Can the Foundation Support the Expansion?

Photo Credit: Melissa Swonger; Chicago, 2021

Swaying is not the feeling I wanted, standing above the clouds, looking over≥ the balcony. It's a strange feeling when something that appears immovable reminds you that it is not. It was a slight movement, barely noticeable. Yet, in that moment, I was thinking about trust.

Trust in the engineers who designed the structure. Trust in the steel beneath my feet. Trust in the architects who imagined what would eventually stand there. Most of all, trust in a foundation I could not see.

Have you ever stood at the top of a skyscraper and considered how much trust you're placing in its design?

We photograph skylines. We admire architecture. We celebrate achievement. We stand in awe of what rises high above the ground. Yet what many don't talk about is the support required beneath it.

The Empire State Building became one of the most recognizable structures in the world. Decades later, the Burj Khalifa would rise more than twice as high. What fascinates me is not merely the height of either building. It is what engineers discovered in the process.

If you want a structure to rise higher, you do not begin by adding more stories. You begin by going deeper. The challenge was never simply how high the structure could rise. The real question was whether the foundation could support the expansion.

And, I believe the same is true for us.

We live in a culture obsessed with elevation. We talk about bigger titles, larger platforms, greater influence, and broader reach as though expansion itself is the goal. We are constantly asking how to grow and scale; how to rise. Growth can be beautiful. Expansion can be meaningful. But there are steps to sustainable transformation.

As a scholar-practitioner, I've become convinced that our greatest challenge isn't learning how to rise. It's learning how to connect. Deep foundational connection that anchors what is built above it so that when the storms of life come—and they will—the structure doesn't experience catastrophic failure. The height of our influence is often limited by the depth of our connection.

As the Architect of Connection-Centered Leadership, I've become fascinated by a simple question:

What if human expansion works like architecture?

What if the depth of our connection determines the height of our impact?

And if that's true, then before we focus on expansion, influence, leadership, or legacy, we need to ask a different question:

What are we building our lives on?

Studying neuro, physical, and spiritual sciences, I've become convinced that the strongest structures are built through three forms of connection. What's interesting is that this isn't a new idea.

More than two thousand years ago, Jesus was asked a question that sounds remarkably similar to the one we've been exploring today. Of all the commandments, which matters most?

His answer was simple. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And, love your neighbor as yourself.

As I have reflected on that passage over the years, I've become increasingly convinced that it contains a blueprint for human flourishing. We were designed for connection.

The first, and most important, connection is vertical. Whether viewed through the lens of faith, meaning, purpose, or transcendence, human beings seem to function best when they understand they are part of a larger story. A higher power has a way of stabilizing us amid life's unpredictability. It reminds us that we are part of something larger than the challenge at hand. It is the act of asking the architect how best to navigate the storms that challenge us and how to build in preparation for that which we cannot yet see.

And when we lose that connection, we often begin building on foundations that were never designed to support us, asking the structure to carry weight it was never designed to bear. When our foundation isn't solid, achievement begins carrying the weight of identity. Productivity begins carrying the weight of purpose. Success begins carrying the weight of meaning. Influence begins carrying the weight of belonging.

Many of us have experienced what happens when we build on those foundations. We may reach the milestone. Receive the promotion. Launch the business. Write the book. Hit the goal. And for a moment, it feels like enough. Until it doesn't.Those are heavy burdens for things that were never designed to support them. And, even worse, they are shoddy foundations destined to eventually collapse.

Viktor Frankl observed this after surviving the concentration camps. He concluded that resilience is not primarily rooted in comfort, power, or achievement. It is rooted in meaning. Modern research continues to support what he observed. Human beings endure extraordinary hardship when they remain connected to purpose.

Second is the blueprint, inward connection, the work of understanding how we are uniquely designed. What values guide us? What strengths have we been given? What patterns are helping us? Which ones are limiting us? What contribution are we uniquely positioned to make?

An architect would never expect a hospital, a school, a church, and a skyscraper to serve the same purpose. Yet many of us spend years comparing ourselves to people who were never designed to build what we were designed to build.

Comparison often begins when we lose inward connection or disconnect from our blueprint.

Self-awareness is rarely glamorous work. Yet it provides the clarity that helps us make decisions aligned with who we actually are rather than who we think we should be.

A foundation and blueprint are essential, but they alone do not complete the structure.

The final phase of adding beauty to the bare-boned structure is what attracts people to the building as it finally realizes its purpose. This is analogous to our outward connections.

At a time when loneliness, polarization, and disconnection continue to rise, I find myself increasingly convinced that human beings were never designed to flourish in isolation. Neuroscience, psychology, and faith all point toward the same conclusion. We need the kind of connection that is neither transactional nor performative. We need human connection, the kind that looks someone in the eye, listens carefully, notices what others miss, and remembers there is a person standing in front of us rather than merely a role, title, opinion, or agenda. We are made for connection.

Perhaps that is why leadership is designed to be less like authority and more like stewardship. People are the most precious resource.

At its core, leadership is simply connection scaled.

When people are grounded in purpose, aligned with who they are, and connected to others, something remarkable begins to happen. Lasting expansion becomes possible.

Not because they chased influence.

Not because they manufactured visibility.

But because healthy foundations naturally support greater weight.

As I reflected on that building swaying beneath me, I realized the question that stayed with me had very little to do with architecture. It was a question I suspect many of us need to ask periodically, especially in seasons where we are praying for greater opportunities, broader impact, or larger responsibility.

• What am I building my life on, and can that foundation support the expansion I am asking for?

Because the question was never how high the structure could rise. The real question was whether the foundation could support the expansion.

Pause with me this week and ask:

Where in my life am I pursuing expansion without strengthening the foundation beneath it?

What connections need attention?

What values need reinforcement?

What relationships need investment?

What would it look like to go deeper before asking to go higher?

Let's link arms and raise shields and build, or rebuild, something meaningful together.

— MelissaArchitect of Connection-Centered Leadership

The Sage Hill Project

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