I grow tomatoes. Among other things (courgettes, beans, the occasional reckless attempt at a loofah), but tomatoes are the ones that get me every year. There’s something about being in the greenhouse, musing about life while eyeing up the first tiny shoots, that feels strangely close to running a business.
You start with a simple idea: you want something to grow. More customers. More revenue. More impact. But real growth doesn’t happen by accident. It’s not about hoping, or liking the idea, or having the best intentions. How you grow, why you grow, and where you’re heading, that’s where the real work begins.
It’s exactly like deciding you want tomatoes. The idea’s easy. The outcome sounds delicious. But wanting tomatoes isn’t the same as growing them. And wanting a successful business isn’t the same as building one with real vision.
The Dream Without the Doing
Some people say they want tomatoes, but they don’t do anything about it. They like the idea. They read articles. They watch inspirational reels. But they never plant anything. They haven’t prepared the soil or even visited the garden centre. The idea just sits there, quietly doing nothing.
In business, it’s no different. Teams say they need a vision but carry on exactly as before, too busy, too distracted, always pushing it to 'later' when the mythical perfect moment appears. No tomatoes. No vision. Just another missed opportunity by next season.
The Token Effort
Others go one step further. They throw a seed into the soil, feel quietly pleased with themselves, and then walk away, expecting nature to do the rest. Sometimes a fragile shoot appears. Most times, nothing much happens.
It’s the same when a leadership team sets a vision once, shares it in a PowerPoint deck, and expects the culture to shift by itself. A month later, they’re wondering why nobody seems particularly energised. Because seeds (and people) need more than a one-off announcement to grow.
Losing Focus Along the Way
Even when you start strong, the danger isn’t over. You water the seed, you watch it sprout, you admire your own commitment, and then life gets busy. You forget. The plant struggles without you.
Businesses do the same. They launch a bold vision, full of energy, and then get distracted by the noise of everyday operations. Decisions drift away from the big goal. Growth slows. The energy leaks away. And everyone who was promised an abundant tomato season starts to feel quietly cheated.
The Hard Part No One Tells You About
Sometimes you stick with it longer. The plant grows tall. It looks healthy. Then the weather turns. Pests arrive. Maybe a bit of blossom end rot sets in (yes, it’s a thing) or your bush is massive but there’s no fruit (insert own juvenile joke here). It all feels harder than it should. And giving up starts to look like the simpler, more sensible option.
In business, this is the moment when external pressure, internal politics, or simple fatigue start testing your leadership. This is where a real vision either holds or folds.
The Reality of Real Growth
Proper growing isn’t glamorous. You don’t get quick wins or shortcuts. You show up consistently. You water carefully (not too much and not too little). You adapt when the weather shifts. You prune back the parts that don’t serve the bigger goal. You don’t just act when it’s exciting. You act when it’s tedious, inconvenient, or frankly, the last thing you want to deal with.
And that’s exactly how real business vision works too. Not as a slogan. Not as a launch event. As quiet, steady leadership, lived out when it matters most.
What Smothers Growth
Even with the best care, things can still go wrong. Not through neglect, but through overdoing it. Too much water. Too much chicken poo (in both tomatoes and business). Too much fuss.
A vision doesn’t always fail because people forget it. Sometimes it collapses under the sheer weight of too many slogans, too many checklists, too many well-meaning initiatives. It’s easy to mistake noise for nurturing.
Real growth needs breathing space. It needs to settle naturally into the way people work and think, not be squeezed into every conversation until nobody listens anymore.
Culture Is the Soil
Even when you find the right balance, the environment itself can undo you. You can pick the best seeds, prepare the best soil, do everything right, and still find that growth stalls because the conditions aren’t supportive.
Poor culture, weak leadership, constant turbulence — they’re like bad weather no amount of careful planting can fully overcome.
Culture isn’t a side project to vision. It’s the soil the whole thing grows in. Ignore it, and even the strongest ideas can wither.
Harvesting at the Right Time
When growth finally arrives, it’s not the end of the work. If you stand back too long admiring what you’ve built, the fruit over-ripens, splits, and goes to waste.
Good growers - and good leaders - know when it’s time to act. You pick at the right moment. You build momentum while it’s real. You make sure what you’ve grown actually feeds the next phase.
Looking Beyond This Season
A real harvest isn’t just about what you gather today. It’s about what you learn. What you preserve. What you’re ready to plant again next season.
The best growers think two seasons ahead. The best businesses do too.
Because the ones who keep growing aren’t the ones who had the flashiest plans or the loudest announcements. They’re the ones who showed up. Who paid attention. Who adapted when they needed to. And who trusted that the work would be worth it.
And sometimes, if you’re lucky, you get a few brilliant tomatoes along the way as well.
If you’d like to talk business growth (or tomatoes) get in touch.
A little more reading.
