In my last post, I explored the meta-relational paradigm—how it helps us see the hidden patterns, histories, and entanglements that shape our lives and work, reminding us that we’re not separate from the more than human world.
Today I want to speak about stewardship.
Why? Because the ways we’ve been taught to lead—focused on control, performance, and efficiency—are no longer working. They’ve brought us to ecological, social, and relational limits.
Stewardship offers another way. It’s not about taking charge, fixing everything, or being the hero. It’s about caring and tending—relationships, possibilities, and responsibilities—with humility, curiosity, and care for long-term wellbeing.
It asks:
– What does this situation call for beyond my own agenda?
– How can I serve the relational fields I’m part of—not just drive results?
– How might my decisions ripple through other lives, human and more than human, across time?
Stewardship doesn’t reject leadership—but it composts its extractive parts. It shifts us from self-interest to service, from managing people to co-shaping futures together.
In the next posts, I’ll share how this shift can show up in practice.
I’ll leave you with a line from Lao Tzu:
When the best leader’s work is done,
the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.’
Perhaps that’s the kind of presence we’re being invited to grow into now.
I hope this gives you something to reflect on. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Share this post