It is probably in my top 5 phrases I can't stand hearing. In meetings. On TV. The news even. "Low hanging fruit". This phrase conjures up so many less than ideal images. Testicles being one of them. It is a phrase that is slung around any time someone refuses to admit they are being lazy. It sounds better than "we would have to work for anything else". It ranks up there with "fast track" and "short cut". A pseudo-intellectual way of saying....the other way is too hard.
Now I have fallen victim to the low hanging fruit diet. It happens. I mean the fruit is right there. And if your hungry enough it can be the only way to survive. The problem is it is also extremely addictive. Low hanging fruit is much like any other drug or habit. It feels good to eat the soggy flesh of low hanging fruit. If your stomach is empty, if you are desperate, you may even believe that it saves your life. But if you are not careful a diet rich in low hanging fruit will make you fat, not fit. And in many ways leave you worse off than if you would have climbed the tree with your remaining strength to grab the more health sustaining high hanging fruit.
Three years ago I was talking with some colleagues about "low hanging fruit". We talked about how annoying it was that the company we worked for was always aiming for that fruit versus aiming higher. NOTE that was 3 years ago. Recently the company I work for has drastically changed course, for the better. This conversation, however, got the old noggin churning and made me think of a visual. I am a visual learner. It has always been that way. While I am not an artist at all, I think in pictures. When I have an idea for a product I always think of the commercial I would shoot for it. It helps me figure out what the product needs to do. I figure if I can think of how I would talk about it, how I want the world to see it, then I will know what it needs to do.
The vision was of a forest. In the forest are many trees and three types of animals that fed off of these trees. Each of the trees produce fruit year round. The fruit on the trees all look the same and provide the exact same nutrition. For all intents and purposes the trees are the same when compared to each other. But on each tree the fruit changes slightly depending on where it grows on the tree.
Fruit on the bottom of the trees, closest to the ground is usually very sweet. While this fruit is full of sugar and can sustain the animals it is generally not very good for them. This fruit is sweet and soft because it is meant to give the animals in the forest a quick burst of energy when things are getting rough. It is readily available as emergency food. Because it is sweet and easily digestible the ants that also live in the forest are attracted to this fruit. The fruit is plentiful but often it is rotten. While it gives the animals what they need it can make them sick if they eat this fruit as their primary source of nutrition.
Higher up the tree is the same fruit, but this fruit isn't as sweet. The flesh is a little firmer and isn't as easily digested as the fruit below it. This fruit stays in the animal's system a little longer and provides a little more continuous nutrition. In short, it lasts longer. Because the fruit isn't as sweet or soft the ants don't really take after it like the low hanging fruit. This fruit though, is picked over by certain animals. Sometimes the fruit is bruised and half eaten. The animals that eat this fruit are usually busy being busy and don't have much time to fully enjoy the fruit. They run from tree to tree taking a bite from here and there. Getting the nutrition so they can run. For running's sake.
At the top of the tree is the best fruit. Perfectly ripe all the time. The fruit is sweet but not too sweet and the flesh is just the right firmness to stay in the animal's stomach for a long time. This fruit provides continuous nutrition. Since this fruit does such a great job of keeping the animal's fed that it isn't as plentiful. This allows the fruit that is on the tree to soak up the sun without competing with each other and that is what makes the fruit such a delicacy. More importantly this is the fruit that holds the seeds that are most likely to germinate. In fact, the seeds in the fruit at the lower levels very rarely germinate. The trees need the top fruit as much as the animals.
That's a lot of tree talk. Sorta feeling like Bob Ross right now. Now that we have learned about the fruit, let's learn about the animals that eat the fruit. The forest is like any ecosystem. Each player has their role. The trees provide nutrition and the animals keep the trees going by spreading the seeds from the fruit. The trees need to the animals just as badly as the animals need the fruit. Now I feel like someone in the cast of the Lion King.
The animals are divided into three distinct species. Each have evolved because of their surroundings and have survived for years by their practices. Arguably each has been successful but the quality of life they enjoy is varying. The animals live the way they live but can change form if they wish. The forest, the trees call out to them to evolve but often they don't. Depending the diet they eat the signal to change form to a more advantageous form could be muted by desire for quick energy. Only when the animals interact, do they get a glimpse of what may be possible. It is possible to change but you have to quit dining on the addictive low hanging fruit to gain the clarity, to the find the strength to change.
The first species is the pig. This animal dines primarily on low hanging fruit. It often sets at the same tree eating the same fruit. The more the pig eats the low hanging fruit the more it craves the low hanging fruit. The irony is that the fruit is designed for quick bursts of energy but the pig is the least energetic of the species. The pig has to fight the ants, other pigs and the other animal species for the low hanging fruit. And the pig has learned the best way to do that is to stay put. Stand their ground. Wait for the fruit to grow. The pig doesn't seek new trees. It stays stagnant and eats, eats, eats. Pigs are a large group and all look the same.
The second species is the horse. The horse is worker. Sturdy and fast. It moves from tree to tree to tree. Often going back to it's favorite tree but always moving. Taking a bite here a bite there. As the horse moves frantically through the forest it blindly bites at fruit from the middle and even the low hanging fruit. Depending on it's direction and speed it may only eat the middle fruit. The horse has no master. No direction. It just runs and eats. Eats and runs. This leaves the fruit bruised and seeds damaged. Horses are a large group as well but not as large as the pigs. The horses come in a few varieties. Some faster than others. Some larger than others. But at the end of the day they are all horses. Horses very rarely compete with each other. They are too busy running to compete.
The third species is the monkey. Monkeys think and are fast. Monkeys slow down when they need to and sit in the tree tops watching the new trees grow. Monkeys talk to each other about how the forest is growing. Monkeys watch the horses and pigs and wish they would evolve. When they want to, the monkeys will swing down and ride the horse from tree to tree. The monkeys usually only eat from the top of the tree. But when they are visiting the horses and the pigs they pick from the middle and low hanging fruits. They remain careful to not become addicted or devolve. Monkeys are happy, thoughtful and varied. Very few look the same. Some are tall. Some are short. Some are grey. Some are blue or pink. They respect the trees, the forest. They commune with it and ask it questions versus waiting for answers.
It is shocking to me that our society, in business or otherwise, has become so short sighted. The problems we face are really no different than they have ever been. Our reactions and patience is what has changed. The more reactive we are the worse the world will be. Proactively seeking solutions to pain, hurt and general crapiness is what will keep the trees growing, the fruit ripe. Slopping around with other pigs will only bruise the fruit and ruin the forest of our lives.
Be a monkey. The fruit is better and it is better for the forest.
Now I have fallen victim to the low hanging fruit diet. It happens. I mean the fruit is right there. And if your hungry enough it can be the only way to survive. The problem is it is also extremely addictive. Low hanging fruit is much like any other drug or habit. It feels good to eat the soggy flesh of low hanging fruit. If your stomach is empty, if you are desperate, you may even believe that it saves your life. But if you are not careful a diet rich in low hanging fruit will make you fat, not fit. And in many ways leave you worse off than if you would have climbed the tree with your remaining strength to grab the more health sustaining high hanging fruit.
Three years ago I was talking with some colleagues about "low hanging fruit". We talked about how annoying it was that the company we worked for was always aiming for that fruit versus aiming higher. NOTE that was 3 years ago. Recently the company I work for has drastically changed course, for the better. This conversation, however, got the old noggin churning and made me think of a visual. I am a visual learner. It has always been that way. While I am not an artist at all, I think in pictures. When I have an idea for a product I always think of the commercial I would shoot for it. It helps me figure out what the product needs to do. I figure if I can think of how I would talk about it, how I want the world to see it, then I will know what it needs to do.
The vision was of a forest. In the forest are many trees and three types of animals that fed off of these trees. Each of the trees produce fruit year round. The fruit on the trees all look the same and provide the exact same nutrition. For all intents and purposes the trees are the same when compared to each other. But on each tree the fruit changes slightly depending on where it grows on the tree.
Fruit on the bottom of the trees, closest to the ground is usually very sweet. While this fruit is full of sugar and can sustain the animals it is generally not very good for them. This fruit is sweet and soft because it is meant to give the animals in the forest a quick burst of energy when things are getting rough. It is readily available as emergency food. Because it is sweet and easily digestible the ants that also live in the forest are attracted to this fruit. The fruit is plentiful but often it is rotten. While it gives the animals what they need it can make them sick if they eat this fruit as their primary source of nutrition.
Higher up the tree is the same fruit, but this fruit isn't as sweet. The flesh is a little firmer and isn't as easily digested as the fruit below it. This fruit stays in the animal's system a little longer and provides a little more continuous nutrition. In short, it lasts longer. Because the fruit isn't as sweet or soft the ants don't really take after it like the low hanging fruit. This fruit though, is picked over by certain animals. Sometimes the fruit is bruised and half eaten. The animals that eat this fruit are usually busy being busy and don't have much time to fully enjoy the fruit. They run from tree to tree taking a bite from here and there. Getting the nutrition so they can run. For running's sake.
At the top of the tree is the best fruit. Perfectly ripe all the time. The fruit is sweet but not too sweet and the flesh is just the right firmness to stay in the animal's stomach for a long time. This fruit provides continuous nutrition. Since this fruit does such a great job of keeping the animal's fed that it isn't as plentiful. This allows the fruit that is on the tree to soak up the sun without competing with each other and that is what makes the fruit such a delicacy. More importantly this is the fruit that holds the seeds that are most likely to germinate. In fact, the seeds in the fruit at the lower levels very rarely germinate. The trees need the top fruit as much as the animals.
That's a lot of tree talk. Sorta feeling like Bob Ross right now. Now that we have learned about the fruit, let's learn about the animals that eat the fruit. The forest is like any ecosystem. Each player has their role. The trees provide nutrition and the animals keep the trees going by spreading the seeds from the fruit. The trees need to the animals just as badly as the animals need the fruit. Now I feel like someone in the cast of the Lion King.
The animals are divided into three distinct species. Each have evolved because of their surroundings and have survived for years by their practices. Arguably each has been successful but the quality of life they enjoy is varying. The animals live the way they live but can change form if they wish. The forest, the trees call out to them to evolve but often they don't. Depending the diet they eat the signal to change form to a more advantageous form could be muted by desire for quick energy. Only when the animals interact, do they get a glimpse of what may be possible. It is possible to change but you have to quit dining on the addictive low hanging fruit to gain the clarity, to the find the strength to change.
The first species is the pig. This animal dines primarily on low hanging fruit. It often sets at the same tree eating the same fruit. The more the pig eats the low hanging fruit the more it craves the low hanging fruit. The irony is that the fruit is designed for quick bursts of energy but the pig is the least energetic of the species. The pig has to fight the ants, other pigs and the other animal species for the low hanging fruit. And the pig has learned the best way to do that is to stay put. Stand their ground. Wait for the fruit to grow. The pig doesn't seek new trees. It stays stagnant and eats, eats, eats. Pigs are a large group and all look the same.
The second species is the horse. The horse is worker. Sturdy and fast. It moves from tree to tree to tree. Often going back to it's favorite tree but always moving. Taking a bite here a bite there. As the horse moves frantically through the forest it blindly bites at fruit from the middle and even the low hanging fruit. Depending on it's direction and speed it may only eat the middle fruit. The horse has no master. No direction. It just runs and eats. Eats and runs. This leaves the fruit bruised and seeds damaged. Horses are a large group as well but not as large as the pigs. The horses come in a few varieties. Some faster than others. Some larger than others. But at the end of the day they are all horses. Horses very rarely compete with each other. They are too busy running to compete.
The third species is the monkey. Monkeys think and are fast. Monkeys slow down when they need to and sit in the tree tops watching the new trees grow. Monkeys talk to each other about how the forest is growing. Monkeys watch the horses and pigs and wish they would evolve. When they want to, the monkeys will swing down and ride the horse from tree to tree. The monkeys usually only eat from the top of the tree. But when they are visiting the horses and the pigs they pick from the middle and low hanging fruits. They remain careful to not become addicted or devolve. Monkeys are happy, thoughtful and varied. Very few look the same. Some are tall. Some are short. Some are grey. Some are blue or pink. They respect the trees, the forest. They commune with it and ask it questions versus waiting for answers.
It is shocking to me that our society, in business or otherwise, has become so short sighted. The problems we face are really no different than they have ever been. Our reactions and patience is what has changed. The more reactive we are the worse the world will be. Proactively seeking solutions to pain, hurt and general crapiness is what will keep the trees growing, the fruit ripe. Slopping around with other pigs will only bruise the fruit and ruin the forest of our lives.
Be a monkey. The fruit is better and it is better for the forest.
Comments
Post a Comment