I'm told that in agricultural societies, young children ask, "How do you grow a baby?" Only in industrialized societies do children ask about "making" one. What's interesting to me is that these aren't merely two different ways of asking the same thing. They are two fundamentally different questions, with two fundamentally different sets of underlying assumptions.
"Making" something implies that the maker will be doing most of the work. It implies an essentially independent view of the world, with independent actors "doing" things "to" other things, and to other people for that matter. In an independent world, everything becomes an object. People are "objects" of our affection, of our desire, of our wrath. People can be made: "I made you, and I can break you!"; "He's a self-made man." And a business, in this world, is also "made" - through "sweat equity" and lots of hard work - with the results attributed to the "maker."
[Photo of Sanzen-in garden from Bowdoin College's website on Japanese gardens]
But "growing" something is an entirely different matter. Growing something implies that the thing itself will be intimately involved in the creation process. (An acorn will grow into an oak tree quite on its own.) It also implies an essentially interdependent view of the world. Growing things involves sun, water, soil, air - in fact, it involves an entire ecology. And if you think of a zen garden (rather than industrialized agriculture), you'll see that growing things in a particular direction involves lots of very small adjustments. A bit more water here today, a small snip off that plant just there, and then wait until tomorrow to see how things look.
Thinking of "growing" a business instead of "building" one has the same implications. It implies, first of all, that a lot of attention should go into the initial conditions. Things like the vision for the business, the branding and message, the code of conduct (the ethics by which the business will be run), the initial team, the funding level (and therefore the projected growth rate) - these should receive the focus of our attention. Beyond this, a business is grown one day at a time, making small adjustments in order to ensure that the growth is following the pattern of our initial intentions.
It also implies that a good bit of the growth will happen organically, without any direct intervention. How is that possible? In an interdependent world, it is not only possible, it is expected. As more and more people hear about the vision, some will be especially energized by the idea. They will want to hear more about it. They will want to spread the word to others. More and more people will express their interest in the business vision. This is organic growth, and the fruits of that growth (the cash return on our initial investment) will follow.
So what does it really take to grow a business? It takes wise attention to the initial parameters, and it takes time to let that growth unfold. Time must be built into the business plan, and time must be built into our expectations. And unless a true emergency arises, it takes mostly very small adjustments, day to day, to keep the direction of that growth on track. You don't have to force a business to grow. You just have to watch over it. Protect it, nurture it, and a good business seed will grow itself.
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If you like the idea of "growing" a business as a better metaphor than "building" one, I highly recommend Carmine Coyote's "Slow Leadership" blog. As Carmine says, "Real leadership isn't an instant activity any more than a healthy diet is a hamburger, fries and a large soda." (I especially recommend Carmine's May 1 post on Slow Leadership as a great introduction.)
