Reading The Rings: What Extending a Garden's Reach Taught Me About Leadership
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I didn't expect to spend my placement wielding loppers, scythes and mattocks, but that hands-on work led to growth in ways I never anticipated.
I built my poster around a tree stump because the idea felt right: growth accumulating outward, ring by ring, week by week. Each ring holds a lesson, and the QR at its core links to the fuller story, my weekly reflections, the projects, and a photo journal of the whole experience.
The placement taught me more about leadership than any single task did. I learned that leading is less about control and more about amplifying what matters and building things that outlast you. I learned to weigh my own instincts against my supervisor's experience, to take initiative on projects nobody assigned me, and that the best work is genuine, never extractive.
Huge thanks to the team at The Conservation Volunteers, and to the Laidlaw Foundation for the opportunity!
