Inflorescence: Character on Display
It’s spring in the vineyard and inflorescences are on display.
It’s Corona Virus season and the character of leaders is on display .
The vines that were pruned and dormant in the winter, have come back to life. Just as the soil began to warm, the sap that had been stored in the trunk began to rise up, and the vines “wept”. The mineral-rich sap was pushed out of the vine through the very wound of the pruning, like salve, healing the wound. Within days of the weeping of the vines, bud break happened. Now, tiny leaves are sprouting out of a dried, dead-looking vine and the inflorescences, that have been in the making for two years, are about to erupt into minuscule flowers. The flowers will self-pollinate and become green berries, which eventually become the grapes we harvest in a few short months.
I’m no biologist, but if I were, I would study inflorescences. They are so varied and so beautiful. Inflorescences are, basically, the mysterious, sexual frameworks embedded in the bud of the vine that transform from bud to flower to berry to fruit. The inflorescence of the vitis vinifera (European wine grape), is a compound inflorescence with a panicle structure. The panicle structure of the inflorescence evolves into the familiar structure of the grape cluster. (Lest you think I just made that up, I found out about inflorescence and panicles on Wikipedia. Ha!)
The miracle of inflorescence is the mystery of life.
We can describe what happens, but we are unable to create the miracle. What started in a tiny bud two years ago determines, in large part, this year’s harvest. All along the way, outside influences like the amount of light the tiny bud received, how much sucrose or nitrogen was available to the bud from the vine, and even a cold snap can determine the vigor of the inflorescence. After navigating all those risks, once the bud breaks, and the inflorescence is finally pushed out into the outside world, only about 50% of the tiny nodes will produce a flower that will become fruit.
It’s Corona Virus season and the character of leaders is on display .
Inflorescence is a picture of how character is developed in a leader. Just like inflorescences, character is developed over time, by choices made (often in hidden interactions), in light of particular circumstances.
Character is fundamentally about choices: character determines how competence will be used and to what ends it will be applied. Competence can be used for good or evil, and character determines that choice… Character is not just about ends; it’s also about means… Character in leadership is pursuing noble ends with noble means. [1]
Each of us is presented a certain set of circumstances. Today, for example, leaders are struggling in the midst of corona virus. Some are flooded with opportunity and overflowing with work, while others are painfully cutting back or closing down, altogether.
Two things are happening with regard to your character as a leader right now.
First, whatever character you have been building over the last few seasons of life will be on display in this season. Have you been quietly building courage, creativity, integrity, honesty, empathy? Or, have you been nurturing fear, greed, selfishness, manipulation? Whatever it is, be assured they will burst forth in a crisis. Character qualities aren’t made in an instant. No… good or bad…they’ve been quietly growing for years.
Second, during this season, you are developing character for a future season… a future harvest. What choices are you making in this difficult season? Every tiny choice will embed a mysterious reproducing flower that will be the basis of your “fruit” in a coming season.
Ultimately, character is a reproductive machine that either enhances our purpose in life, or detracts from it.
The fruit of our leadership, our focus and purpose in life all depend on our character. It’s up to us… in the midst of our circumstances, we get to choose. It’s Corona Virus season and, like inflorescences, leaders are developing character for future harvests of success. What fruit are you developing?
[1] Antony Bell, Great Leadership: What it is and What it takes in a Complex World, (Nicholas Brealey, 2010), 39.