COMMENT
Nothing. Absolutely nothing ever grows. Unlike Shakespeare’s under the greenwood tree who loves to lie with me… and possibly think and grow. The Banyan tree with its huge over arching herbage of thick leaves, allows for nothing to flourish or sprout. It is a scientific reality that for any shrub or tree to grow it needs the basic chlorophyll. This ingredient is possible to manufacture or produce itself inherently only if there is direct exposure to sunshine. The massive encompassing of a Banyan tree prevents even the penetration of sunrays, let alone sunshine and so any plant (with prospect to grow) dies out for lack of chlorophyll. Hence nothing ever grows under the Banyan tree, goes the idiomatic phrase in the English language. In fact, it is more proverbial.
Many moons ago I was the youngest privileged member to attend on a Saturday morning in London, a meeting on business strategy on West Africa and Sub-Sahara-Africa at the residence of one of my supervisors. The meetings attendance sported presence of three ex-presidents of large financial institutions and an ex-senior vice president of financial institution from across the Atlantic. Being the youngest, I had to go into the kitchen and make coffee for everybody and serve it too… and yes I had to go along with serving coffee, neatly arranged, with some cookies and short bread cake for them ----- whilst I was serving one of the senior ex-president remarked to me, ‘step aside from this Banyan tree (alluding to my boss), he will never let you grow.’ I just smiled back. My boss wasn’t pleased either with the comment or my faint smile! But the comment got my mind to race and think.
I kept thinking. I pondered. I deliberated. I discussed. I gathered courage and on Monday morning spoke to my boss for transferring me to another location. As expected, I was met with emotional exclamation of, what? Why? ‘I know you are being beguiled with that….’ (not pleasant, so censored), comment, the other day’.
I restated the request. I implored. I succeeded. My boss was a kind man. And lo! And behold, yes God, stepping back into the world of corporate sunshine wasn’t easy. The many corporate hyenas were all lurking around to pounce and make the last supper out of me. I swam against the tide. Luck favoured and I survived, without the canopy of my ex-boss’s protection. The shell must break before the bird can fly (Alfred Tennyson).
In corporate life, we all need the chlorophyll of experience both good and not so good. It is not uncustomary to have a very dominant supervisor. Such do not easily delegate and hence ‘growth’ opportunities remain limited. To this breed are those diametrically opposed supervisors who are ‘motherly’ and with care and concern they keep all rays of corporate sunshine blocked and with an over arching canopy of affection the growth possibilities get stunted.
The perils of being under the watchful eyes of the Banyan tree are many. If a report is scared by demand to speak in public or is found unwilling to network with others or demonstrates no meaningful participation in meetings or comes up with frequent excuses to avoid centre stage or spotlight not for reasons of humility but for lack of confidence- there is a deformed plant growing. An intelligent supervisor must recognise that over protection is a soft persecution of human mind.
Those wanting to grow must ready themselves to make their lives uncomfortable by bidding goodbye to the comfort zone. Conscientious supervisors throw their reports to the deep end of life’s pool. Only with some water on the skin does an individual learn to swim and with growing confidence is able to over time swim against the current. This can be done by taking small steps. There is no need to leap frog or attempt a single jump over the great wall. As a report there is need to exhort your supervisor to delegate, to develop trust and to instil and possess confidence on the positive outcome of an effort.
The slave that wishes to wear the crown ought to rebel. One must dare to venture. Learn to move without crutches. Develop abilities to row on the stream of life without the oars of artificiality. Let personal talent bloom and grow. De-franchise from labels of recognition that find their way to the bosses’ desk. It is not possible for people to grow in their careers if they stick to the same easy approach every time.
While attempting to come out of the comfortable shade of the Banyan tree, take an inventory of the reasons you give to yourself for lack of movement. Challenge, to see, if they are valid and legitimate. If you aren’t honest about your motives no external help can induce action on your part.
To minimise disruption start to take baby steps --- if you stumble or fall, get up to go again. Never relent. However discomforting it may be to get out of the comfort zone, just do it. The effort must be fortified with faith in your own self. A lower estimation of oneself can never propel you to do things beyond the call of duty. Expunge and put to death the fear of failure.
It is always better to do something than not to do something. The attitude that I would attempt to do something later and do greater than fail, is the most deceptive thought of the human mind. It encourages inertia over action. Probably, and it is only my assertion that taking cue from the Senegalese proverb, the opportunity that God sends does not wake up him who is asleep, prompted Shakespeare to say in Julius Caesar, ‘There is tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the floods leads on to fortune; omitted all the voyage of their life, is bound in shallows and in miseries.’ The human choice is the fundamental principle of growth.
The alternative to being a creeper in the cold shade of the banyan tree (the boss) is to step aside and rise to right levels in the corporate hierarchy. Perennially lurking in the shadows of towering personalities does not guarantee growth or success. Recognition for those under the wrap of shadow does not come necessarily to all. The Mao Tse Tung and Chou en Lai relationship is a historical reality. Chou lived all his political life under the larger than life shadow of Mao, but was alert and careful not to cross the path of the helmsman. Yet he demonstrated independence in action. He never challenged the ideology but pursued implementation without interference.
The persistent exaltation of work, results in human happiness which is the most likeable aspect of growth. To grow, abandon and terminate your lease in the comfort zone. Find new quarters where there is challenge and opportunity to sharpen your skills for growth and satisfaction.
Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid of only standing still (Chinese proverb). Be not afraid to take the heat of the sun, bask in its glory and not lie comfortably under the Banyan tree, where ‘nothing grows.’
The writer is a senior banker and freelance columnist
