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joyful Leadership builds transformative teams

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We don’t need more heroes. We need ecosystems.

Leadership isn’t about lone visionaries pulling us forward. It’s about networks, resilience, adaptation—the same forces that sustain forests, rivers, and soil.

Soil and Shadow is a Leadership Lab that turns to ecosystems to understand what makes systems thrive, adapt, and regenerate. Because leadership, like nature, isn’t static. It evolves. And in a world defined by uncertainty - visceral, gut-wrenching uncertainty - leaders and teams must become more like ecosystems—resilient, dynamic, and deeply interconnected. The best models for leadership don’t come from boardrooms. They come from ecological wisdom. Microbiomes teach us how to collaborate. Biodiversity teaches us resilience. Soil health principles show us how to sustain long-term growth. We take these insights and apply them—in coaching rooms, executive teams, classrooms, and conference halls.

For over a decade, we’ve been designing new ways of leading and working.

We’ve published papers that push the climate sector forward, partnered with universities to teach what we’ve learned, and shared our research from national and international stages. With executive coaching and consulting we’ve applied our mix of innovation and best practices in real-world settings.

Our purpose-driven sectors need spaces where bold ideas are tested, where new ways of leading are designed, and where leaders are inoculated with the mental toughness, emotional stamina, and skills to pull hopeful futures into reality.

This is that space.

WHAT WE DO

We help you build the relational and professional development skills for high performance, diversity, equity and inclusion.

Free Resource: Adaptive Roots Framework for Leaders and Teams

Adaptive Roots: A Framework for Resilient Leadership and Culture

Soil and Shadow’s Adaptive Roots Framework integrates models from organizational development, leadership development, power-building and movement-building, and ecological management for biodiversity. Adaptive Roots strengthens structures, team culture processes, and skills training to cultivate resilient leadership and a thriving organizational culture—with a focus on ongoing practice, accountability (the ‘rubber meets the road’ execution over time), and joy.