In the natural world, there are indigenous plants that play a critical role in the environment and the local food web. These plants are often called keystone plants. They support native microbes, insects, birds and other animals with significant resources like food and habitat. These keystone plants also support the structure, integrity, and function of the ecosystem within which they live. They even help to regulate nutrient cycling, soil health, and water availability.
A classic example of a keystone plant is the North American oak tree. Here, we have a tree that supports 952 species of caterpillars plus numerous birds and mammals. All of them rely on oak trees as a food source, and a place to call home. These trees are found throughout the United States and make a major difference in environmental health on multiple levels.
Within the world of leadership, I believe there are keystone concepts that also play a vital role in the health of an organization. The understanding of these concepts and the application of these concepts also supports the structure, integrity, and function of the workplace “ecosystem.” After much reflection, I would like to focus on four of these concepts.
The first concept is found in a quote by Kevin Cashman: “Our ability to grow as a leader is based on our ability to grow as a person.” This translates into a phrase I have used often during the course of my career, namely if you want to become a better leader, first you have to become a better person. As Cashman notes, “we lead from who we are - the leader and the person are one…. [therefore] as the person grows, the leader grows.”
What we have to remember is that leadership development is not just a work thing. In reality, it is a whole life process that begins at the integrity and character level and builds from there. And helping people become better people is big work that takes time, patience, and attention. One seminar, workshop, or class is a beginning, but all that learning needs to be integrated over time if we want someone to become a better leader.
When the focus is on our ability to grow, we must start with self-examination. We need to understand how we think and how we work in order that we can then choose better ways of doing things. For this will result in us becoming a better person. By connecting with our core beliefs and intentions, we can then choose, if needed, to rebuild the foundation of our life.
This is why I believe coaching and mentoring are so important. Experienced coaches can offer an in-depth pathway that compliments training and development, and this can result in better leadership. In particular, they help an individual connect to the aforementioned foundation, and support them in the process of re-evaluation and integration. While connecting at this level takes time, the return on this investment is significant.
The second concept is also found in another quote by Kevin Cashman: “Leaders get what they exhibit and what they tolerate.” Most leaders focus on ideas, rather than ideas and people. They don’t grasp that it is the people who make the ideas become real. And it is the people who have to take the risks to turn chaotic moments and feelings into clarity and outcomes.
The challenge for many is to grasp that leadership is more than an idea. In reality, it is a set of core behaviors that need to be role modeled consistently over time. And at the exact same moment, leaders need to be clear about what they will and will not tolerate, i.e. the critical behaviors that can build up or tear down an organization.
For example, we can not exhibit or tolerate silo behaviors or hunkering down responses to change. We also can not exhibit or tolerate “only thinking of me” behaviors. In both of these examples, the outcome of these choices will cause teamwork and collaboration to deteriorate over time. And if a leader tolerates these choices, then people will continue to behave in this manner.
Therefore, the power and importance of conscious role modeling and conscious tolerance must be reinforced over and over as we help people become better leaders. For what experienced and effective leaders recognize is that knowing something does not equal doing something. And if we seek to do something very well, we need to keep practicing it, not to be perfect at it, but instead to continually get better at it.
The third concept is based on my own observations of working with leaders and groups for nearly 40 years: Great leaders do not create followers. They create partners and colleagues. The older I get and the longer I engage with others, the more I realize the power and importance of healthy relationships. When I have watched exceptionally good leaders lead, it is abundantly clear that their relationships with others are built on trust, not perfection. It is also clear that they view others as partners and colleagues, not as followers who need to be told what to do.
I think this subtle distinction is important because great leaders understand that change is challenging. Author, speaker and consultant, Margaret Wheatley reminds us that “When confronted with the unknown, we default to the known.” This can result in defaulting to a particular set of behaviors before, during, and after change. However, great leaders keep the above second keystone concept in mind, and they build healthy relationships before they need them. They recognize that these relationships will make a profound difference as all involved move through the process of change.
There is one more element to this keystone concept that needs to be examined. As I have reminded leaders for years, the faster you go, the more you need to slow down. In particular, the harder things get, the more you need to stop and reflect. It is always this depth of inner connecting before outer connecting that makes the challenging times a touch easier. I call this the power of the pause.
Ryan Holiday in his book, Stillness Is The Key (Portfolio/Penguin, 2019), understands this perspective when he wrote: “The space between your ears - that’s yours. You don’t just have to control what gets in, you also have to control what goes on in there.” When great leaders create partners and colleagues, they create the capacity for collective sharing about the inner process, i.e. “what goes on in there.” This level of sharing creates a greater level of engagement and clarity, and, at the exact same time, it strengthens the relationships of all involved. It bonds them and unites them in a way that transcends the challenges of changes. And with these unique and special connections, they can confront the unknown and not be overwhelmed by it, because they are clear on the inside at the individual level and clear on the outside at the collective level, too.
The fourth concept is one of my favorite phrases, namely What you feed, grows. I learned this from living and working in a rural Iowa farm community. While many people focus on the word grow, and like the implications of growth, I believe the critical word is feed. For it is in the act of feeding people that growth becomes the outcome. But the challenge is where to begin this important leadership action.
While the simple answer would be to engage in a singular act that results in growth, I think the wiser course of action is to feed people on three different levels. The first level is to feed their strengths. Long before the Gallup Organization focused on strengths-based leadership, I met with the late Joe Batten in Des Moines, Iowa, who told me that after 40 years of management consulting, he had learned one thing, namely “to build on strengths.” He explained to me that this takes time and focus, because you really have to get to know the person and how they work. But once you have done this, people flourish and can do great work.
The second level begins by understanding Packard’s Law: “No company can consistently grow revenues faster than its ability to get enough of the right people to implement that growth with excellence.” I have quoted this law often in my work and believe it is an important one. Again the word grow and the word growth are found within this law. And again many people focus on these elements, because they want revenues to grow.
However, at this second level, I focus on the word excellence. Tom Peters defined excellence as a workplace philosophy where problem solving, teamwork and leadership result in on-going improvements or continuous improvements in the organization. This in part needs to happen because the expectations and needs of the customers are constantly changing and evolving.
For me, the focus on excellence revolves around the understanding that great leaders are continually trying to help people improve. This includes themselves as part of the process. When self-improvement and organizational improvement are part of the mindset and culture within the organization, then it attracts and retains the “right people.” So great leaders feed and support this mindset in individuals, and they feed and support this within the culture of the company. The result of this choice is short and long term growth which is the desired outcome.
The third level revolves around the following quote by the late William Bridges: “The picture in people’s head is the reality they live in.” In simple terms, Bridges is pointing out that the picture inside people’s head matters. How they work and what they focus on is significantly impacted by the picture they carry inside themselves about what success looks like and feels like over time.
With this in mind, I have witnessed great leaders spend many hours sharing and exploring what that picture looks like for all involved. The goal of this in-depth dialogue is to create clarity about why the company exists (think mission), how the company works (think core values), and where the company is going (think a combination of vision and strategy). When the trinity of these three elements come together into a picture, then people can successfully create the desired outcomes we seek at both the operational and strategic levels of the company. Therefore, the fourth keystone concept, namely What you feed, grows, is mission critical to the work of leaders.
Once we unpack, understand, and recognize the importance of these four keystone concepts, there is one final thing we need to do. As author, theologian, and civil rights leader, Howard Thurman explains, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” When we combine the aforementioned four keystone concepts with finding our passion, i.e. what makes us come alive, we create a personal and professional journey that is significant, meaningful, and life giving. It then becomes a pathway that unites purpose, passion, and perspective. It creates life giving and life changing experiences. It supports the structure, integrity, and function of our life, and the lives all those with whom we interact with on a regular basis. And from this place, our life makes a positive difference in the world, which is the goal of living.
© Geery Howe 2025
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