Norm’s Woodpeckers

Eastern Ontario has become something of a wasteland for the green ash tree. The once common hardwood used to be one of the dominant trees in our forests and along our city streets. Now little remains of ash plantations but stumps, the sad evidence of the depredations of the emerald ash borer, an invasive bug from Asia.

Somehow, however, the level of loss on our little acreage seems less and is happening later and more slowly than nearly anywhere else. I have no scientific explanation, but I do have a working theory, and it goes like this.

We have dozens of woodpeckers – downy, red-headed, and piliated. We also have scores of their cousins, the nuthatches. The diet of most woodpeckers and nuthatches consists almost entirely of bugs that live under the bark of trees, exactly where the emerald ash borer is to be found. In my mind, at least, there seems to be a reasonable correlation between the number of these birds and the lower level of emerald ash borer predation.

Now, I’ve generally been lucky in life, but I don’t think the high density of Picidae and Sittidae has anything to do with luck. I think they’re all here because they like me. Well, at least they like the suet blocks I hang out for them, and to which they’re frequent visitors. Interestingly enough, the suet blocks don’t appear to turn the birds into welfare woodpeckers, they just seem to bring in more of the industrious little guys who will stop for a tasty snack before going back to whacking trees. So for the cost of a few chunks of suet, I have almost as many woodpeckers and nuthatches as Algonquin Park does.

So, attack my theory if you like, but I think I have a pretty good prima facie case. Which gets me thinking about business building, business communication, networking, and all those interconnected things which make the difference between a thriving business and one on life support.

It seems to me that if as a professional or entrepreneur you’re constantly giving high value to the ecosystem in which you do business, you’ll reap all kinds of support and reward. If you give out, you’ll get back. Most highly successful lawyers, for example, do pro bono work, lecture at continuing education centres, and are mentors to a host of juniors, inside and outside their firms. The key to Michael Hughes’ teachings on networking, if I understand correctly, is to get past speed dating and focus on creating deep and valuable connections, looking for the “win-win”, not spear fishing.

In my coaching, I encourage my younger lawyers always to think about “giving back” and “adding value”, not just as sound bites but always thinking about how clients and communities feel they’re getting deep and real value. The upshot of this is that they become your missionaries and evangelists, and the effort you put into your giving actually helps you learn new material and new skills. You become more expert, your reputation grows, and a community of friends does your advertising for you.

What’s not to like?