I appreciate a good bottle of wine as much as the next person—especially if it comes from Italy. Recently, though, I learned about another Italian export I experience far more often than a fine bottle of Barolo: denim.
A sturdy cotton fabric with a distinctive diagonal weave was taking hold in Genoa, Italy, in the mid-1500s. Denim was crafted for sailors—men who needed clothing that could hold up in the salt air, rough decks, and long stretches at sea. French weavers in Nimès studied it, refined it, and created what became known as serge de Nimès—or denim today.
Later in the mid-1800s, miners during the California Gold Rush needed clothing that could handle rock, mud, and twelve-hour days. No one cared what it looked like; they cared whether it would hold up.
You could argue that leadership works the same way. Consider these themes from denim’s history:
Improving Over Time
Denim breaks in but not down. This textile doesn’t just survive hard use; it develops character throughout its utility.
The best leaders build cultures that mature and reflect their people; they don’t simply scale. Smart leaders are patient and take pride in ownership. They know that trust, clarity, and alignment deepen over time if they consistently reinforce those values.
Ed Basian, CEO of Delta Airlines, is a great example of a leader who preserved the tradition of safety, operational discipline, and union relationships while doubling down in employee culture, premium experiences, and digital upgrades to advance the company.
When markets tighten or uncertainty rises, you discover whether your organization is built to last or merely built to impress. The weave of your systems either holds under pressure or doesn’t. Culture either strengthens with strain, or it unravels.
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Iterating While Honoring Tradition
Denim didn’t arrive perfected or emerge in isolation. French weavers in Nimès studied the durable cotton fabric coming out of Genoa and refined it.
Effective leaders resist the temptation to reinvent for the sake of novelty. They ask better questions: What already works? What principles endure? Where can we refine without losing the foundation?
Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, inherited a struggling semiconductor company that had lost its way and was on the verge of bankruptcy. Rather than abandoning AMD’s engineering heritage, she leaned into it—refining the company’s chip architecture, forging disciplined partnerships, and growing the company’s market value to more than $150 billion.
The future belongs to leaders who respect proven frameworks while adapting them to present realities. That requires humility. It requires the discipline to improve incrementally rather than chase the next trend.
Integrity Over Recognition
Denim earned its place through utility, not promotion. Its reputation followed its reliability.
Leadership rooted in integrity operates the same way. It prioritizes usefulness over visibility. It solves real problems. It does what it promises.
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, shifted his culture from “know it all” bravado to “learn it all” and embraced cloud computing and leaned into artificial intelligence. He championed a workplace environment that focused on empathy, openness, and a growth mindset, transforming the company into a $3 trillion powerhouse.
Recognition may come, but it’s not the objective. Durability is. A leader who focuses on integrity over attention often shapes their organization’s future in ways that only become obvious years later.
Leadership isn’t about looking the part. It’s about holding together when everything pulls apart. If you have a tightly woven culture—values aligned, systems clear, people supported—it won’t unravel at the first sign of strain. It will get better with time.
