As a leader, are you a chess master or a gardener?
I want to be a gardener. Here’s why.
Leaders today are overwhelmed. It’s hard to keep up with all the decisions, reviews and plans. As the world speeds up and grows more complex, leading can feel like drinking from a fire hose.
In his book Team of Teams, retired US Army General Stanley McChrystal describes this situation as leaders playing chess.
Traditionally, leaders saw themselves as chess masters – deliberating over moves, controlling the game and selecting actions for each part of the organisation.
But when the external world evolves too quickly, or the organisation becomes too large, this approach breaks down. One person – or even a small group – simply can’t control everything.
So McChrystal argues that modern leaders need to be more like gardeners. Gardeners create and nurture environments where plants flourish. They can’t force growth, only cultivate the conditions for it.
Likewise, leaders can’t succeed by forcing people to follow commands or assuming they know all the answers. Instead, McChrystal suggests, they need to build organisations with “smart autonomy,” where structure, processes and culture empower the team to thrive on its own.
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