2025 IS THE YEAR OF COURAGE

When I consider the word courage, even though many say work is my primary focus, I often think about people and situations outside of business first. I think about courage at all kinds of levels, from Ukraine’s soldiers and the bravery they show every day, through to sports people such as Bethany Hamilton who is an American professional surfer and writer, who in 2003 survived a shark attack in which her left arm was bitten off, she returned to professional surfing. She is quoted as saying “Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.” Bethany Hamilton inspires me, and I would encourage anyone to read her books.

It is interesting when thinking about surfing, I think about the sea, the adrenaline and ultimately it leads me to think about the word waves. There are the waves surfers see every day, but we also have the type of waves we see in different forms in business, especially in our seasonally led, weather affected garden centres. In 2025 we are about to tackle a new set of waves, and these waves are likely to be fast moving, that needs skill and experience navigate, and certainly ones that needs courage to tackle.

Does courage alone get you where you need it to, and will only courage give you a big enough slice of business often referred to as the cake as you need to achieve your goals? The answer is obviously no – It’s only part of the ingredients you need to make that cake, but alongside all the other ingredients (such as professionalism, reflection, empathy and business acumen) the attitude, motivation and drive to make courageous changes that support your business is essential. There is no doubt courage can be supported by confidence, so having all the ingredients you need to make your cake is essential and let’s not miss that fact.

My view is that the reactive skills of garden centres are outstanding and as an industry we have shown over many decades that we pivot, drive and thrive in all environments. The experience shines through in our established industry, and the people in it or joining it. The strength of the industry is in our knowledge, passion, honesty and skills, and the attitude to tackle challenges is certainly one of courage.

In 2025 whatever it is a business does, it needs to be courageous and focused. I feel that in a time when some businesses and industries are making cuts and being driven wholly by the bottom line. Our garden centre industry is really rounded in its views, and it has the opportunity, once more, to make calculated, defined and visionary decisions, that will have a positive impact on their business, With the necessary resources, experience, and belief in their capabilities, they are well-positioned to turn these opportunities into meaningful actions for long-term success.

These decisions can be with regards to areas such as impacting positively on processes or reevaluating existing performances to make considered change for improvements to profit or developing their business at a time when others are not doing so to increase turnover and footfall. In 2025 whatever it is a business does, it needs to be adaptable, and it needs to be courageous and focused.

It’s early in 2025 as I write this, and I am already seeing numerous business owners taking a step to be better, be braver and be courageous in their approach to the challenges ahead. I’m feeling excited by the attitude and vision of many businesses I work with, but I wonder how many people want to be in a business that drives and thrives, or one that stands still and waits. Only you yourself will know the answer to that when reflecting on yourself, but someone in your leadership team, one day, needs to have the courage to face the challenges head on, because without this courage to face what is ahead, the challenges will only become harder.