I came across these mushrooms during my walk last weekend.

They were easy to miss. Small. Growing together on a patch of ground beside the trail that most people would walk past without a second glance.

What caught my attention was how they seemed to show up all at once. Mushrooms don’t really grow overnight, even though they look like they do. There’s a lot happening below the surface long before anything appears above it. Roots spreading. Conditions settling. Work being done quietly.

Standing there, it struck me how often we misunderstand growth. We notice the visible moment and assume that’s where things began. But most of the effort has already happened by then, unseen and unacknowledged.

Leadership works much the same way. Progress doesn’t always look busy. Teams don’t always show change immediately. Trust, capability, and confidence build slowly, often without obvious signs. And then one day, something clicks. From the outside, it looks sudden. From the inside, it’s anything but.

What we notice is usually the result. Not the real work that made it possible.