Although this has been the catch-cry of the business sector since at least the mid-1990s, it still makes me cringe. We can grow a forest, tree, garden or plant, but surely we increase or develop a business?
His debts grew.
Her winnings grew.
Their income grew.
The list of uncompleted assignments has grown, as has the pile of unread newspapers.
The growing mound of debris in the yard . . .
The bailiffs grew tired of waiting for the bankrupt to return home.
The number of entrants grew from 30 to 40, as did the number of races on the card.
List of, pile of, number of . . . all seem to like ‘grow.’
I first heard the phrase ‘grow the business’ about 1990, and it struck me then as odd. It’s not that only plants and animals grow or can be made to grow, it’s the transitive verb used in the non-reflexive active voice that seems out of place. Though there might be a growing mound of debris in the yard, I doubt anyone would say ‘I’m going out to the yard now to grow the mound of debris.’ Nor does ‘I’m going to grow the bailiffs tired’ seem likely to make it into the finals of the Best Syntax of the Year contest.
Metaphors We Live By, by Lakoff and Johnson, discusses the fascinating role of such metaphors in the very concepts we think with.
Time is Money is one example I remember well.
"To get an idea of how metaphorical expressions in everyday language can give us insight into the metaphorical nature of the concpets that structure our everyday activities, let us consider the metaphorical TIME IS MONEY as it is reflected in contemporary English.
TIME IS MONEY
You’re wasting my time.
This gadget will save you hours.
I don’t have the time to give you.
How do you spend your time these days?
That flat tire cost me an hour.
I’ve invested a lot of time in her.
I don’t have enough time to spare for that.
You’re running out of time.
You need to budget your time. Put aside some time for ping pong.
Is the worth your while[/]?
Do you have much time left?
He’s living on borrowed time.
You don’t use your time profitably.
I lost a lot of time when I got sick. Thank you for your time.
Time in our culture is a valuable commodity. It is a limited resource that we use to a ccomplish our goals."
I need to leave off now, so I’ll finish the quote later and post this now so it doesn’t get lost.
You can probably see where I’m going with this—that growing a business allows business owners to relate to their businesses in a conceptually different way. (Less sure of all the factors, more cultivational of an organic, self-perpetuating process).
Perhaps I’ve missed some subtlety in this discussion but where’s the problem?
I grow flowers in my garden.
The expression "Vegetable Grower" gets 4,500 hits on Google. The same engine leads one to: "Tree Grower" The official journal of the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association.
Perhaps I’ve missed some subtlety in this discussion but where’s the problem?
I grow flowers in my garden.
The expression "Vegetable Grower" gets 4,500 hits on Google. The same engine leads one to: "Tree Grower" The official journal of the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association.
I don’t have a problem with growing flowers, or to vegetable or tree growers, as it is the usual usage. My concern was the phrase "grow the business", as it seems and sounds wrong. I haven’t heard it yet, but maybe we are just one step away from "business grower": one who grows a business :P
One could grow this into a major argument. :)
Linnet searches frantically for the ‘raspberry’ smilie and finally resorts to tearing hair out instead…
Linnet, now I’ve misplaced the book and can’t finish the point in the words of the authors. But I think the point still stands: people saying "grow a business" actually are changing their very concepts of business. Instead of regarding their businesses as machines with parts that can be intentionally manipulated, business owners think of their businesses as something that develops organically, outside of their strict control, in an interconnected yet unfathomable way; the business owners can seek solutions in a cultivational manner rather than a mechanical one. By borrowing the concept of growing and applying metaphorically to a business, the speakers of this phrase changed the way people conceptualize business, and opened new roads for thinking about how best to deal with one.
Of course, I forgot to mention the metaphor:
BUSINESS IS A TREE.
This allows for:
I think we’re ready to branch out into manufacturing.
They had to trim that department substantially.
If we prune back to just three products, we’ll develop stronger brand identity.
Look, we’re going through a dormant phase. Let’s see how the economic environment fares; maybe there will room for growth when things look sunnier.
I’m sure there are many others. While at first the use of "growth" for business does sound jarring to me too, I do see that it allows for a useful shift in how to approach a business.
I’m sure there are many others. While at first the use of "growth" for business does sound jarring to me too, I do see that it allows for a useful shift in how to approach a business.
I can see and appreciate your argument, but do you really think that the person[s] who coined this phrase worked their way as carefully and thoroughly through the process as you just did? Knowing the average business person, what probably happened was they got their thoughts in a tangle and what came out was ‘grow the business’ and, unfortunately, it stuck. I had a manager who used this phrase all the time and didn’t seem to apply any of the thinking you suggest.
[quote author=Linnet link=board=grammar;num=1034765057;start=0#7 date=10/20/02 at 05:16:05]
I can see and appreciate your argument, but do you really think that the person[s] who coined this phrase worked their way as carefully and thoroughly through the process as you just did? Knowing the average business person, what probably happened was they got their thoughts in a tangle and what came out was ‘grow the business’ and, unfortunately, it stuck. I had a manager who used this phrase all the time and didn’t seem to apply any of the thinking you suggest.
I still don’t like it and refuse to use it.
On further reflection, I see that something still bothers me about the expression too. It’s that it’s using the words "to grow" incorrectly.
When I say that I grow tomatoes in my garden, I don’t really mean that I’m performing any active growing activity; I mean I planted tomatoes in my garden and they are growing. One can provide favorable conditions for their growth, and in that sense only can a person "grow" a tomato, a crystal, or anything.
Or, when "I grow" in an active sense, I’m getting taller. (Or eating too much chocolate. )
"To grow" a business then smacks of the impossible—one is not providing conditions for natural growth, nor is the business owner a godly human mechanism that spins an organic entity by its own doings.
Yet it seems to me that the metaphor of BUSINESS IS A TREE still applies, and is used without careful thought—people do relate to businesses as organic entities (among other things). It is a conceptual manuever that gives meaning to the abstract phenomenon "business."
Do you object to "the business grew?" I myself don’t. That’s because things like businesses do develop in such a way that borrowing a word from plant life seems appropriate. It’s a fitting use of the metaphor of life to conceptualize the development of inorganic things.
I too see the metaphor of A BUSINESS IS A PLANT but agree that the phrase "grow the business" is awkward and clumsy. Part of it is that it just doesn’t sound right.
OK, folks, let’s start with the word itself and its relatives:
Main Entry: grow Pronunciation: ‘grO Function: verb Etymology: Middle English, from Old English grOwan; akin to Old High German gruowan to grow
Date: before 12th century Inflected Form(s): grew /‘grU/; grown /‘grOn/; grow.ing intransitive senses
1 a : to spring up and develop to maturity b : to be able to grow in some place or situation c : to assume some relation through or as if through a process of natural growth
2 a : to increase in size by assimilation of material into the living organism or by accretion of material in a nonbiological process (as crystallization) b : INCREASE, EXPAND
3 : to develop from a parent source
4 a : to pass into a condition : BECOME b : to have an increasing influence c : to become increasingly acceptable or attractive transitive senses 1 : to cause to grow
2 : DEVELOP 5
- grow.er /‘grO(-&)r/ noun
- grow.ing.ly /‘grO-i[ng]-lE/ adverb
Main Entry: de.vel.op Pronunciation: di-‘vel-&p, dE- Function: verb Etymology: French developper, from Old French desveloper, desvoluper to unwrap, expose, from des- de- + envoloper to enclose—more at ENVELOP Date: 1750
. . .
5 : to acquire gradually
Main Entry: [sup]1[/sup]in.crease Pronunciation: in-‘krEs, ‘in-" Function: verb Etymology: Middle English encresen, from Middle French encreistre, from Latin increscere, from in- + crescere to grow—more at CRESCENT Date: 14th century
Inflected Form(s): in.creased; in.creas.ing
intransitive senses
1 : to become progressively greater (as in size, amount, number, or intensity)
. . .
1 : to make greater : AUGMENT
. . .
synonyms . . .
AUGMENT implies addition to what is already well grown or well developed . MULTIPLY implies increase in number by natural generation or by indefinite repetition of a process .
Main Entry: [sup]1[/sup]aug.ment Pronunciation: og-‘ment Function: verb Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French augmenter, from Late Latin augmentare, from Latin augmentum increase, from augEre to increase—more at EKE Date: 14th century
transitive senses
1 : to make greater, more numerous, larger, or more intense . . .
Main Entry: ex.pand Pronunciation: ik-‘spand Function: verb [Etymology:/b] Middle English expaunden, from Latin expandere, from ex- + pandere to spread—more at FATHOM Date: 15th century
transitive senses
. . .
2 : to increase the extent, number, volume, or scope of : ENLARGE . . .
A business can grow (intransitive sense 2b). "How’s [your] business [doing]?" "[My business is] Growing by leaps and bounds!" (I. e., it is increasing or expanding.)
Therefore, one should be able to "grow the business" (transitive sense 1 and 2). "Gentlemen, if we ever want to see another commission check we shall have to grow our business beyond our current projections." (I. e, we need to cause [our business] to increase or expand, to acquire [more business] gradually, to augment [our business], to make [our business] greater.)
As a customer, the phrase I don’t want to hear is "We need to grow the contract." What this means is "This is a fixed-price contract, so we need to find something that is not in the existing Scope of Work so we can charge the customer an arm and a leg and three kidneys tax for the additional work. Oops, that’s right, this is a Government contract, so hide the kidneys under some other line item."
Mind you, it still sounds like any other management/marketing crappola to me, but I do think it is a legitimate use of the word.
[quote author=Stargzer link=board=grammar;num=1034765057;start=0#10 date=10/25/02 at 16:44:36]
Mind you, it still sounds like any other management/marketing crappola to me, but I do think it is a legitimate use of the word.
[quote author=Agoraphile link=board=grammar;num=1034765057;start=0#13 date=10/25/02 at 18:01:00]The AHD also suggests that the word is likely modeled after Shinola, the shoe polish.
And also granola?
(Never liked it, myself. Too crunchy. In fact, I can’t tell grit from granola.)
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