We have a smallholding near the south coast of England. The main challenge (contrary to popular belief) is not rain (we get less of that than Sydney), but wind. Not a little breeze, a frequently full-throttled desicating and salt-aged coastal wind. Add to that, cracking and brittle clay soil and increasingly warm summers, and adaptation is required.
Out goes anything delicate - like climbers (peas, beans) - and in comes things that can survive almost as weeds. That does not mean we only grow easy things. Where would be the fun in that? But it does mean you have to assess three things:
- What naturally wants to survive.
- What can survive, but only with protection (fruit bushes, low/espalier trees, citrus).
- What requires effort, water, coaxing, family tolerance, and a level of emotional investment wildly disproportionate to the likely harvest.
That third category is where things like strawberries, asparagus, Sichuan pepper, and even a couple of bemused coffee plants live.
The first category includes items that many members of the family (especially smaller ones) wish would die. Notably, Swiss chard. Upright, vigorous, and largely unwanted by children. There it stands, doing exactly what it promised, while most family members walk past it wishing it would wither.
Investment and business lessons
Just because we can doesn’t mean we should. Do not confuse survival with value. Many things can grow easily and still not matter enough to justify the effort. For example, in a previous job, the company used Microsoft products. Perhaps understandably, they decided that Microsoft CRM would be easy to grow, in much the same way as a fungus might on a rotting tree. For those of you who’ve been lucky enough to avoid what one colleague called “the spinning green an*s of death,” as the program timed out, again, consider yourself lucky.
Okay, we should, but where and how? Most businesses, especially post-investment in early- or growth-stage companies, are busy growing things. If you identify gaps (or overcrowding) in their garden of controls and policies, look first at what’s working. For example, this week I’ve been working with infrastructure projects as part of Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts. The company in question had a very strong security risk management framework (a sad necessity) and solid expense controls (also necessary when interacting with a fraud-prone state energy apparatus). When we identified gaps in integrity risk assessment and procurement (fraud) checks, it was easier to integrate into what is already growing well.
What about protection and effort?
If you want to create potentially high-return controls, culture, or frameworks, understand what protection might be required. Just as our fruit bushes needed raised beds (better soil) with a frame structure and bird netting, a whistleblower framework in a conflict-prone (and consequently heavily armed) region needs careful communication and extra steps to protect those coming forward. Birds don’t care about our harvest aims, and neither do fraudsters and capricious officials care about a business’s profitability.
Asparagus projects - those requiring considerable effort and investment for potentially meagre returns - may seem unwise. Generally, I’d agree. But that’s only if we view the returns in clearly quantifiable metrics (weight and size in farming terms; normally a financially-linked ROI in business terms). However, the learning experience, sense of achievement, or even thrill are less quantifiable, but often invaluable.
This may not sound believable, but crisis simulations often live here. People seem to love being subject to intensely stressful simulations (reality TV is built on this premise). Taking your leadership team out of commission for half a day and spending days prepping such a session may seem a luxury. However, if, as a result, they finally understand the realities of risk and how awful many of us are at making (good) decisions under pressure, the cultural benefit can be immeasurably positive.
Getting buy-in
If you ask people to grow, feed, and protect something, they must want to consume it. When proposing companion planting (the integration of the integrity assessment with security, for example), explain the symbiosis to the security director and executive team. Many security lapses stem from integrity issues (poor pay, poorly qualified guards who got the job through connections, not competence, bribed cops, etc.).
Here is the garden variety test for any risk, integrity, or sustainability initiative:
Is this asparagus, fruit, or Swiss chard?
- Asparagus requires patience (takes years to establish) and shared commitment, but it can become a high-value and prized crop (for some).
- Fruit is (generally) valuable enough to protect from predictable threats.
- Swiss chard grows like a forest; it looks worthy, but nobody really wants it.
For investors: Do not ask an investee to care about your favourite foods. Ask where the issues you care about already connect to what the business is trying to protect or become.
What would you advise for/against growing in your corporate risk garden?