Seasons and Cycles in Wise Leadership

“We suffer from overly ambitious timelines and poorly managed workloads due to a fundamental uneasiness with ever stepping back from the numbing exhaustion of jittery busyness.” Cal Newport, Slow Productivity

How does that land with you? Do you want to shout,

“That’s not it! You don’t understand my role / my manager / my team / my life…”.

Or do you feel a flicker of recognition and curiosity? A small yes to that uneasiness?

This post is part of my series exploring 8 aspects of Leading with Wisdom, a way of leading that draws not only on knowledge and experience, but also on the rich inner resources we often overlook. If you’re curious, follow along.

Why do I talk about seasons and cycles with senior leaders?

The wisest leaders I work with aren’t operating at 150% all the time. They’ve learned to notice the natural rhythms and cycles within themselves, their teams, and their organisations and to lead in sync with them.

They’ve realised that ignoring seasons and cycles isn’t efficient. It’s exhausting and unsustainable 🌊

We’ve drifted far from rhythm:

🥜 We eat out of season and locality
📝 We work through natural lows with no pause to reset and reflect
📆 We equate value with constant productivity

Even our “play” often disconnects us from our seasons as a form of escape.
But every living thing moves in cycles and seasons. So do we.

When we forget that, we get thrown off track. Or lead unsustainably. We blame ourselves for not being enough.

Leading from Wisdom means:

💨 Not confusing productivity with a relentless pace
🪫 Tuning in to your rising and falling energy across the day, week, year
🌡️ Reading the “weather” system in your team, organisation, or wider ecosystem
❓ Reflecting when good ideas land flat and asking why
🙏 Honouring endings, even subtle ones: “We don’t do those team lunches anymore...”
🪘 Valuing those who work at a different cadence than your own

This isn’t soft. It’s strategic. It’s wise. And it’s sustainable.

We don’t talk enough about endings in life and leadership, but nature shows us that endings are what allow things to begin.

Something has to rest, to die back, to be drastically pruned to make room for the next season of growth.

Only yesterday a client mentioned how difficult the senior team were finding ending some projects underway so that the focus could sharpen on those things that would set them up for success.

The analysis was done. The priorities were clear. Still everything continued because endings felt too hard. They didn't know how.

What season are you in right now? A few questions if you want to sink a little deeper:

❓ Where have you been pushing for too long?
❓ How good is your team at rest, recovery, and play?
❓ What needs to end to preserve energy for what matters most?
❓ What patterns keep repeating and what are they asking you to notice?

👇 Comment or share if this resonates or send me a message if you’re exploring how to lead in rhythm.