Biohacking Leadership

Chapter 1Keystone Leaders

Beavers, wolves, and sea stars, oh my!

No, it's not a rewrite of the Wizard of Oz, but just as Dorothy Gale learned important life lessons from a scarecrow, a tinman, and a lion, we can discover valuable leadership lessons from a beaver, a wolf, and a sea star.

Getting Things Done When You Can't Tell Anyone What to Do

One of my early experiences in leadership development work was in an environment in which the person at the top of the organization had virtually no ability for command and control. The people they were leading were highly skilled. They could find work anywhere and be well compensated for that work. This was in the 1980s and it represented a relatively new leadership challenge. Value was being produced differently, as talent was highly mobile and supply chains were becoming globalized. I began looking far and wide for new leadership models.

I would eventually find one hiding in plain sight, all around me—natural ecosystems and the emergent and evolutionary patterns of behaviors that result in sustainability, resiliency, and the shared‐value creation. Often there is a specific living creature that helps create and sustain many natural ecosystems.

These remarkable creatures are known as keystone species. Remove them and balance is disrupted, leading to significant changes that can affect countless other species. Understanding the role of keystone species offers profound insights into the dynamics of leadership and the influence one ...