My wife received a Pacypodium Lamerei, also known as the Madagascar Palm, a couple of years ago
as a gift. Since then the plant became a part of the household and grew nicely until about two
years ago, when we moved to another house and subsequently the Madagascar Palm got a new spot in
our new living room.
Then the trouble began. It seemed as if the plant’s growth became stunted and it started to lose
its leaves one by one. This continued until it had only one leave left. New shoots appeared
but after a short while turned black, shriveled and fell off. We tried everything we could
think off. We gave it more water. Then we gave it less water. We made sure the soil was right
and we gave it fertilizer, moved it around the room, but nothing seemed to work. It seemed like
the plant was hanging on to life by a thread.
Finally, part out of desperation and part because we made peace with the fact that the plant is
at the end of its life, we moved it to the porch.
Then something almost magical happened. Within a week of living on the porch, new
leaves began to appear! Within a month, it had a healthy crown of lively green leaves. Now it
is thriving, as is evident from the picture below.
Personal Leadership Wisdom From a Pot Plant
One day we where admiring the vibrance with which the plant now
grows, my wife remarked; ”People are exactly the same as this plant. We changed its environment
and suddenly it got its life back again. If people are not in the right environment, they will
also die a slow emotional death.”Her remark really made me think about people and leadership and
I learnt the following from our Madagascar Palm and my wife’s insight. Continue
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