Our businesses can learn a lot from a garden!Thought4TheWeek from Peter Roper

Well, I do hope you had a wonderful bank holiday – we certainly had a nice time.

The weather on Sunday smiled on all those who had coronation parties and it seemed a lot of people really enjoyed themselves.

Unfortunately, I have had a series of health issues (nothing serious but more, frustrating) in recent weeks, so I was obeying orders from Anny to sit in the sun in our back garden and read a book and for once I did as I was told (well kind of …)

I am no gardener; my job is to cut the grass and go to the tip however, I do appreciate what we have and my favourite plants above all others are Violas.

The Viola is a genus of flowering plants in the Violet family and many of its species will grow throughout the year and there are estimated to be between 525 and 600 species! They are hardy little things and come back the following year in many cases.

They are my favourite because of their variety of colours, their plucky nature against the British weather and most of all they just seem to be happy! To me, they smile and that makes me smile too!

I can take no credit for them being in the garden whatsoever, but I am always grateful that Anny takes the time to have them around and I reap the benefit every time I look at them.

Of course, as far as the Viola is concerned (and every other plant in the garden for that matter) their display is not for me but for insects to help them pollinate and thrive. After all, that’s why they spend their time using predominantly colour and smell?to attract things to them they want.

What’s the point, Peter?

The coronation was a massive event this week, many people enjoyed the experience and we saw a lot of happy smiling faces…

However, those that sought to disagree with the event spent time, particularly on social media, painting a very negative view, in some cases to an extreme.

We are all entitled to our views, and we are very lucky to live in a democracy to be able to say what we feel (within some boundaries).

The challenge is the blurred lines between our personal and business persona especially when it comes to our REPUTATION on social media.

When I am looking for a business relationship of some sort and perusing social media in particular, I am looking for someone who smiles easily…

…just like a Viola…

Just say'in

Until the next time.

Peter