🌾 From Soil to Soul: What Regenerative Agriculture Can Teach Us About Regenerative Work
The Summer of 1977.
My grandfather standing proudly in a sea of banger soybeans.
He would tell me years later it was the best season the farm had ever seen. Waist-high beans by July. Eighty bushels an acre. The kind of year farmers talk about for decades.
He was proud—not just of the yield, but of the care that went into it.
The seed brand? Dekalb.
And next week, I get to speak to them!
I’ll tell them story of this land and the lessons that live there. Because as it turns out, the principles my grandfather used to steward soil hold profound wisdom for how we can now steward people.
******
We are not machines to be optimized.
We are ecosystems to be tended.
*****
That’s the idea at the heart of regenerative work—a philosophy of leadership and culture rooted not in extraction, but in renewal. Not in short-term output, but long-term vitality.
🌱 10 Principles of Regenerative Agriculture → Regenerative Work
1. Biodiversity → Human Diversity & Team Dynamics
Healthy ecosystems thrive on diverse species. Teams thrive on diverse perspectives. Diversity isn’t just a checkbox—it’s a resilience strategy.
2. Soil Health → Culture Health
Just as soil holds the nutrients for life, culture holds the conditions for people to grow. Leaders are the stewards of that soil.
3. Crop Rotation → Role Rotation & Skill Renewal
Farmers rotate crops to avoid depletion. We need to rotate tasks, roles, and rhythms to avoid burnout and stagnation.
4. Seasons & Cycles → Rhythms of Work & Rest
Nature doesn’t bloom year-round. Neither should we. Strategic sprints must be matched with deliberate recovery.
5. No-Till Farming → Psychological Safety
Minimal disturbance protects soil ecosystems. In teams, minimizing unnecessary disruption protects trust and emotional stability.
6. Integrated Systems → Whole-Human Work Design
Regenerative farms integrate plants, animals, water, and waste. Work should integrate purpose, people, creativity, and wellbeing—not isolate them.
7. Closed Loops → Feedback Loops
On the farm, waste becomes fuel. At work, open feedback loops help ideas circulate, evolve, and grow stronger.
8. Water Retention → Energy Stewardship
Healthy soil retains water. Healthy teams retain energy. Are you leaking yours through fractured focus and always-on urgency?
9. Regenerating the Commons → Investing in Collective Capacity
Regenerative agriculture restores shared resources. Regenerative leaders invest in team rituals, peer learning, and shared humanity.
10. Stewardship → Leadership as Gardening
🌾 Personal Regeneration Starts Small
We don’t need to overhaul everything overnight. Regeneration often begins in the margins—with micro-practices that restore energy, clarity, and joy.
Here are a few simple regenerative rituals I’ve collected from leaders around the world:
🌿 Micro-Practices for Personal Renewal
Taking walking meetings outdoors to reset your nervous system.
Setting “tech-free” windows to reclaim presence and focus.
Practicing breathwork before high-stakes meetings.
Journaling to compost thoughts into clarity.
Blocking a sacred 90-minute deep work window each day.
Ending the week by asking your team: “What energized you this week?”
Saying “no” once a week to honor your own boundaries.
Creating rituals of reentry after intense projects—a rest period, a team reflection, a celebration.
Small shifts. Deep roots.
💬 Ready to Bring Regeneration to Your Team?
Here are five reflection questions you can use at your next team offsite, retreat, or even your next 1:1:
Where in our culture are we depleting energy faster than we’re replenishing it?
What rhythms of rest and renewal could we intentionally build into our workweek?
How might we ‘rotate roles’ or vary tasks to keep our team soil fertile?
If our culture was a field, what are we planting today for tomorrow’s harvest?
What’s one regenerative practice we could prototype next week—just to see what grows?
Regenerative work is not soft.
It is strategic stewardship of human energy, creativity, and commitment.
And just like the land, when we tend to it well, it gives back far more than we put in.
Let’s stop extracting and start regenerating—one breath, one boundary, one brave conversation at a time.