Decisions by Design | Edition 25

Growth Setting vs. Goal Setting. AKA The Soil Story  

EDITION | 25

This is a quiet time of year on the farm.

There’s little to harvest, save the horseradish my son wrestled out of the ground for my cream sauce. 

The pigs are content, happily munching through the remains of all our neighbors’ Christmas trees.

Between the freeze and thaw, the cows have grown restless, and the daily 4 o'clock “rodeo” now includes something that looks like a cross between Fantasia and the Ice Capades.

Last Sunday, an email from the Farmer’s Almanac reminded me that spring is just 67 days away.

So I spent most of the morning revisiting the kitchen garden.

After last year’s “squash bug” incident, I moved beyond companion planting and built a deliberate rotation plan with the help of Farmer Jamie.

Not to maximize yield in a single season, but to sustain vitality over many.

During a recent farm tour at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, I was struck by the discipline of their crop rotation. Tomatoes won’t see the same soil for eight years.

Not because tomatoes are fragile, but because depleted soil produces diminishing returns. Rotation is a deliberate intervention to restore nutrients, eliminate disease and unwanted pests, and protect long-term viability.

Growing conditions determine what’s possible.

And that’s where this stops being about gardening.

Most growth plans treat people the way we often treat land.
Set a target. Push harder. Repeat.

We don’t talk enough about the conditions required for people to thrive.

I work with leaders who have gone from hero to zero. Not because they changed, but because the environment around them did. A new CEO. A shifted mandate. The departure of a peer.

Same person. Different soil.

So at a time of year when many are focused on goal setting, I’m inviting a different reflection: growth setting.

The contexts and conditions that make growth both achievable and sustainable.

Consider this:

• Who do you grow best with?
• What contexts bring out your strength rather than deplete it?
• What conditions support depth, resilience, and renewal, not just output?

A true growth plan doesn’t ask, What should I produce next?
It asks, What needs to change so growth is even possible?

Until next time,
With clarity and care,
Courtney