Leadership is like Bamboo

The story of Chinese bamboo is fascinating, and I have heard it applied in many contexts. For me, the idea that a Chinese bamboo seed could be planted, watered, nurtured, and cared for daily and yet lay dormant for five years and then suddenly break through the soil and grow up to 80 feet in six weeks is amazing. This mental picture connects very well to all areas of personal growth and development.

Imagine for a moment that you wanted to harvest Chinese bamboo. You would have to recognize this desire five years in advance—that’s a lot of planning, patience, and work when you know you won’t reap a reward for five years!

I often share this example with people who are interested in the development of future leaders. Much like the Chinese bamboo, leadership development, or any form of personal growth, requires a long-term plan. In the space of leadership development, we must identify who we want to develop as leaders long before we actually need them to lead. This may mean investing in a young college freshman on an athletic team or an entry-level employee who has the potential to climb the corporate ladder. This intentionality must be paired with a commitment to a long-term growth process. We must be consistent, often over many years, while not seeing a direct outcome. It takes a special kind of leader to make a purposeful investment in the growth and development of future leaders.

About three years ago I was meeting with the Head Coach of an elite-level college basketball team and we were talking about the future of his team. We discussed how dominant his senior class was and that there would be big shoes to fill when that class graduated. This coach felt confident that his younger players would step into new roles and that they had talent in the pipeline to be successful for many years. But when we shifted the conversation to team leadership, he took a long deep breath. He mentioned two players that he thought could lead the team in the future but then he added, “they just aren’t ready yet.” But the reality is we become ready through preparation. Like anything in life, so much of our future success is connected to our past preparation.

I agreed with the Coach that the two players he identified had the potential to lead the team in the future. I also added that we needed a leadership development plan in order to set them up for success. For the next year, those two players became my primary focus. After just a few months of working with these two future leaders, the Head Coach called me. He was frustrated and said, “they just aren’t getting it; we aren’t seeing leadership from those two.” In my mind, I was thinking about the Chinese bamboo and the length of time that this development journey would take. I asked the Coach to trust the process and assured him that growth was happening just beneath the surface.

Fast forward a year or so, and I was watching this team play on TV. One of the commentators mentioned how well this team was doing and credited these two players with the success and leadership of the team. The commentator said, “these two players have come out of nowhere to lead this team” and I nearly lost it. I said out loud, “If out of nowhere means we were really intentional about developing them then yes, they came out of nowhere!”

The next time you are in the presence of someone who seems to have come out of nowhere as a leader, I would encourage you to pause for a moment and consider the work they have been doing behind the scenes to prepare for their leadership journey. Leaders don’t become leaders on accident. Growth takes intentionally. High performers are willing to buy in to the process and do the work knowing that, much like the story of Chinese bamboo, it will eventually pay off.

What seeds do you need to plant today for yourself or for others to have success in the future?

Trust the process.

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