A More Human Way to Lead: How Cyclical Leadership Supports Sustainable Growth

Leadership is often described as if it moves in straight lines. We plan, prioritize, implement and evaluate, all with the expectation that clarity and energy will remain steady. But leadership does not unfold this way: real leadership growth is not linear, predictable or consistently paced. Human beings grow in seasons.

Over the past few years, through my own work, my body, my leadership practice and the leaders I support, I have learned something important about sustainable leadership: Growth does not follow the calendar, it follows an inner rhythm. Leaders move through cycles of reflection, emergence, action and integration. Teams and organizations move through these rhythms too.

This is the heart of what I now think of as cyclical leadership, and it is the foundation of my approach to leadership development and coaching, designed to support sustainable, human-centered growth.

Leadership Growth Is Cyclical, Not Linear

Traditional leadership models assume steady clarity and constant readiness. Leaders are expected to make decisions, maintain strategic focus, respond with emotional intelligence and act with confidence, often at the same pace year round. But this is not how identity, creativity or insight develop, and it is certainly not how energy works.

In reality, sustainable leadership requires space for reflection, room for imagination and periods of meaningful action followed by moments of rest and learning. When leaders try to override these rhythms, the result is often burnout, misalignment or a sense that they are working hard without working wisely.

Cyclical leadership invites something different. It asks leaders to notice which metaphorical season they are in, rather than forcing themselves into a pace that does not match their internal reality.

The Four Seasons of Cyclical Leadership

Winter: Reflective Leadership and Inner Clarity

Winter is the season of reflective leadership. It is the moment when noise quiets and deeper truths begin to surface. Winter often brings a drop in energy, a natural pause and an impulse to turn inward. It is a time to notice what has been aligned, what has not and where leadership has been driven more by pressure than purpose.

Winter helps leaders reconnect with values and identity. It is a season of honesty, introspection and inner grounding. Winter is not inactivity, but rather a time to connect with insight and to prepare the ground for sustainable leadership decisions in the next cycle.

Spring: Emergence and Early Creativity

Spring is subtle. It arrives slowly, often as a soft spark of curiosity after a reflective period. Leaders begin to imagine again, ideas surface, and possibility returns. Spring is the season of early creativity, gentle experimentation and quiet visioning.

The work of Spring is not to commit too early. It is to explore, test assumptions, and develop their vision. This is where leaders sense what wants to grow without rushing into decisions. Spring is a time for playful thinking, light prototyping and reconnecting to what feels meaningful.

Summer: Commitment, Momentum and Leadership in Motion

Summer is the season of the aligned action that emerges only after clarity has formed. This is when leadership becomes visible to others, and momentum builds: collaboration flows, projects move decisively. Conversations become commitments and teams feel carried by a sense of shared purpose.

Summer is not frantic productivity, it is focused, intentional motion. Leaders feel capable, grounded and ready to act. Summer is where sustainable leadership turns vision into practice.

Fall: Harvest, Learning and Completion

This is the season I am in now.

It is November as I write this, and my leadership practice is firmly in Fall. I am working intensely across multiple organizations, supporting different leadership teams and coaching a wide range of leaders. At the same time, I can feel my mind turning toward reflection and integration. I am noticing what is working in my own practice, where I feel energized and where I feel stretched. I am gathering insight even as the work continues.

Every year, November pulls me into this rhythm. It is the beginning of my harvest season. I can sense my brain preparing for the annual review I do each December, once the pace slows and the year offers a natural pause. I will share more about that process in a separate post, but for now, Fall is reminding me to pay attention to what this year has taught me.

Fall is the season where leaders gather what the year produced, celebrate progress, integrate learning and release what is ready to end. It brings closure and prepares the ground for Winter.

Leadership Seasons Do Not Follow the Calendar

This is one of the most important principles of cyclical leadership: your inner season has nothing to do with the date.

We move through seasons at different levels, and the layers do not need to match.

Your year might be in Winter.

Your project might be in Fall.

Your week might feel like Spring.

Your day might have a moment of Summer.

And of course, the natural world might be in fall, while your body's natural energy rhythms might feel like spring.

Leaders inhabit several cycles at once. Sustainable leadership begins with noticing which season you are in and choosing a pace that aligns with that season.

What Happens When Leadership Seasons Become Distorted

A cycle becomes distorted when a leader tries to rush or skip a season.

This often leads to recognizable patterns:

• skipping Winter and carrying unprocessed patterns into new decisions

• rushing Spring and making commitments before readiness

• staying in Summer too long and exhausting energy

• skipping Fall and losing the learning that strengthens the next cycle

  
  

This is not failure. It is misalignment between expectation and readiness. The good news is that alignment can always be restored. Seasonal awareness gives leaders the ability to choose more consciously.

Why Cyclical Leadership Creates Sustainable Growth

Leadership today moves at a relentless pace. Leaders are asked to operate with constant clarity and capacity, which is simply not how human energy works. Cyclical leadership offers a more grounded and humane path to sustainable growth.

By working with your natural rhythms rather than against them, you can make better decisions, lead with more clarity, protect your energy, deepen your leadership identity and create impact that is both meaningful and sustainable.

For me, as I work through a demanding November season, this framework helps me complete my year with intention. It reminds me to harvest the learning, complete what needs completing and prepare myself for a reflective Winter that will ground the next cycle of growth.