Is the time that it takes for a yew tree avenue like this to grow make it more or less significant?
People who are wealthy do not expect to have to wait in line. VIP access ensures that passage from a to b is smooth and trouble free. They do not have to jostle with the crowds or stand in queues. Private jets, concierge services, personal assistants and attendants are there for one sole purpose and that is to ensure that their VIP is able to enjoy a seamless life. They work hard to craft a diary in which the spaces between speaking, acting, doing and enjoying are made as small and as insignificant as possible. A very-important-person’s time is valuable. It has to be utilised for maximum return on attention and be used super-efficiently.
As business consultants, providers of services and makers and sellers of products we too have to consider the length of our waiting and delivery time. If we are good at what we do, then we offer prompt responses, swift action and super-fast delivery. We live in a hyper world where master of speed puts us at the leading edge.
At the other end of the spectrum, people with lots of money can also afford things that take time. Waiting in line is a privilege. A delivery time of several months is considered desirable, even more so if that can be measured in years not months. It denotes care, craftsmanship, bespoke and things well thought out. Superlatively brilliant products cannot be rushed. They need time to brew, craft, mature and evolve. The luxury of time becomes a stamp of the elite and prestigious. Time is an essential ingredient without which there would be no substance, flavour or quality.
So as business consultants, providers of services and makers and sellers of products should we also look at how some things need time to deliver value? It takes time to master our art, to develop the craftsmanship of our skills. Is there not a case where putting careful forethought into how we respond be considered more worthy of our attention than rushing in to prove how fast we can think and move? If we are good at what we do, then should we remove ourselves from the conveyer-belt solutions provided by big organisations seeking to milk mass markets?
A flower and a bee both come and go in a season. Is their contribution to the world any less significant?
As and aside – both pictures here were taken in Aberglasney Gardens here in Wales a couple of years ago. We weren’t there for very long but the gardens were so crammed full of interesting plants and features that it wasn’t long before I took a couple of hundred photographs.
I think that the impermanence of the flower and bee compared to the many many years that it has taken for the yew tree walk to grow and mature are very apt comparisons.