Learning Leadership

Chapter 18Context Matters

Lenny Lind, among his other professional endeavors, is a coffee farmer in El Salvador. We were working together with Lenny on a conference, and we started exploring the lessons Lenny was learning from farming and how they applied to developing leaders. Lenny related how his agronomist, Luis Gutiérrez, was insistent that each plant would flourish with a buena casa—a good house—in which to grow. That meant that the holes into which they planted coffee seedlings had to be dug deep and filled with quality soil and nutrients. Although it would be cheaper to dig a shallow hole and use lower-quality materials, the plants could thrive and produce exceptional crops over the long term only if they took root from the beginning in a buena casa.

The same goes for human beings. When the environment in which people live and work provides the essential conditions and support for growth and development, people thrive. When the conditions are poor, and the support is lacking, people struggle and seldom reach their full potential. When there's a rich culture of leadership in an organization, leaders emerge, grow, and succeed. They prosper and contribute because they get the care and attention they need to become exemplary.

Ellen Langer, psychology professor at Harvard University, is one of the world's leading experts on how context influences people's decisions, actions, and well-being.¹ She offers this observation: “If you want to gain control over your life, the first ...