In this solo reflection, Nathan Freeburg explores how some of the most important leadership work happens quietly, long before problems appear. Inspired by a parenting moment, Nathan reflects on stewardship, foresight, invisible leadership, and the power of small, preventative actions that shape long-term growth. This episode invites leaders to step back from urgency and trust the slow formation that creates healthy teams and cultures.
What You’ll Learn
- Why preventative leadership often goes unnoticed
- How stewardship and foresight shape long-term outcomes
- The importance of creating space before growth is needed
- Why small adjustments made early compound over time
Resources
- Unfolded: Lessons in Transformation from an Origami Crane – Dr. Linda & Brian Schubring
- Leadership Vision Consulting: https://www.leadershipvisionconsulting.com
🎉 Unfolded is a National Bestseller!
#1 in Business & #5 Overall on USA Today
#17 on Publisher’s Weekly Nonfiction
📘 Grab your copy + get the FREE Reflection Guide!
-
Read the full blog post here!
CONTACT US
- email: connect@leadershipvisionconsulting.com
- Leadership Vision Online
ABOUT
The Leadership Vision Podcast is a weekly show sharing our expertise in discovering, practicing, and implementing a Strengths-based approach to people, teams, and culture. Contact us to talk to us about helping your team understand the power of Strengths.
Episode Transcript
You are listening to the Leadership Vision Podcast,
our show helping you buildpositive team culture.
Our consulting firm has beendoing this work for the past 25
years so that people arementally engaged and emotionally
healthy.
To learn more about what we do,you can click the link in the
show notes or visit us on theweb at Leadership Vision
Consulting.com.
Hello everyone, my name isNathan Freeberg, and today on
(02:07):
the podcast, I wanted to sharesomething that I've been
thinking about.
I guess it initially started afew weeks ago when I took my
daughter in for her first ofwhat we now know will be many
orthodontic appointments.
Now, at first this started as Iguess a simple reflection about
space and about habits, aboutcarving out small moments for
(02:30):
what matters most rather thanclinging to whatever feels most
urgent.
But the more I sat with this andthe more time that I spent in
the orthodontist office, well,this idea has kind of morphed
into something a little, I don'tknow, deeper, but just broader.
Something about stewardship,something about foresight, and
the kind of leadership thatworks quietly in the background.
(02:54):
So let me set this up just alittle bit.
My daughter, who's nine yearsold, recently got a palette
expander installed.
Now, if you're not familiar withwhat a palette expander is, let
me tell you, it is a small,orthodontic, medieval-looking
torture device type of a thingthat's attached to the roof of
(03:15):
the mouth.
And twice a day for 10 daysinitially, I take this little
tiny key and I slide it intothis little metal hole and make
an adjustment that's almostimperceptible.
And it does this thing to herupper jaw where it expands over
time.
It's not dramatic, it's notfixing a pain, it's not
responding to any sort of adental crisis.
(03:36):
In fact, for a long while,nothing is gonna really appear
to be different at all.
And that's kind of the point I'mtrying to make here.
A palate expander ispreventative.
It creates space, it doesminimal work early so that
bigger problems never have achance to form later.
Now, as I sat in theorthodontist office listening to
all of this, it struck me thatif we choose not to do this, if
(03:58):
we don't put in this expander,if we don't spend the money,
there likely wouldn't be anyimmediate consequences.
Probably not for years, probablynot even for, most likely, not
even for decades, and definitelynot until well after she's out
of the house and off our dentalinsurance completely.
And that's what really caught myattention.
Not not the insurance part, buthow the absence of pain can
(04:19):
convince us that nothing needsattention.
And that's where my thinkingshifted from just being about
habits to thinking more broadlyabout leadership and personal
growth.
So much of the most importantwork we do as leaders, and
humans for that matter, looksexactly like this.
It's quiet, it's incremental,and it's easy to dismiss because
(04:40):
there's just there's noemergency demanding our response
or our attention right now.
So here are five, let's callthem slightly baked ideas that
I'd love to throw out there andshare and to get your thoughts
on.
If you want to email me, youthere's a link in the
description.
But just as we close out thisyear and start the next one, I'm
I just I'm thinking about thisstuff.
(05:00):
So, first of all, there's thisidea of stewardship.
My daughter didn't ask for apalette expander.
She doesn't fully understandwhat it's doing or its long-term
value.
But part of my role as a parent,as a leader, is to make
decisions now that her futureself will be grateful for.
Leadership often asks us to dothe same thing, to care for the
people on our teams and in ourorganizations and the systems
(05:22):
beyond the immediate moment,even when the payoff isn't
obvious.
Okay, the second idea here isthis idea of foresight.
A palette expander isn't aboutsolving today's problem, it's
about anticipating tomorrow's.
Healthy leadership works kind ofthe same way.
It's like paying attention earlywhen change is still gentle
(05:42):
instead of waiting untilcorrection becomes costly.
I'm sure you can think aboutsomeone in your organization who
fits that description.
Now, the third idea here is thisidea of invisible leadership.
So nobody ever applauds theproblems that never happen.
There's no celebration for acrisis that's been avoided, and
yet much of our best leadershipis found in the quiet,
(06:06):
unrecognized work that createsstability and trust for others
over time.
The fourth idea here is trustingslow formation.
The expander doesn't forceanything into place, it simply
creates room for healthy growthto occur naturally.
Now, that's true for people andteams too.
Growth unfolds when theconditions are right, not when
(06:26):
we just push harder and harderand force it.
And finally, the fifth one isthere's resisting the urge to be
the sole decision maker.
I didn't have a short, catchything for it.
Uh a palette expander, it well,it requires trust.
It requires trust and expertiseof the dentist and the little
piece of metal in the processand in time.
(06:47):
Leadership doesn't meancontrolling every outcome, I
don't think.
Often it means just creatingspace, there's that word again,
and then allowing others to growinto it.
It's about creating theenvironment rather than forcing,
just kind of like brute forcethere.
Maybe that's what braces do.
I don't know.
That's probably a podcast for afew years down the road.
(07:08):
But this does bring me back tosomething that Brian once told
me years ago.
It was this idea that if we canhelp someone's life trajectory
shift by just like a degree ortwo, well, over time, that
small, almost imperceptiblechange can make an enormous
difference.
That's what this feels like.
Small adjustments, early,faithfully applied.
(07:34):
So now as we wrap up the yearhere, I want to leave you with a
simple reflection.
You can take it however youwant, write some things down, or
just think about it on your runor in the car.
Where in your leadership or inyour life for that matter might
there be an opportunity to makea small preventative adjustment
right now?
Maybe something that doesn'tfeel urgent, something that
might even feel unnecessary, butsomething that over time could
(07:56):
make a meaningful difference.
Now, some ideas here.
Maybe it's a conversation thatyou've been putting off, maybe
it's a habit that you want tobuild, or maybe a habit you want
to unbuild.
Maybe it's creating a littlespace to notice what's already
unfolding.
Now, for me, it's trying tobreathe, to breathe when I'm
lifting weights, or stretching,or breathe differently when I'm
(08:18):
running or getting overlystressed out.
When those things happen, I havea tendency to kind of hold my
breath, which isn't good.
It's not healthy.
So I'm trying to remember tobreathe more.
Not only when I'm doing thosephysical things, but when I get
stressed out, or when I getfrustrated, or or triggered by
something big or somethingsmall, something silly, whatever
it is.
I'm just trying to focus ontaking a single breath.
(08:39):
Just one, to give myself amoment to pause before
responding, to create thatspace.
What will your thing be in thenew year?
Transformation rarely announcesitself.
It works slowly, faithfully, andoften invisibly, one small
adjustment at a time.
Thank you for listening to theLeadership Vision Podcast, our
show helping you build positiveteam culture.
(09:02):
If this episode has beenvaluable at all to you, we would
appreciate it if you wouldsubscribe wherever you listen to
podcasts and join our free emailnewsletter.
I hope this reflection givesyou, I guess gives you
permission just to step backfrom the pressure to create
massive change and instead trustthe power of small intentional
actions and the future they'requietly shaping.
(09:25):
My name is Nathan Freeberg, andon behalf of our entire team,
thanks for listening.
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