Justin Langer: Martha Stewart’s garden advice is fitting for young stars Cooper Connolly, Harley Reid

Martha Stewart is an American businesswoman, writer, and television personality who transformed herself from a small catering business owner into a multimedia lifestyle mogul. They say she was the first self-made female billionaire in the US when her company listed in 1999. For as long as I can remember Stewart has been a hero in our household; her recipes and lifestyle tips a guiding light. Like most high achievers, her journey hasn’t been without its challenges. In 2004, she served five months in prison for lying about a stock sale in the equities market. Most would have succumbed to the shame and indignity of her public downfall, but she has staged a remarkable comeback, returning to television and business with undiminished vigour. Incredibly, she built, lost, and re-built an empire teaching Americans how to cook, decorate, garden, and entertain with elegance and style. Her ventures evolved into books, magazines, TV shows, and merchandise lines that made homemaking aspirational and accessible to the world. Over Christmas I watched her documentary and I found her perspective on life’s priorities fascinating. In the show, there was a line that made me smile. She said: “If you want to be in love for a year, get married. If you want to be in love for ten years get a dog, but if you want to be in love for a lifetime build a garden.” That piece of wisdom may make sense to you, maybe it won’t, but apart from her candour that made me smile, I connected with the part about the garden. Gardening is one of my passions and while I know many people who could think of nothing worse, I spend much more time outside my house than I do in it. Gardening is my thinking, creative time and I have made many decisions while going about my business, getting my hands and feet dirty. I have also found gardening to be a metaphor for what I do in my professional and personal life. Let’s take a look. THE GRIND Some jobs in the garden are monotonous, but I often find sitting, pulling weeds, dead heading roses or picking up gum leaves to be quite meditative, and important in maintaining order and encouraging growth. At work there are jobs that are uninspiring, but the inspiration comes from knowing that the small, regular routines are important to keeping your desk clear, ensuring the mess doesn’t build up and distract you from doing the jobs you like the most. Cutting the lawn to some is boring, hard work but I love the process, and then the outcome of smelling the grass and staring over the newly cut turf with a cold beer or hot coffee. This is very satisfying. At work the grind can be tiring, but done well, the rewards and pride of seeing your team prosper, and then celebrating a win together, is not only fun, but helps build a strong buzz and camaraderie within the group. PATIENCE There is nothing better than picking a piece of fruit and eating it on the spot, using the herbs from your garden for cooking or smelling a rose or frangipani flower. Fruit, herbs and flowers take time, patience, skill and effort. As do people. They are the final product of months, and in some cases, years of toil. Coaching, leadership and management take all of these in equal amounts, but when you see your colleagues, friends, children reach their goals there is no sweeter feeling. SELECTION Visiting the nursery and choosing plants is equivalent in my world to those of you who love shopping for your favourite things. Call me simple. Nice as some plants look, talking to the horticulturist at the nursery adds knowledge to what you see. This is the same as selecting talent. The process of finding the best players, Chair, CEO, assistant coaches, role players is exciting. Trusting your instincts and what you see and then combining that with the opinions or references of others is a key part of getting your decisions right. Diversity also plays a vital role in both domains. Master gardeners know that a monoculture is vulnerable to disease and pests — a garden thrives when it contains a variety of plants that complement each other. Teams similarly benefit from diversity in skills, perspectives, and backgrounds. Different viewpoints and complementary abilities create resilience and foster innovation, much like a well-planned polyculture in the garden. A cricket team with eleven Shane Warne’s wouldn’t work, but add a Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Glenn McGrath, and the rest is history. Getting your combinations right is vital if you want individuals to thrive in the environment; an ecosystem where they will look after and complement each other. MANAGEMENT In your garden you shouldn’t plant shade-loving plants in direct sunlight or sun-loving bushes in the shade no matter how good they may look. The results are disastrous, just as you shouldn’t place team members in roles that don’t align with their natural strengths and abilities. That is all a part of the mastery of gardening or leadership. Both gardens and teams require regular maintenance, but the nature of that maintenance evolves over time. Young plants need more frequent attention and protection, just as new team members require more guidance and support. As plants mature, they become more resilient and self-sufficient, though they still benefit from occasional pruning and feeding. Similarly, experienced team members need less direct oversight but still benefit from periodic coaching and development opportunities. Harley Reid, Jye Amiss need more attention in their development than Jeremy McGovern or Nat Fyfe. Sam Konstas and Cooper Connolly are the same compared to Steve Smith or Pat Cummins. Young professionals or apprentices are all in the same boat. BIG PICTURE VIEW In gardening and management, a long-term perspective is necessary. You cannot rush a seed to sprout before its time, nor can you force team members to develop faster than their natural pace allows. The most successful leaders, like the most successful gardeners, understand that growth is a gradual process that requires consistent attention rather than sporadic intervention. PROBLEM SOLVING Problems in both gardens and teams often manifest first through subtle signs that the attentive leader must learn to recognise. A yellowing leaf or browning grass might indicate a nutrient deficiency or a lack of water, while a team member’s decreased engagement might signal professional burnout or a perception of not being valued. Early intervention in both cases can prevent minor issues from becoming major problems. SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST Weather and external conditions affect both gardens and teams in ways that aren’t always predictable and often out of our control. A garden might face drought, frost, or pest infestations; a team might encounter market downturns, resource constraints, strong competition, injuries, and illness. The role of the leader, like the gardener, is to help their charges become resilient enough to weather these challenges while providing protection and support when necessary. Not everyone survives in competitive environment. As John Williamson wrote in his song Galleries of Pink Galahs: “It takes a harsh and cruel drought To sort the weaker saplings out It makes room for stronger trees Maybe that’s what life’s about.” SEASONS AND CYCLES Finally, both gardens and teams have seasons and cycles. There are times of intense growth and activity, times of maintenance and consolidation, and times of relative dormancy. Understanding these natural cycles help leaders set appropriate expectations and adjust their management style accordingly. Just as a garden’s appearance in winter might appear unimpressive to the uninitiated, a team in a consolidation phase might seem less productive while building strength for future growth. In sport this is often called a “re-building” phase or in industry, a period of evolution and investment. Sporting codes use the pre-season to prepare for competition while most have a Christmas and new year season to recharge and re-set for the 12 months ahead. The metaphor of the garden reminds us that leadership is not about controlling growth but about creating conditions where growth is possible and natural. It’s about understanding that each plant – or team member – has its own nature and needs, and that our role as leaders is to provide the right environment, resources, and support for them to realise their full potential. Or as Martha Stewart simply puts it, a garden makes those people like me happy for a lifetime.