Stefan Raffl, who has lived in the Highlands neighborhood of Los Altos for more than 20 years, has gotten used to compliments about the unique layout of his yard, a look he and his wife cultivated themselves.
For his upcoming book, aptly named “Cultivating Excellence: Leading with a Mindset of Thriving and Care,” the debut author said he drew on his love of nature to structure his guide on leadership training and advice.
“When I worked with colleagues, we talked about building an operating plan,” Raffl said. “Somebody wanted to see a picture of what was going on in my garden, and I explained to them how it changed over the season. And they said, ‘Oh, you should use this in the way you run a business and how you deal with it.’ So that was the inspiration for me to really sit down and say, ‘Oh, yeah, what have I learned from nature? How can I apply it?’”
Raffl’s background is in the corporate tech world, with experience in finance and operations. He now has his own consulting practice, Wunderbar Ventures.
“The book really becomes something about leadership, what it takes to lead with a mindset of thriving and care,” he said. “For me, it’s like the root system of a tree. It provides the foundation, and it provides structure. And from there on, you support the growth of your team, your organization and the business.”
Raffl said the book, set for a spring release, took approximately a year to write. During that time, he reached out to other writers for feedback and peer review.
“I like to write every day to keep things going,” he said. “If there’s more time, you get more done and you get into the flow. What I also find is that writing in the morning seems to be the most productive – I think it has to do with (the fact that) there’s not that many other (appearances) from everyday
To incorporate nature into the book seamlessly, he started every chapter with a story from nature that links to the leadership topic the section of the book focuses on.
“I think the main thing that the environment and being in nature brings to me is a sense of growth,” Raffl said. “There’s at the same time a sense of calmness, things always change, and they move forward. It’s not static or rigid, it’s very fluid. There’s a rhythm to what’s going on in nature, and it’s a place where something makes me feel there’s something bigger than me (that I am a part of).”
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