Andrea Putting – Speaker, Author Podcaster

Andrea Putting

Speaker, Author & Trusted Advisor

The Gift of Winter (for Business)


Winter began hard in Melbourne this year. It started with a harsh lockdown for two weeks. As we started to see the light at the end of this tunnel, we were hit with fierce storms leaving devastation from falling trees and people without power, some for weeks.

There is no question winter can be harsh. The cold hard realities set in and we go into hibernation mode. There is pruning to be done. While everything is quiet and cold, it is hard to see the Spring, let alone the Summer ahead.

When I look around me, I see many businesses going through a harsh, cold winter. Covid has knocked us around, like those winter storms. It has left devastation in its wake. It has left many feeling without power, wondering how to connect with the outside world again.

Yet Winter can be a gift. If we look at my favourite model that I work with, the 4 seasons, we can find opportunities for new growth that will allow new avenues to be opened.

Autumn caused us to let go of all that no longer serves us. Everything that we thought we were has gone, just as the leaves changed colour and fell to ground. The pandemic has forced us to let go of that beauty that adorned us. The canopy of leaves gave us that moment of glory and feeling of safety that we had achieved something grand.

Now we find ourselves naked and vulnerable to the weather. How do we pick up the pieces?

Winter is time for us to stop and reflect. We can see where we have been and it has been good. But we can’t keep doing that now. We have to look to the future, to what is calling from beyond. We can’t be what we were before. There is something new calling us.
The solutions we need today, cannot be found by looking to the past. We need to let go of old ways and to listen to where we are going. We need to find tomorrow’s solutions today. This is a process of discernment and renewal. Just like the tree that has lost its leaves, winter is a time for the inner work to be done. A time for preparation for new growth, new understandings, new ways to evolve.

When we take this time to nourish ourselves and our businesses, slowly but surely, new buds will start to breakthrough. New directions will start to come forward. As Spring starts to emerge, so do we, as the blossoms open up and new beauty springs forward.

The bountiful and beautiful Summer will come. Our businesses can and will flourish again if we can just take time and appreciate the true gift of winter that we now find ourselves in.

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