Wendell Berry, a novelist, essayist, environmental activist and farmer (among other things) stated, “The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it, we can have no community, because without proper care for it, we can have no life.”
Britt Yamamoto, an entrepreneur, college professor and sustainable farmer, shares Berry’s reverence for soil. “Soil is dirt transformed. Before I learned how to farm, I didn’t know the difference,” Yamamoto writes in his book “The Soil of Leadership: Cultivating the Conditions for Transformation.”
Yamamoto draws from his experience living, working and learning on a sustainable farm in the Japanese countryside and weaves them into insightful metaphors that illuminate best practices for humble, transformative leadership.
“Natural systems and our relationship to them taught me so much about how to become a more connected leader; They also have become my most powerful teaching framework to help others to become more connected leaders as well,” Yamamoto states. He has consulted over the past two decades with leaders based in Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region, Africa and North America.
The framework of Yamamoto’s leadership philosophy is rooted in one of the first and most important lessons he learned on the Japanese sustainable farm he worked on: A conventional farmer grows plants; a sustainable farmer grows soil.
“In leadership, a narrow focus on the things we can see and measure can prevent us from more truly understanding what is happening in and around us, and we lose sight of the long-view work of building lasting systems and processes,” he writes. The metaphors Yamamoto explores between sustainable farming and leadership include:
Soil building – The journey from dirt to soil first requires you to put your hands into the soil and connect with it. That simple intent, followed by a commitment to exploration and inquiry, changes everything. We are so deeply conditioned to think that leaders are obligated to fix, and fix as soon as possible, but putting your hands in the soil is about reaching for connection.
The weeds of inquiry – It’s exciting and satisfying to drop new seedlings into freshly prepped earth and imagine the potential. Less gratifying is the process of identifying and pulling weeds that will suck up precious resources the plants need to thrive. Often, however, a weed is more than a weed; it’s an open door to inquiry and a provider of important information.
“Inquiry is about finding the broadleaf plantains in our life that we are certain lack utility or benefit — the things we want to rid ourselves of as quickly as possible — and revisiting them with new eyes and a curious, open heart,” Yamamoto states. “When we stay longer in that place of inquiry, suspending judgment, if even for a brief time, we discover new ways to see the things around us and what they may be telling us.”
Fallow – Letting a field lay fallow shouldn’t be viewed as a period of nonproduction. In fact, it’s the opposite — a prioritization of restoration and rest that’s necessary for long- term production. It’s an important lesson for business leaders who are stretched thin and who in turn wear their teams down.
“It took me a long time to learn (and accept) that taking space — my space — was not an act of weakness or failure. I am speaking to the importance of what it means to know your needs and tend to them. Or, put differently, to understand your soil and how to best steward its journey toward well-being,” Yamamoto writes.
Podcast Interview with Britt Yamamoto
Editor Paul Nolan speaks with Britt Yamamoto about the lessons of sustainable farming that translate well to the challenges of leading teams. Find it under the podcast tab at SalesandMarketing.com.
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