The Orchard as a Metaphor for Leadership: Vision, Purpose, and Growth

An allegory is a literary device in which one object or event describes or represents another. The allegory of the orchard uses the trees in an apple orchard to show how an owner works with their management team to manage a profitable business.

Symbol	Meaning
Orchard	The business
Roots	Assets of the business
Tame tree	Existing business processes and people
Wild tree	New business processes and people
Branches	Groups of people performing work
Orchard Owner	Business owner
Laborers	Management team
Good Fruit	Profits produced
Bitter Fruit	Business losses
Decay	Business losing money
Dug	Uncover what’s not working
Pruning	Cut off waste
Grafting	Adopt new business practices
Nourish	Invest in business assets
Cast into the fire	Change successfully implemented

An astute observer likened a successful business to an orchard, where the orchard owner had carefully planted and over many years nourished multiple trees that now waxed old and began to decay.  

Owner intervenes to prevent their trees from dying

It came to pass that the owner of the orchard saw that their prized apple trees were beginning to decay; and said: “I will prune, dig about, and nourish the trees in my orchard that perhaps they may shoot forth young and tender branches, so my trees don’t perish.”

The owner did according to his word.  After many days the tame trees began to put forth some young and tender branches but behold, the crown began to perish.  The orchard owner saw it and said unto his laborers: “It grieves me that I should lose these trees.  Let us go and pluck the branches from a wild tree, and pluck off those main branches which are beginning to wither away, and cast them into the fire that they may not cumber the ground of my orchard.”

The branches of the wild apple tree were grafted in the stead of the withered tame branches that had been plucked off and cast into the fire.  The owner of the orchard then caused that the tame trees should be dug about, pruned, and nourished, saying to his laborers: “It pains me that I should lose these trees; I have had you do these things to preserve the roots of each tree that they perish not.”

The owner tells his most senior laborer to watch the trees and nourish them, according to my words.

The owner working with a new laborer goes to the nethermost part of the orchard with some of the natural branches of the tame trees to keep from losing the tame trees and the fruit thereof.  Working together, the owner and the laborer grafted in the natural branches from the tame trees in the nethermost parts of the orchard, some in one and some in another, as the owner thought best.

After a long time passed away, the owner of the orchard said unto the laborers: “Come, let us go down into the orchard to labor.”  It came to pass that the most senior laborer said unto the owner: “Behold, look here;” the owner of the orchard looked and beheld the trees in which the wild branches had been grafted, had sprung forth and began to bear good fruit.

The owner said unto the most senior laborer: “Behold, the branches of the wild trees have taken hold of the moisture of the root thereof, that the root hath brought forth much strength; and because of the much strength of the root the wild branches have brought forth good fruit.  Now, if we had not grafted in these branches, the tree thereof would have perished.  And now, behold, I shall lay up much fruit, which the tree thereof hath brought forth, and the fruit thereof I shall take to the market to sell.”

The owner of the orchard said unto the new laborer: “Come, let us go to the nethermost part of the orchard to see if the natural branches of the tame trees have brought forth much fruit also to sell.”

They went forth to the wild trees with the tree’s natural branches and found that these too had brought forth much good fruit.  The owner said unto this laborer: “Take of the fruit thereof, and prepare it to be sold;” for behold, said the owner, “this long time have I nourished it, and it hath brought forth much fruit.”

Not everything works out as planned initially

In preparation for the next season, the owner of the orchard and the laborers did nourish all the orchard’s trees.  As the time of harvest neared, the owner of the orchard said unto their laborers: “Come, let us go down into the orchard, for behold the harvest soon cometh.”

The owner of the orchard and the laborers first came to the trees whose natural branches had been broken off, and the wild branches had been grafted in and beheld all sorts of fruit did cumber the tree.

The owner did taste of the fruit and said: “Behold, this long time have we nourished these trees, and they have produced much fruit.  But behold, this time, they have not brought forth any good fruit.  There are all kinds of bad fruit, and it profiteth me nothing, notwithstanding all our labor; and now it grieveth me that I should lose this harvest.”

Growing faster than the management team can manage is always a problem

The orchard owner said unto the laborers: “What shall we do unto these trees, that I may harvest good fruit again to sell?”

The most senior laborer said unto the owner: “Behold because thou didst graft in the branches of the wild tree they have nourished the roots, that they are alive and have not perished; wherefore thou sees that they are yet good.”

The orchard owner said unto the laborers: “These trees profiteth me nothing, and the roots thereof profit me nothing so long as they bring forth evil fruit.  Nevertheless, I know that the roots are good and have preserved them; and because of their much strength, they have brought forth from the wild branches good fruit.

“But behold, the wild branches have grown and have overrun the roots.  Because the wild branches have overcome the roots, the trees brought forth much bad fruit.  The evil fruit is starting to cause these trees to perish.  If we don’t intervene, they will soon become dead, that all that can be done is to cast into the fire, except we should do something to preserve them.”

Successful change requires continuous monitoring of results

The orchard owner said unto the laborers: “Let us go down into the nethermost parts of the orchard, and behold if the natural branches have also brought forth bad fruit?”  They went down into the nethermost parts of the orchard and beheld that the fruit of the natural branches had become corrupt also.

The wild branches had overcome that part of the tree which brought forth good fruit, even that the tame branches had withered away and died.  The orchard owner moaned and said unto the laborers:  “What could I have done more for my orchard?

“Behold, I knew that all the fruit of the orchard, save it were these, had become corrupted.  And now, these which have once brought forth good fruit have also become corrupted.  Now all my orchard trees are good for nothing but to be hewn down and cast into the fire.

“See how that part of the tree that brought forth good fruit, and the part that brought forth rotten fruit; and because I plucked not the branches thereof and cast them into the fire, behold, they have overcome the good branches that they hath withered away.

“Notwithstanding all the care which we have taken of my orchard, the trees thereof have become corrupted, that they bring forth no good fruit; and these I had hoped to preserve, to have laid up fruit to sell.  But, behold, they are of no worth but to be hewn down and cast into the fire, and it grieveth me that I should lose them.

“What could I have done more in my orchard?  Have I slackened my hand that I have not nourished it?  Nay, I have nourished it, and I have dug about it, and I have pruned it, and I have dunged it; and I have stretched forth mine hand almost all the day long, and the end draweth nigh.  It saddens me that I should hew down all the trees of my orchard and cast them into the fire that they should be burned.”

Never let the cost of the orchard overcome the revenue those assets produce

It came to pass that the most senior laborer said unto the owner: “Is it not the loftiness of your orchard—have not the branches thereof overcome the good roots?   Have not the branches overcome the roots?  Did they not grow faster than the strength of the roots, taking strength unto themselves?  Behold, I say, is not this the cause that the trees of thy orchard have become corrupted?”

The owner of the orchard said unto the laborers: “Let us go to and hew down the trees of the orchard and cast them into the fire, that they shall not cumber the ground of my orchard, for I have done all.  What could I have done more for my orchard?”

But, behold, the new laborer said unto the owner: “Spare it a little longer.”

The owner said: “Yes, I will spare it a little longer, for it pains me that I should lose the trees of my orchard.  Wherefore, let us take of the branches of these which I have planted in the nethermost parts of my orchard and let us graft them into the tree from whence they came.  Let us then pluck those branches whose fruit is most bitter from the trees and graft in the natural branches back into the tame trees.

“This will I do that my trees may not perish, that, perhaps, I may preserve unto myself the roots thereof for my purpose.

“And, behold, the roots of the natural branches of the tree which I planted are yet alive; wherefore, that I may preserve them also, I will take of the branches of this tree, and I will graft them in unto them.  Yea, I will graft in unto them the branches of their mother tree, that I may preserve the roots also, that when they shall be sufficiently strong, perhaps they may bring forth good fruit unto me, and I may yet have glory in the fruit of my orchard.”

Sustained success comes from disciplined follow-through on planned actions

It came to pass that they took from the natural tree which had become wild and grafted in unto the natural trees, which also had become wild.  They also took of the natural trees which had become wild and grafted into their mother tree.

The owner of the orchard said unto the laborers: “Pluck not the wild branches from the trees, save it be those that are most bitter; and in them, ye shall graft according to that which I have said.  And we will nourish the trees of the orchard again, and we will trim up the branches thereof; we will pluck from the trees those branches which are ripened, that must perish, and cast them into the fire.

“This I do that, perhaps, the roots may take strength because of their goodness, and because of the change of the branches, that the good may overcome the evil.

“Let us go to and labor with our might, this last time.  Graft in the branches; dig about the trees, both old and young, that all may be nourished once again before harvest.  And if it is so that these last grafts shall grow, and bring forth good fruit, then shall ye prepare the way for them, that they may grow.

“As they begin to grow ye shall clear away the branches which bring forth bitter fruit, according to the strength of the good and the size thereof; and ye shall not clear away the bad thereof all at once, lest the roots should be too strong for the graft, and the graft shall perish, and I lose the trees of my orchard.

“It disappoints me that I should lose the trees of my orchard; wherefore we shall clear away the bad so the good shall grow, that the root and the top may be equal in strength until the good shall overcome the bad, and the bad be hewn down and cast into the fire, that they cumber not the ground of my orchard; and thus will I sweep away the bad from off my land.’

It came to pass that the orchard owner sent the laborers who went and did as the owner had directed them.

The owner said unto them: “Go to, and labor in the orchard, with your might.  For behold, this is the last time that I shall nourish my orchard for the season speedily cometh to an end.  Ye shall labor with your might with me so that we shall have joy in the fruit which we shall soon sell.”

It came to pass that they did go and labor with their might doing all things as planned.  There began to be good fruit again in the orchard as the branches of the trees did grow and thrive exceedingly because the wild branches had been plucked off and cast away to keep the root and the top equal, according to the strength thereof.

Thus they labored, with all diligence, according to the owner’s plan, even until the bad had been cast away out of the orchard.  The owner had preserved the trees that produced the natural fruit, and they became like unto one body where the fruits were equal and most precious as from the beginning.

It came to pass that when the owner of the orchard saw that their fruit was good and that their orchard was no more corrupt.  The owner met with the laborers and said unto them: “Behold, for this last time, have we nourished my orchard, and thou see that I have done as I said I would do; and I have preserved the natural fruit, that it is good.  Blessed art thou; for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my orchard.  Your help in executing my plan has brought unto me again the natural fruit, that my orchard is no more corrupted, and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall share in the profits with me because of the fruit of my orchard.

And when the time cometh that evil fruit shall again come into my orchard, then will I cause the good and the bad to be gathered, and the good will I preserve unto myself, and the bad will I cast away.  Then cometh the end when I will sell my orchard and retire on the money I will make.

Learn more about the role of management in converting profits into Owners’ Equity

The success of any management team is proportionate to the skills and capabilities of the team’s leader.  The best follow through on their commitments and do what they say they will do.  Moreover, they are disciplined in developing themselves to lead their business.  Click here to learn ten critical success factors that the best managers consistently use to earn higher profits with predictable cash flow.