Management and Gardening

A management technique offered by former Secretary of State George P. Shultz in an essay on the war against Islamo-fascism:

When I was in office, I always emphasized the importance of what I call gardening: developing relationships around the world by working hard with people in ordinary times. The idea is to get out the weeds when they are small in order to develop an agenda of work that will be helpful to both parties. When you work with people when nothing critical is at stake, you lay the groundwork for collaborative efforts when extraordinary demands are made.