The Fall Playbook

Leadership lessons from the garden

It's Labor Day next week, which means our transition toward Fall has begun.

Vegetable gardens across the Midwest are at their absolute prime. The smell of fresh crayons is back in the air. Many of us are adjusting — again — to new routines, new schedules, new rhythms. It's time to pull out The Fall Playbook.

Without one, we risk wasting good talent and energy on strategies that worked for last season but don't fit what's actually in front of us now. We fall short on what matters most simply because we're still running spring's plan in September.

I've noticed my own fall playbook draws a lot of its lessons straight from the garden.

First, Harvest.

Harvesting isn't about doing more. It's about not leaving value sitting unclaimed.

Talent: Who on your team has grown into a new capability this year that hasn't been formally recognized or put to use yet? Where is there readiness you haven't harvested?
Projects: What initiatives are close to completion and just need a final push, rather than being left to limp into Q4 unfinished?
Learnings: What did this year teach you — about your team, your leadership, your organization — that's ready to be named and carried forward, instead of left in the field?

Next, make time for clearing out.

Every good gardener knows you can't plant into a bed that's still tangled with spring's spent growth. Clearing out is its own essential task — and so is clearing out your priorities before Q4 arrives.

Three questions to ask as you reset:

What am I still doing simply out of habit, not because it still serves the goal?
What commitment is taking up space and energy but isn't actually moving anything forward?
If I could only carry three priorities into Q4, what would they need to be?

Finally, plant or plan for next season.

Even as we're harvesting and clearing, the most intentional gardeners are already thinking about what comes next.

This is the moment to start — even just informally — talking about 2027. Not a full strategic plan yet, but the early seeds of it:

If you have a multi-year strategic plan, how do you currently sit in relation to long-term priorities?
What would you want to be true about your team or organization a year from now that isn't true today?
What's one conversation you could start now that would make next year's planning season easier?

You don't need the whole plan today. You need the first seed in the ground.

Want a partner in drawing up your fall playbook?

This is exactly the kind of work I love doing with leaders and teams — walking through a simple three-step process:

Align around what's changed — in your team, your context, your goals since the last time you planned with intention.
Identify what's missing — the gaps between where you are and where you want to be heading into Q4 and beyond.
Co-create what's needed — a plan that's actually built for your specific harvest, your specific clearing, and your specific next season.

This is exactly the kind of work Cardinal Leadership Lab is built for.

Let's find time to connect.