Human-Rooted Leadership™
One model that gets to the human roots.
Burnout, an unready next generation, the pressure of AI. Many of the problems leaders face today can be solved by tapping into the human ways people naturally carry vision, build culture, and hold one another accountable.
Human-Rooted Leadership is the model we use to get to those roots. Four skillsets describe what a leader does. Four mindsets describe the default a leader operates from. Each is built on how people actually work together and on research we’ve reviewed.
Four skillsets
What a Human-Rooted Leader does
Where are you starting from?
Why is leadership wearing me out?
The culture can’t carry the vision without you.
Rooted in: Create Clarity · Build Great Teams · PIE
Is the next generation ready to lead?
Wisdom is retiring and the traditional path to leadership is changing.
Rooted in: Develop Greater Leaders · 4Gen · Leader in Progress
How do we lead in the age of AI?
As AI takes on the tasks, the human skills become what’s left.
Rooted in: Awkward Authenticity · Time Traveler · PIE
How do we lead in the age of AI?
As AI takes on more cognitive work, the human side of leading will matter more than ever.
AI is taking on more of the analytical, informational, and routine work of leading. The research points the same way on what’s left.
Human skills have kept rising in value.
The wage return on social skills nearly doubled from one generation of US workers to the next. (Deming, 2017)
Judgment has become the job.
Roles built on open-ended decisions grew from 6% of US jobs in 1960 to 34% in 2018. (Deming, 2021)
Employers are asking for it.
In the World Economic Forum’s 2025 survey of more than 1,000 companies, leadership and social influence showed the biggest jump of any core skill since 2023. AI and big data is the fastest-growing skill too, so the winning leader has both. (WEF, 2025)
The forecasters agree.
McKinsey Global Institute found that work built on social and emotional skills remains largely beyond the reach of automation, even if companies adopt AI fully. (McKinsey Global Institute, 2025)
Humans want humans to care.
In nine studies of more than 6,000 people, the same supportive message was valued less when people believed an AI wrote it, and people chose a human when they wanted to feel cared for. Managers who relied on AI at medium or high levels were seen as less sincere and caring, though their messages seemed professional. (Rubin et al., 2025; Cardon & Coman, 2025)
Nothing here says AI can’t do more someday, or that technical skills stop mattering. Employers want both. What holds a company together, which is trust, presence, care, and judgment, is what people still want from a person, and it’s what most companies never taught their leaders. Those are the human roots, and getting to them is what Human-Rooted Leadership does.
Four skillsets: what a Human-Rooted Leader does.
These are the skillsets your leaders build, drawn from how humans naturally carry vision and build culture. We call them A²BCD.
Four mindsets: the default a Human-Rooted Leader operates from.
Skillsets are what a leader does. Mindsets are the default a leader operates from, and they keep the skillsets going. PIE is the how, 4Gen is the who, Time Traveler is the when, and LIP is what keeps a leader practicing the other three.
See where you are. Lead by example.
Before you change anything, see how you show up now.
The PIE Leadership Self-Diagnostic is fifteen short statements, rated from 1 to 6, that show how present, interested, and empowering you are with the people you lead. It tells you where to grow first.
This is your own view. In step two of our plan, 360 feedback adds how the people around you see you, and where your leaders differ from each other.
Get the free PIE diagnosticPresent
My leader gives people their full attention during conversations and meetings.
Interested
My leader seeks to understand my professional goals and aspirations.
Empowering
My leader removes obstacles that may prevent people from doing their best work.
Platform & Programs
Grow your leaders together. Human-Rooted Leadership™ develops leaders at every stage, from emerging leaders to CEOs and board members.
Once you know where the problems are, your leaders build the skillsets and mindsets that get to the human roots and carry your company the same way. The program matches each leader’s stage.
Three stages.
Every leader starts where they are, and the program meets them there.
In every stage.
Four things stay the same, whoever is in the room.
Validated psychometrics and 360 feedback
Self-awareness for each leader and collective awareness for the whole team.
Executive coaching
A partner who stays close and helps each leader apply what they’re learning.
Learning together
Leaders learn with each other, so they build the same language and trust across locations.
Practice on real situations
It’s transformation, not training.
The results.
What participants in THRIVE 365™ programs tell us after they finish.
90%
rated our facilitators’ knowledge “Excellent”
89%
rated our facilitators “Very engaging”
94%
of LEADER™ participants say it strengthened their network across the organization
100%
of executives surveyed say EXECUTIVE™ strengthened their leadership team and culture
Every executive surveyed said it strengthened alignment and collaboration on the team.
85%
say NEXT™ will help them grow as a leader and manager
88%
say the peer relationships they built were valuable
85%
recommend their organization keep offering the program
Source: THRIVE 365™ participant follow-up surveys, 2025–2026. Percentages reflect top-two ratings on a 6-point scale or the top rating on a 4-point scale.
In their words.
What leaders say about the experience.
I cannot express how much value I found in this training.
This training was excellent… I would recommend any leaders/future leaders take this course.
…more in depth and meaningful conversations as well as relationship building across the organization.
I’m thankful for [Tony and his team’s] openness… I felt safe and seen.
Awesome experience, highly recommended.
It helped me grow both personally and professionally… I now feel more confident in how I lead, communicate, and support others.
Fantastic, thoughtful content… opened a new side of our leadership team.
I’d be struggling without frameworks to help colleagues and myself.
This training was extremely helpful early in my role as a people manager.
Building unity and transparency within the executive team at [my company].
It came at the perfect time for me since I transitioned into a Team Leader role.
Better understanding of myself and why others think differently.
My experience changed the way I am building my team.
I learned a lot about myself and met some really great people in the process.
Great job facilitating and fostering a learning environment for our team!
It was eye opening and thought provoking.
Super insightful into all the different types of leadership styles, issues and solution strategies.
I really enjoyed the NEXT™ training and looked forward to each session.
Was a worthwhile time investment as a younger leader.
I feel like I am building more trust with my reports.
What your leaders build.
The four skillsets and four mindsets of Human-Rooted Leadership™, built on how humans naturally carry vision and build culture.
The Human-Rooted Leader™ Platform
The leadership development toolset of Rootstock.
Cutting edge plus wisdom: the Platform only includes content that combines cutting-edge research with timeless truths. Every module builds one of the four skillsets or four mindsets of Human-Rooted Leadership.
Ready to go.
Our standard programs, NEXT, LEADER, and EXECUTIVE, are ready to deploy today. We can also tailor a program to fit your specific needs.
Use one module, or string them together.
Each module can be used on its own, or in a string of modules to create a specific program.
How the modules roll up.
Every module on the Platform builds one of the four skillsets or four mindsets of Human-Rooted Leadership. Pick a skillset or mindset to see its modules.
Be real with your people, including when it’s awkward.
Discover how your CORE, STORY, GIFTS/VOIDS, PASSIONS, and WIRING all combine to define you.
This inventory guides you to explore core beliefs on how the world works.
You will explore what matters most to you and how that shows up at work.
Discover how what you lacked and what you had in plenty have shaped your deeper purposes.
Discover how to become a more vulnerable and authentic leader.
Discover how unprocessed negative emotions morph you into lesser versions of yourself.
Explore three versions of “conceptualized self”: Perfectionism, One-Upper, and One-Downer.
Discover how toxic shame and narcissism form a deadly combo of dysfunction.
You will discover the power and importance of “Self-Differentiated Leadership.”
This process will help you explore what others see as your unique qualities.
Receiving feedback is hard. You will learn the right and wrong ways to process feedback.
You will receive 360 feedback on core skills that build trust.
Know each person deeply, then build something greater together.
You will discover your unique communication, conflict, and decision-making style.
Discover how your motivational forces work in key areas.
Using DiSC data, you will explore strategies to adjust for greater effectiveness.
Using Driving Forces data, you’ll discover the myths of motivation and how that affects perceptions.
You will discover the five dysfunctions of a team, and strategies to overcome them.
Explore your leadership acumen with an assessment based on the hero of The Five Dysfunctions.
We will learn about the various predictable dysfunctions that arise when teams are not healthy.
Explore how your working style makes you a great team player, and strategies to adjust your style.
See how adjusting your working style is needed, especially when working with other specific working styles.
Discover the group bonding context that needs to be present to forge a tribe.
Using the TRIBE recipe, you will be assessed on how far (or near) you are on the quest to tribe.
Explore the five levers of trust: Empathy, Character, Ability, Track Record, and Motive.
You will discover the four different trust styles: Secure, Avoidant, Anxious, and Confusing.
Help people know the why, how, and what of everything they’re doing.
You will acquire the skills to be clear, concise, and complete in your one-way communication.
You will learn and apply the four laws of group conflict.
You will discover a best-in-class approach to organizational change.
You will discover the seven rookie mistakes that leaders make when leading a change event.
You will discover the critical need for clarity, and how to provide it, when making changes.
Discover practical and counterintuitive ways to cut a clear path when making organizational change.
Discover how your working style and motivational forces help and hinder your ability to lead.
Discover if your working style and motivational forces show up as extreme in the change process.
Discover how the combination of scalability and differentiation makes for great strategy.
Discover how to align priorities and size up their difficulty for strategic framing.
Develop leaders who surpass you.
You will discover the power of coaching and the ins and outs of developing a coaching habit.
You will discover and practice the seven questions from the best-selling book The Coaching Habit.
How you show up with a person.
You will discover and practice the four powerful laws of active listening.
Discover interpersonal skills of Curiosity, Appreciation, Kindness, and Eye Contact.
Discover how to take care of the emotional side of your people when making organizational changes.
Get the full view of how enabling dysfunction in others makes your life a living hell.
Who you owe it to: the generation above you and the generation below you.
Frame your team in nine categories of growth.
What you do with the time you have: turn minutes into moments.
Discover how your energy and priority align to help you be at your best.
You will learn about different meetings for different needs and the most effective meeting agendas.
Why you keep going: never done, always learning how to lead.
You need a compass to determine if you, or your people, have a “fixed” or “growth” mindset.
Expand your ability to bounce back from stressful situations and negative emotions.
You will discover how your “thinking” and “awareness” brains work and sync up.
Discover how your Fight, Flight, and Freeze responses are triggered, and more.
You will discover how your Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Capacity work together.
You will learn the definitions of the big six negative emotions and how to process them.
Easy. Peasy. Lemon. Squeezy. Discover a brilliantly simple definition of innovation.
You will begin to think like an innovator. If you think like one, then you can be one!
You will discover the essential components that go into a winning innovation process.
Discover how to do stakeholder mapping.
Improve innovation by learning how to start with the right question.
Learn how to get off-center and move toward understanding of complex problems.
Create an innovation process for generating new value in a collaborative way.
Want to know where to start?
Tell us where your company drains your energy. We’ll show you which modules go after those problems.
Start the conversationHow we work.
A plan we shape together, and a partner who stays close. We adjust along the way, wherever the plan needs it.
An approach that centers on humans, works with the natural ways people lead, and values your people above all.
A clear start. The first conversation has no obligation.
Start with a conversation.
Tell us where your company drains your energy and makes you want to escape. No obligation.
Not ready yet?
Meet Jack, who built a company he wanted to escape from.
Read the first chapter of Rebels & Tribes free