Wind-Resistant Roots
Leading with Integrity in Unstable Times
“Storms make trees take deeper roots.”
- Dolly Parton
The world is unsteady right now. Institutions are shifting. The air is thick with uncertainty. We are all feeling as the wind is blowing us in all directions from all manner of blowhards and blowback.
I recall the tagline of Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket: “The wind doesn’t blow, it sucks.”
Too often, we mistake leadership for visibility or grandeur, for standing at the front, for bellowing and speaking the loudest. But true leadership, the kind that withstands the storms, isn’t about performative strength. It’s about the depth of our roots and the community we stand alongside in support, creating a canopy that protects the new saplings and sprouts bursting into new life on the ground below in a fragile and vulnerable state of beginning and creation.
A tree that survives high winds doesn’t do so because it refuses to bend. It does so because its roots hold firm while its branches move with the storm. Leadership is the same. Those who lead with integrity don’t cling rigidly to ego or control; instead, they are flexible, adaptive, responsive, and never uprooted from their values.
Integrity isn’t about perfection; it’s about consistency. Dr. Cornel West teaches about how “love is constancy.” It’s about ensuring that the words you speak match the actions you take. That when systems tremble and pressure mounts, you don’t abandon your core principles for the sake of convenience or comfort.
In white supremacist ideology, there is a strategy known as “accelerationism.” When the world becomes chaotic, as we saw during 2020, white supremacists aggravate and increase the temperature of room, believing that when the heat becomes too much, the “races” will divide into a war and the so-called “white nation” will be unified. They forget that so many of us are mixed in our heritage and in our communities, that the people we love are from all walks of life and backgrounds, that their understanding of identity is rooted in fantasy and fear, not reality and love. These are the tactics we are seeing in our politics, as well. Fascism, fear, and fundamental freedoms being stripped as we look on in shock and horror.
But as the gales come, we must stand strong, firm, and resolute from a place of love, compassion, and integrity. Our integrity is what ensures that the outcome will be for the benefit of all and that if we maintain these principles of courageous compassion and fortitude, knowing when to bend but not break, knowing when not to comply in advance, knowing that we can move and bounce back when we have been blown down, we will be together as the wind calms and the dust settles.
Recognizing Shallow Roots
Some leaders plant themselves in rocky, unstable ground — basing their leadership on fear, power, or external validation. They may stand tall for a time, but when real pressure comes, they topple. Shallow-rooted leadership looks like:
Saying the right things but not acting on them.
Prioritizing image over impact.
Making decisions based on optics rather than ethics.
On the surface, these leaders may appear strong, but the foundation can be weak and when the storm comes — when they are challenged, criticized, or faced with real stakes — their leadership begins to fracture.
The Deep Roots of Leadership and Integrity
To lead with integrity in unstable times, we have to cultivate deep, wind-resistant roots. This means:
Rooting in Purpose
Are you clear on your values? Do they guide your decisions even when no one is watching? As one of my friends says, “Get caught doing the right thing behind people’s backs.”
Bending Without Breaking
Can you adapt to change without losing yourself? Can you evolve while staying accountable? Can you come back swinging, like Muhammad Ali? Like Billie Holiday sang: “it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.”
Nourishing the Soil
Are you pouring into your community with, as John Coltrane reminds us, “A Love Supreme”? Are you lifting others up rather than just standing alone?
The best leaders don’t just weather storms, they create the conditions for others to withstand them, too. They don’t hoard knowledge, power, or resources. They ensure that the ecosystem around them is strong, knowing that resilience is collective, not individual.
Standing Through the Storm
Right now, many of us are facing instability. Whether in education, activism, or everyday life, the ground beneath us is shifting. But if we want to lead in a way that lasts, we must plant ourselves deeply.
A wind-resistant leader does not panic when the storm arrives. They do not compromise their integrity to make the winds pass faster. Instead, they deepen their roots, steady their trunk, and hold space for others to do the same. Wind, when met with resistance, can topple what is unsteady — but when met with intention, it can propel.
Wind fills sails, turns turbines, carries seeds to new soil.
A leader who knows how to stand firm without being rigid learns to move with the current, not be overtaken by it. They do not fear the wind; they learn to work with it, using its force to move toward something greater.
The question is:
When the winds come, will you stand firm in your truth?
Or will you be uprooted by the storm?
The choice is yours.
Plant accordingly.
Bend — don’t break,
Ms. K.
