The logo that represents the philosophy behind the THE QUIET LEADER is a tree.
Proudly designed by the book’s very inartistic author, the Quiet Leader Tree holds not only significant personal meaning, but represents a deep and profound philosophical basis for the book. The logo’s tribal-styled design incorporates a diverse array of elements that span worldly religions — from its Yin/Yang qualities as represented by its balanced and interconnected center, to its cross-like similarity to the Holy Trinity.
The Quiet Leader Tree represents a non-discriminating, inclusive mindset that the reader employs upon reading the book. The symbolism of the tree advocates that the reader emulate a symbiotic system of the mind. THE QUIET LEADER embodies a philosophy that advocates inner spiritual growth, flexibility, and a challenge to the social status quo.
Truly, the Tree represents a very “human” philosophy. And like any real tree, the Quiet Leader Tree is imperfect, asymmetrical, but balanced.
The Four Segments
The Quiet Leader Tree consists of four segments, and an interconnected center.
The bottom segment of the Quiet Leader Tree represents the roots of the tree, a vast system of support and growth that largely remain unseen, and even unappreciated. The Quiet Leader Tree’s interconnected middle represents the trunk of a tree — truly the center and heart of the tree. The trunk of the Tree is its solidity, a foundation of longevity upon which growth can occur.
The remaining three segments of the tree represent a trident of branches. The branches of the Tree are indicative of outreach — a trident of growth — that reach above and beyond what is conventional and ordinary, what is safe and devoid of risk.
Why a tree?
A healthy democracy, in many ways, functions quite similarly to a tree.
In a democracy, the roots of a tree are representative of the people. The people are many, and, while often unseen and taken for granted, they support the entire system above them.
Similarly, the people’s votes are the water and nutrients that travel from the roots up the trunk of the tree. Votes give the tree its life. The trunk of the tree represents a democratic system’s steadfast institutions, a system of support for the entire tree, that are sturdy and lasting. The branches of the tree, offshoots of the center trunk, represent the outreach of the system’s institutions, that span as widely as the people—the roots—under the ground below.
And finally, the leaves of the tree’s branches are representative of the elected.
The people’s votes travel up the tree, from the ground, through democratic institutions to elect temporary political leaders. And like a tree’s leaves, these leaders and finite, limited, and mortal: they are regularly shed. New leaves always replace them.
Money, as they say, does not grow on trees. But leaders certainly do.
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I forgot to mention in this piece that the image that accompanies it has a number of working images and mockups that I had thrown together and eventually led to the creation of the current Quiet Leader Tree.