“In our previous discussion, we delved into The What of Stewardship - how Purpose, Architecture, and Coaching shape what we build. Now, we turn to The Why - the deeper currents that hold an ecosystem together.

Stewardship isn’t about individual leadership styles. It’s about the shared conditions that allow people, organisations, and environments to thrive - together. This comes from lived and breathed values.

Across years of coaching, leading, and building systems, I’ve observed four values that consistently define whether an ecosystem flourishes or fractures”.

“Everywhere we look today, we are told to “lead.” We need strong leaders in business, in politics, in communities, in our own lives. And yet, for all this talk of leadership, the world still feels restless, fragile, and unfinished.

What we are missing is not leadership itself.
What we are missing is stewardship.

Stewardship is Different”

“One of my favourite quotes comes from Rudyard Kipling, who wrote about his “six honest serving-men” - What, Why, When, How, Where, and Who. These steward framings, as I call them, have helped me steward teams, organisations, and new ventures for years, and I’ve seen them bring clarity to nearly every leader I’ve coached. They sit at the heart of transformation.

In this post, we hone in on three core components of stewardship - the first of Rudyard’s steward framings: “What”, which guides how we act, build systems, and hold responsibility. Over the coming weeks, we’ll continue this series, exploring each component in depth.

The What of Stewardship is made up of three components: Purpose, Architect, and Coach.”

“When we launched the Be the Waves manifesto, we said something simple but important: we don’t need more leaders, we need stewards.

Alongside that, we asked a question: what does stewardship mean to you?

The replies were thoughtful, personal, and often moving. This blog gathers those voices - not as a survey or a theory, but as lived reflections. What emerged was striking: different words, different perspectives, but a strong shared current of care, responsibility, and conscience.”

“Stewardship? So much transformation is framed as changing cells, fixing the smallest unit. But a cell cannot live without a system. Take a white blood cell: on its own, it has no meaning. It only brings life when supported by blood, by platelets, by the liquid that carries it. That liquid needs veins. Those veins need a pump, a heart. A heart needs a body. A body needs fuel. Fuel depends on growth. Growth depends on healthy air, water, and sunlight. And even those depend on the people, structures, and choices that govern how they are sustained.

I have always worked this way, long before I knew to call it ecological: paying attention not only to the smallest part, but to the whole system around it, and to the leaders who shape it”.

“Everywhere we look today, we are told to “lead.” We need strong leaders in business, in politics, in communities, in our own lives. And yet, for all this talk of leadership, the world still feels restless, fragile, and unfinished.

What we are missing is not leadership itself.
What we are missing is stewardship.

Stewardship is Different”