Treat Your People Like Dirt: A Leadership Lesson for Landscape Architects (and Everyone Else)
Most leadership advice focuses on vision, strategy, goals, and performance.
But today, I want to talk about dirt.
Yes — dirt.
The stuff that sits under your feet.
The stuff landscape architects obsess over.
And the stuff great leaders often overlook.
Because here’s the surprising truth:
If you want to maximize results, you need to treat your people like dirt.
(Stay with me — it’s not what it sounds like.)
Dirt isn’t glamorous — but it determines everything
Every tree, every garden, every vibrant landscape starts in one place:
Healthy soil.
You can have the best seeds.
The best watering system.
The best sunlight.
The best tools.
But if the soil is depleted, toxic, or neglected… nothing grows.
The healthiest landscapes don’t just look good — they grow well.
And the same is true for teams.
Culture is the soil.
People are the roots.
Leadership is the gardener.
Jesus illustrated this 2,000 years ago in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13):
“Some seed fell on good soil… and it produced a harvest—thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
The soil didn’t just matter.
It determined the destiny of the seed.
The same is true for teams.
Good dirt is protected, enriched, and cared for.
Here’s what landscape architects know:
Dirt needs nutrients.
Dirt needs protection.
Dirt needs the right environment.
Dirt needs to be replenished.
Dirt needs to breathe.
Leaders often focus on the branches — growth, output, results — but forget the soil.
Healthy soil = healthy culture.
And healthy culture = healthy results.
So yes — treat your people like dirt.
The good kind.
Nourish them.
Protect them.
Develop them.
Enrich them.
Give them what they need to grow.
Strong roots come from strong soil
Roots grow down before they grow up.
They deepen before they strengthen.
They anchor before they expand.
Landscape architects understand what many leaders forget:
Visible growth is always anchored in invisible development.
Your people need:
trust
stability
clarity
support
development
safety
connection
encouragement
challenge
That’s the nutrient-rich soil of high-performing teams.
Water without soil destroys — not develops.
Here’s where the analogy hits hard:
You can pump more water into a system — more work, more customers, more opportunities.
But without strong soil (culture) and deep roots (leadership development), the firehose does more harm than good.
It overwhelms.
It erodes.
It destabilizes.
External growth is only healthy when internal development is strong.
Landscape architects know this.
Great leaders must too.
And then there are sassafras trees…
Sassafras trees are a different kind of brilliant.
They don’t just drop seeds.
They propagate underground through a shared root system called rhizomes.
Cut down a sapling?
It comes back — sometimes stronger.
Because the real life isn’t in the trunk.
It’s in the root network.
And here’s the leadership breakthrough:
A healthy culture behaves like a sassafras grove.
It doesn’t just grow leaders.
It multiplies them.
New leaders sprout from the same values.
New project leads emerge from shared norms.
New mentors grow from a unified identity.
New talent rises from the internal root system.
A strong leadership pipeline doesn’t require “planting” every leader from scratch.
It develops leaders from the underground ecosystem you cultivate.
Leadership is less about planting seeds and more about preparing soil.
Anyone can throw seeds.
Few can prepare soil.
Anyone can assign tasks.
Few develop people.
Anyone can push for output.
Few cultivate trust.
The best leaders understand:
Healthy soil produces results without being forced.
Toxic soil requires endless effort for minimal growth.
Your culture is either feeding your team or draining it.
The choice is yours.
So… should you really treat your people like dirt?
Absolutely.
Treat them like the most valuable soil you’ll ever steward.
Nourish them.
Support them.
Protect them.
Invest in them.
Feed them.
Strengthen them.
Because when the soil is healthy:
the roots deepen
the branches stretch
the fruit multiplies
and the whole landscape flourishes
Healthy soil = healthy culture.
Healthy culture = healthy teams.
Healthy teams = extraordinary results.
Final Thought
Landscape architects know something leaders often miss:
Dirt determines destiny.
So the next time someone asks you how to build a thriving organization, you can smile and say:
Treat your people like dirt — the good kind.
And then show them how deep, rich, well-nourished soil produces the strongest roots, the healthiest growth, and the most sustainable long-term results.
