during this most dismal part of our lengthy Canadian winters. I look for any opportunity to brighten things up and Gail’s article certainly helped.
My own enthusiasm tends to be at a low ebb this time of year and I have long searched for effective antidotes. I have recently discovered one – and it is free!
Simply order a seed catalogue from Stokes or Veseys or whoever. When I leaf through the colourful, carefully cropped pictures, they take me away in time and space. No longer am I a prisoner in my dreary office, surrounded with crumpled wrappers containing the vestiges of Christmas chocolate. I become ‘Fired Up and Ready to Grow’
A couple of weeks ago began with Blue Monday, considered to be the most depressing day of the year. The very next day was a steady freezing rain that had me donning my golf shoes just to fetch the morning paper at the end of our long rural driveway. But make no never mind, for I am coping, having been whisked away by the seed catalogue and my imagination to my special place – standing in the middle of the world’s most perfect vegetable garden.
Not a weed in sight. Not a single bug. Warm sun on my face. Each seed planted has properly germinated a respectful distance from the next plant in the row. No blight threatens. Each piece of fruit is full and perfect. Yes, deep down I know this is escapism. But I alone am not to blame for plunging into this dream state. Equally culpable are the seed companies that produce this plant propaganda.
The pictures are so vivid they border on the edible. The names given to different varieties elevate the mundane to the evocative. Examples include Rattlesnake (beans) Bull’s Blood (beets) Yaya Organic (carrots) Summer Dance (cucumber) Trout Back (lettuce) Red Meat (radish) Fat n’ Sassy (peppers) Kaleidoscope (swiss chard).
To be fair, the catalogues do indicate that growing veggies is not without some downsides. However, this fact is veiled by making positive reference to how very resistant their seeds and plants are to various diseases. These attributes are presented as reassuring characteristics. But they do point to the many things that can and do go wrong in the propagation of plants. Some sobering examples in the fine print include “tolerant to Black Rot” (broccoli) “resistant to tip burn” (cabbage) “bred to be much less attractive to rust flies” (carrots).
Clearly then, a vegetable garden, like life, is not a bed of roses. But then again, nothing really is. So I do not blame the seed catalogues for the hyperbole. In fact, during the depths of winter, I welcome the hyperbole; it keeps the cabin fever at bay.
As an Osborne Principal, I have also studied these publications from a broader business perspective. They remind me of the universal nature of the keys to success in the marketplace – knowing your customers, what they are looking for, and how to use words and images that will resonate and motivate.
Visit Osborne-group.com for other Principals’ ideas and opinions on a range of topics. The Osborne Group provides interim executive management, consulting and project support across all sectors and over a broad scope of service areas.
