HR wisdom & leadership message of hurricane plant

The leaf architecture of hurricane plant- Monstera deliciosa and the Swiss cheese plant with several holes in their leaves convey a strong management message to the corporate. These holes are formed naturally and not due infestation by insects or other means in these plants. These plants grow in the under story of the tropical rain forest. Even today, the researches are being conducted and continued, debated and discussed about why the leaves of these plants have holes.

Scientists have come out with several hypotheses for why the leaves of some plants have natural holes. Whether these hypotheses hold any scientific validity or not, but these hypotheses definitely conveys an important management message to the corporate.

The plants in tropical rain forest grow as under story plant would definitely suffer from poor sunlight. Such plants when have holes in the leaves the leaves in the upper region of the plant would naturally help the entry of sunlight passing down to the leaves in the bottom region. Through the holes, the sunlight can enter freely. The leaves of the plant is also said to have organized from top to bottom or vice versa, where the holes in the top layer leaf will be facing the hole less region of the leaves in the bottom row.

During rainy season, the water that pours down from tall trees also doesn’t affect this plant as the water can easily slip through the holes to bottom. This is another postulate, scientists have made to justify why the leaves of these plants have holes.

The corporate must learn the message clearly. When the leaves in the top layer of the plant receive the sunlight, they ensure that all the leaves beneath them also get sunlight. The leaves in every layer of the plant follow the same philosophy. The beneficiary never limits the benefit to self but shares and distributes to every one.

Only when such even distribution is ensured, the plant as a whole could grow healthy. Every individual in the corporate must behave like the leaves of Swiss cheese or Monstera plant. Only through their collective effort of supporting and helping each other, the corporate can grow.
The process of leaves naturally having holes is called ‘Fenestration’. The corporate leaders must observe and learn from the plants that have natural holes in their leaf as what purpose the holes serve. Only when the corporate is inquisitive and sensitive, can learn the finest management message from the biological process called –Fenestration.

Every micro event in nature has a great management message to teach. Nothing in nature exist and function without following some management principle. Nowhere the business world can learn better management fundamentals than from nature.

Dr S Ranganathan