Falling Leaves as a Creative MetaphorAli Anani, PhD

Businesses Falling in Fall

I dedicate this presentation to

Michael SuttonHis support and encouragement to the idea of this presentationis beyond what can be described by the written word.

His message to me in which Michael wrote testifies for what I am saying:What i appreciated about your "poetry-like" slide was it reminded me of two sources, either of which you may wish to model:

1) Khalil Gibran, a middle eastern poet and story teller, whom always created fascinating poems that incorporated the movement of nature, like your leaves 2) Japanese Haiku poems, which have a particular structure and cadence to them. [http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-haiku-poems.html; andhttps://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Haiku_Samples.pdf]. Using the basic structure of a haiku would provide a fascinating structure for you follow on narratives.

Falling leaves in fall and falling businessesShare many commonalities

Trees sense that winter is coming by receiving less sunlight and feeling the drop in temperature

Business may sense the winter arrival by monitoring the cold reception by customers to its offers and dropping demand and declining selling prices

Trees seal the attachment points (spots) of leaves so that the leaves receive no nutrients so that they fall off

This is amazing as the leaves are the “manufacturing kitchen” of trees. They produce glucose to help trees and plants grow

Researchers say that they have pinpointed chemical signals that cause leaves, flowers, and fruit to fall from plants

Why do leaves fall from trees in fall - Scientific American

Trees don’t hide they are planning to drop off their leaves

Trees react to the decreasing amount of sunlight by producing chlorophyll, which gives trees their green color.

Finally, a tree stops producing chlorophyll. When that happens, the masked colors already in the leaves start to show through.

One pigment that trees and plants produce is called anthocyanins

Anthocyanins give leaves their bright, brilliant shades of red, purple and crimson

Anthocyanins not only color leaves, but also allow the plant to recover nutrients in the leaves before they fall off

Leaves fall because if they don’t they shall endanger the survival of trees

Leaves are made up of cells filled with water sap, which shall freeze in winter

So, better off for the tree to drop leaves

Evergreen trees don't lose their leaves, or needles, in winter. The needles are covered with a heavy wax coating and the fluids inside the cells contain substances that resist freezing..

Fallen leaves not only sacrifice their “life” for the sake of trees, but also….

Fallen leaves not only sacrifice their “life” for the sake of trees, but also…

The leaves decompose by bacteria to enrich the soil with nutrients

In business, customers drop off

They do that when they feel mentally distant from your business, and this causes them to want to be physically distant as well

Early signs customers would drop off are when they magnify small issues into big ones.

Remember trees plan to drop off their leaves by cutting off nutrients to them

It is different when customers make that decision

Leaves drop off to enrich the soil upon their decomposition

Irritated customers “decompose” to deprive you from other customers

Pareto Rule states that 20% of your customers generate of your profits80%

You may want to drop off the unprofitable customers.

We may learn from trees how to do that

Extract all “nutrients” from your unwanted customers

As dropped leaves leave behind colorful and brilliant colors.

So let unprofitable customers leave, but must leave behind them brilliant memories so as not to hurt your business

Trees drop off leaves because of shortage of dwindling supplies of sunlight

Beware of dwindling interests in your business as signaled by:

Trees drop off leaves because of shortage of dwindling supplies of sunlight

Beware of dwindling interests in your business as signaled by:Employees don’t buy from their productionReducing employee benefitsCash flow entering the “red zone”Dialogue with customers, and mainly profitable ones, is losing in space and time

Like leaves manufacture what the tree needs, so are businesses

Successful businesses manufacture the desires of their customers into products

Businesses who distant themselves from customers, are unaware of their desires

Fallen leaves not only sacrifice their “life” for the sake of trees, but also….

Leaves have shapes that adapt to the environment.

In desert places the leaves of trees have small surface areas and sometimes covered with wax to reduce water losses

Leaves don’t take the wrong inputs to manufacture

Unfortunately, some businesses do that. They manufacture what the customer doesn’t want or desire

In cloudy weathers where sunshine is interrupted, leaves stop manufacturing glucose, which is necessary for the growth of trees

Like leaves use sunlightto manufacture nutrients, Business equivalent sunlight is the desires of their customers

Customers’ desires areequivalent to sunlight Sunlight

Carbondioxde

waterphotosynthesis

glucose

Like leaves use sunlight to manufacture nutrients, Business equivalent sunlight is the desires of their customers

In cloudy weathers where sunshine is interrupted, leaves stop manufacturing glucose, which is necessary for the growth of trees…

Unfortunately, some businesses with “cloudy” information on what the customer desires go on manufacturing the wrong products instead of stopping producing undesirable productions

In drought climates businesses adapt to reduces their losses

A loss-preventive strategy is recommended

Remember that leaves grow following Fibonacci Rule

The leaves arrange themselves such that they don’t obscure light or air flowing among leaves.

Leave don’t eclipse each other

When businesses branch out or generate new products they need not disrupt each other; else many products will become prematurely distinct

Studies have shown that the greater the number of lateral branches or feathers the greater the yield in the second and third year

Studies have shown that the greater the number of lateral branches or feathers the greater the yield in the second and third year

Likewise; businesses should use the branching Multiplier Effect to increase their revenue

Like a tree displays warning signs before it topples over,

Look for early signs that your business is entering its “fall”

Nature is a great source of ideas for running successful businesses

Nature is a great source of ideas for running successful businesses