What Redwoods Teach Us About Strength, Support, and Our Brains

I find the tree analogy to be incredibly robust for us leaders. If our responsibilities are too heavy to bear, what branches need to be pruned? If our trunk is weak, how might we strengthen it?

If we seek safety or esteem from unreliable sources, might growing new roots help us tap into a different way to meet our needs?

Standing alone, a redwood can’t support itself. But intertwined with the roots of others, it becomes part of a resilient, thriving forest—capable of weathering storms and standing tall for over a thousand years.

Leadership identity is like that too. We don’t have to hold it all alone. We’re stronger, steadier, and more rooted when we understand what nourishes us, what needs pruning, and where our strength truly comes from.

STORY:  Leadership identity is like a tree. What a recent visit to the Redwoods reminded me of.

READ MORE: Additional Resources. A few resources that expand on these ideas, books podcast and more!

BOOK STUFF: Book Club and Book Update. Our July/August book is The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins. Join us for our last conversation, Thursday August 28th 4pm PST

GOING FURTHER: Additional ways to connect in the Inquiring Minds community

STORY

I recently went to Muir Woods and stood under the leafy canopy of Cathedral Grove where many of the redwood trees are over 200 feet tall. In 1945, 500 world leaders from the United Nations’ first peace conference came to visit this grove in honor of the passing of Franklin D. Roosevelt. On that day, Secretary of State, Edward Stettinus, said, “These great redwoods at Muir Woods National Monument are the most enduring of all trees. Many of them stood here centuries after every man now living is dead. They are as timeless and as strong as the ideals and faith of Franklin D. Roosevelt.”

As I stood under the living cathedral, it became clear to me that redwood trees have a lot to teach us about leadership.

On the Anatomy of Leadership: Canopy, Trunk, Roots

Fellow coach, Hope Seth, once offered up this lovely analogy in our free women’s leadership circle.

A tree's branches and leaves are like a leader's roles and responsibilities -- everything on the to-do list, their ongoing projects, their actions, their titles. When you look at a tree, that’s the main thing you notice – the canopy. It’s what the world notices and pays attention to. It's what bears fruit and leaves an impact on the world.

I think of myself as a mango tree. One major branch is my job as a leadership coach & trainer. Another is me as a wife & mom. Another is as a community member who sits on multiple nonprofit boards. Each branch bears juicy ripe mangos in the form of the impact I make on others, and in the form of the personal satisfaction that role and responsibility brings to my life.

All that leafy canopy is supported by a trunk which represents a leaders' identity – their strengths, values, purpose, passions, and vision. You need a strong trunk to support a large canopy. A lot of leadership development is intended to grow and clarify the unique style and identity that a leader brings to their role and their organization.

Both trunk and canopy are supported by an underground root system. Roots bring in nourishment and water. In our analogy, the roots are where a leader sources belonging, control, safety, love, self-esteem, and other basic human needs. Without an extensive root system to bring in these essential things, the entire tree withers and dies.

Extending the analogy

I find Hope’s tree analogy to be incredibly robust for us leaders. 

What’s the best way to strengthen a tree overwhelmed with way too large a canopy? Prune branches? Deepen the root network? Thicken the trunk with some professional development? Surround yourself with sturdy posts to help prop you up for a while? All are valid options depending on the leader and the reason behind the imbalance.

If a branch is no longer bearing fruit, why? There are many possible reasons and the solution will depend on the root cause.

What should a leader do if safety or self-esteem is sourced from unreliable places? Often that’s a signal that it is time to grow new roots to tap into a more sustainable way to meet those needs.

What’s the best way for a tree to adapt when one branch begins to crowd out all the others, stealing all the light and resources? Consider the difference in what changes a tree might make to rebalance when the problem is workaholism versus when a loved one gets diagnosed with cancer.

Consider the ecosystem that a tree lives in. Sometimes it is better to be a graceful weeping willow that can bend with the winds of change. Other times, it’s best to be a hardy little live oak with a super deep taproot so it can withstand a drought. Sometimes if your tree isn’t thriving in one location, it’s best to transplant it to an ecosystem that’s a better fit. 

There are so many ways this analogy can bring fresh insight into a situation and help a client get unstuck.

Three Brain Networks that Support the Canopy, Trunk, and Roots of your Tree

There are three brain networks that support the different parts of your tree. 

External achievement (the canopy) is primarily controlled by a set of networked brain areas called the executive control network. These interconnected brain areas are devoted to helping you focus on, plan out, problem solve, and execute goal-directed actions. It's the network most needed for a typical day at school and work, following the black-and-white path of goal-achievement, problem-solving, and productivity. 

Internal identity (the trunk) is governed primarily by the default mode network. It’s an entirely different set of interconnected brain areas active when your mind is resting, wandering, untethered, remembering, imaginative, self-reflective, and task-free. The default mode network is particularly active when considering autobiographical memories and the sense of self.

Meeting one’s needs (the roots) is directed by the salience network. It directs and switches your attention to whatever is most important at the time. It monitors incoming sensory information for things that will impact your wellbeing, flags emotional or wellbeing-impacting events, and switches your attention between the other two networks (executive control vs default mode) as necessary to deal with it. 

Interestingly, neuroscientists find that creative insight in everything from art to math to science (my favorite) is almost always preceded by default mode network activation. That is, creative insight starts with your identity, the trunk. And then, in that aha moment, both the executive control network AND the default mode network are active at the same time. That is, when internal identity aligns with external goals, you find insight.

On Teamwork and Collaboration

Another amazing thing I learned at Muir Woods was that redwood roots aren't that deep. They only extend 10 to 13 feet below the ground. These giant trees survive windstorms only because their roots spread outward 60 to 80 feet and interlace with those of their neighbors. Standing alone, a redwood can't support its own weight and height, but when networked and supported by others underground, at their source, they can live over 1,000 years. 

That seems like a pretty important lesson for us leaders in today’s uncertain times. We don’t have to stand alone. In fact, it’s only through connectedness at the root level–to support one another with basic human needs like safety, control, and belonging–that we survive the test of time.

Moreover, the interlaced root system of redwoods also supports a symbiotic relationship with underground mycorrhizal fungi that’s been known as the “Wood Wide Web”. Through these fungal “bridges”, trees pass water, sugars, and minerals to one another, especially from stronger individuals to stressed or younger ones. It’s a multi-species cooperative forest structure that enables the forest to keep standing for longer, through disease, drought, fire, and storms.

In your own “ecosystem” there are likely many clubs, communities, and groups that connect individuals and help meet your needs–bubble pods, gyms, church groups, Rotary clubs, book clubs, quilting circles, hunting buddies, libraries, and the local bar. For instance, take a look at Journey Coffee Co which I recently visited on a road trip. This coffee shop is like those fungi, and there are hundreds of thousands of communities like these all over the world. They connect individual leaders to one another and offer the love, safety, and support we need most in times of stress. 

Standing there in Cathedral Grove, beneath those towering thousand-year old trees, I was struck by how redwoods represent the kind of leadership our world desperately needs—deeply rooted, internally aligned, outwardly gorgeous, and intimately interconnected. Like redweeks, we leaders thrive not in isolation, but through the strength of our networks (yes, the neural kind too!). If redwoods can endure for centuries by supporting one another underground, if UN leaders can find inspiration in this grove, perhaps we too can take inspiration from then so that we may lead with greater resilience, grace, and shared purpose.

Read more

If you can’t get enough about trees and leadership, I have a whole podcast episode about it! Check out Episode 15: Rooted in Connection from the Leaders’ Playground. 

To learn more about the “Wood Wide Web” and find more inspiration from trees, consider reading Finding the Mother Tree by Susan Simard (a book that we read in book club once).

To learn more about the three brain networks and how they relate to creativity, read The Neuroscience of Creativity by Anna Abraham.

Definitely check out my friend, fellow executive coach, and brilliant co-facilitator, Hope Seth. I wish I could take credit for the tree analogy but I learned it from her. 

Book stuff

We are reading Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins.  From my perspective she stays on the surface level but we can dig so much deeper.  There's much more insight, science and research to explore and our Thursday August 28 book club zoom is the perfect time to connect and share your thoughts.  Whether you’ve read this, listened to the audio or her podcast, join us when we meet on zoom, Thursday August 28th at 4PM PST.

Going further

If you're a female leader in the North State and you'd like to join the Women's Leadership Collective, please comment or drop me or Hope a message. It's free, supportive, and welcoming. RSVP HERE to reserve your spot for our next meet up, Wednesday August 27th where I will facilitate a discussion on designing evaluation systems that promote growth, trust, and compassionate accountability. 

Time: 5:00–6:30 pm

Socializing: Drinks and appetizers 15 minutes before and after

Location: Art Hunger / IOOF Hall, 1504 Market St

Bring: If you have them, your current director evaluation materials for hands-on workshopping.

An invitation…if something in this post stirred something in you—an ache for deeper alignment, a longing for more clarity, or just a knowing that it’s time to step into the next chapter—I do have a few openings coming up for 1:1 thought partnership and whole team coaching.

This isn’t a typical coaching relationship. It’s a private, ongoing space to think deeply, lead wisely, and be fully yourself. Together, we explore both the inner and outer work of leadership—unpacking saboteurs like perfectionism or people-pleasing, reconnecting with purpose, and building a path that’s both strategic and soulful. For teams, I create brave, collaborative spaces to align around vision, culture, and communication.

If that sounds like what you—or your team—have been searching for, you can learn more here or apply here.

We’ll explore whether it’s the right fit, no pressure at all.