Thriving Together: How Leaders Make a Difference
This is an excerpt from chapter 11 of The Natural Strategist, a guide for modern leaders who want to activate strategy in a natural and humanistic way.
Leadership is about fostering an environment where people can thrive and perform at their best. It is about creating the right conditions and providing the necessary tools for people to be more effective and helping them to realize and expand their potential.
A growing body of research provides insight into how trees in a forest communicate with each other and form a network that allows them to support each other and share resources to ensure the entire ecosystem thrives.
For example, trees share resources such as carbon and other nutrients with those in need, and they also communicate threats to each other. Trees in full sunlight can produce more energy than they need, and they send some of that extra carbon down to their roots. Other trees in the area can tap into that carbon source and use it to fuel their own growth, even if they are in deep shade.
This phenomenon has been documented in forests all over the world. Researchers in Canada have found paper birch trees in a mixed forest transfer carbon to nearby Douglas fir seedlings that are struggling to grow in the shade (Simard 2016). Similarly, studies in Germany have shown beech trees transfer carbon to nearby oak seedlings. By sharing resources and communicating with each other, trees are able to thrive in even the harshest of conditions.
In a business setting, leaders can provide a variety of activities and development opportunities to help their employees and organizations grow and succeed. Training programs that help acquire new skills and knowledge and development programs that build competencies increase employee and organizational confidence in their ability to perform effectively.
Leadership is not about us. Leadership is about making others better. —Frances Frei
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