In The Hidden life of Trees, Wohlleben (2016) takes readers on a fascinating journey into how trees communicate, socialize, innovate, discriminate, and cooperate. A foray into the secret life of leadership rocks would tell an equally captivating story of alchemical transformation and provide a fascinating record of events that were key to their transformation. Reflecting their immense power, rocks are referred to frequently in leadership literature — from “bedrocks” to “big rocks” and “touchstones” to “cornerstones.” In Aotearoa, rocks occupy an important space in Māori culture. This Indigenous wisdom can raise intriguing questions for leaders and offer deeper insight into the power of rocks.  

“Don’t look at the rock, look at the crystal it is becoming.” – Indigenous Māori Philosopher M. Marsden (2003, p. 45)

One of the chapters in The Secret Life of Leadership Rocks would be dedicated to metamorphic processes, exploring the creative tension between who we are and who we are becoming. In rock-speak, this is dynamic mineralization with contextual forces, a curious mix of ingredients that forges transformation. As a leader, what is the crystal you are becoming? What are the personal, organizational, and community contexts that are shaping you and driving your transformation?

Touchstones / Sacred Stones

In Wayfinding Leadership, my co-author and captain of the ocean-going double-hulled sailing waka Haunui, Hoturoa Barclay Kerr, explains that stones nestled at the base of the mast “are the spiritual power packs on a waka charged by the vibrations from the mast, and are thus considered as repositories of vitality for connecting to wairua, spirituality.” They are touchstones to the lands that the wayfinders have come from and the places they have been. He calls these stones the “immortals.” They are a ritual recognition of relationships. As he reflects: “These toka [stones] embody the love we have for our ancestors, our land and what we do. They are a common factor that binds us all together” (Spiller et al., 2015, pp.117-118). As a leader, what connects you to your past that you want to carry forward as you set out into your future? What powers your forward momentum?  

In New Zealand, a sacred stone is a “mauri stone.” For Māori, the term “mauri” means life force, vital essence, an energy that “is immanent in all things, knitting and bonding them together” (Marsden, 2003, p.47). There are many examples of mauri stones used in public spaces in New Zealand — all expressing and engendering community bonds and connection.

For example, a mauri stone accompanies the New Zealand national rugby team, the All Blacks, wherever they play — home or abroad. The mauri stone embodies the team’s mana (dignity, power) and offers them protection in their travels and on the field. When they are not playing, it is cared for by “The All Blacks Experience,” located at Sky City in Auckland, until the team is ready for their next big game. Phil McGowan, General Manager of the exhibit, says, “Guests are encouraged to touch the stone, as it collects positive thoughts and wishes which can enhance the way the team co-operate on the field” (Triponel, 2021). What do you do to help bring your team together?  As a leader, how do you create greater co-operation that uplifts the organization even in challenging circumstances?

A mauri stone is often laid at the foundation of a new building in New Zealand to respect, protect, support, and nurture the land, buildings, people, and processes that will take place (for more about mauri, life-force, in organizations click over to my previous blog). Mauri stones are at work in hospitals, universities, meeting grounds, and other places of significance. They protect, energize, restore, heal, cleanse, empower, and transmit. They connect people with context and each other. Three such examples include a memorial to the Christchurch earthquakes, the Auckland Museum, and the Supreme Court.

Devastated by earthquakes in September 2010 and February 2011, a mauri stone sits at the entrance to the memorial erected in Christchurch.  The mauri stone, called “Mauri Tau Mauri Ora,” serves to connect “visitors to the whenua [land] and to those who have been before them.” Tribal representative from Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio, Susan Wallace, says, “the stone carries mana and mauri of its own, the water brings its cleansing wairua [spirit], and this is shared by everyone who touches it. There should be a sense of connection — whanaungatanga — a kinship or relationship gained through shared experiences, and the feelings the memorial invokes in all who visit it” (Rewi, 2017).

The Auckland Museum’s mauri stone is buried beneath the building where “silently and invisibly, it regulates the energy flowing in, out and around the building and whenua [land], providing guardianship to all who are in the Museum – people and taonga [treasures]” (Auckland Museum, n.d.). Laid in the grounds of the Supreme Court, a mauri stone represents “the life force or the essence not only of the building but also of the important work that will be conducted there in the future,” according to former Minister of Parliament, Hon Georgina te Heuheu (2009). What is the essence of your organization? What purpose is buried at its heart? How do you honor and operationalize that purpose?