Building the Treehouse: Lasagna Wisdom: Imagination + Execution

Ask a group of leaders to build a treehouse and watch what happens. One person immediately starts sketching possibilities. Another inspects the branches for strength. Someone else imagines a rope ladder, a lookout deck, maybe even a pulley system. No one begins by arguing about titles. They begin by imagining what could be built together.
This is leadership in its most natural form.
 
Treehouses are not built from instruction manuals alone. They require trust, creativity, shared responsibility, and a willingness to test ideas safely before committing weight. Great leadership works the same way. Strategy is not handed down like a blueprint carved in stone—it is assembled plank by plank through collaboration.
 
Lasagna wisdom reminds us that no single layer makes the dish. The noodles without sauce collapse. The sauce without structure spills everywhere. Leaders across industries—corporate, nonprofit, startup, government—share this truth: organizations are strongest when many perspectives reinforce the structure.
 
When leaders invite teams into the building process, people stop being passengers and become architects. Engagement rises. Ownership deepens. And the final structure can hold more weight than any one leader ever could.
 
Build the treehouse together. It will last longer—and everyone will want to climb into it.
 
Now hand someone a plank and ask what they see.
Sam The Lasagna Lady®