Zach on Leadership

Last week, CHS held our Annual Meeting at the Minneapolis Convention Center. I always enjoy the opportunity to meet with our farmer owners and discuss the issues facing our industry. There’s something else that is very special about this event for me. It reminds me of the intrinsic values of the agricultural cooperative system. CHS is the largest cooperative, and with that position comes the responsibility to lead. If you aren’t familiar with the cooperative business model, here are the basic concepts:…

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When I was growing up, General Mills marketed Kix cereal as “Kid-Tested. Mother-Approved.” This catchy product marketing approach took into consideration the needs of two different but equally important stakeholders for their product. If it’s been a while, you can watch the commercial here: Kid-Tested Cereal Kids are the end-user of cereal. They want something tasty, with a pleasant texture, in a colorful box. I picture General Mills scientists feeding Kix to kids in a lab and measuring their responses….

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I spent seven years in middle management spanning two different companies. That gave me a good flavor of what the job entails and what it takes to do it successfully. Before I get into that, I’d like to spend some time explaining what middle management is not: Middle management isn’t anything like front-line management Front-line managers oversee individual contributors. When you are a front-line manager, you are directly accountable for the execution and delivery of services within your functional area….

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I don’t like plumbing and I’m not very good at it. I live in a 50-year-old house, so things break fairly often. Given that, you’d think I’d hire a plumber, but I usually struggle through, and do it myself. This past Monday night was one of those times. I had just returned home from a long weekend of deer hunting. While I was gone, the handle broke off our bathroom faucet. This sort of thing always seems to happen when I’m…

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One of my favorite movies is Jerry Maguire. Jerry is a sports agent to the arrogant athlete, Rod Tidwell, who’s favorite phrase is “show me the money.” Rod focuses exclusively on what he deserves and isn’t getting which only makes matters worse. Only when Rod changes his perspective and starts giving instead of taking, does he receive what he is looking for. I wrote an entire analysis of Jerry’s vulnerable, loyal, and inspirational leadership style. Check it out here. I…

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Many wish they could turn back the clock to their younger years. Some spend vast resources making themselves look younger. I’ve always wanted to be older. Always. For me, youth was something I needed to defy. I’ve always wished I was a little bit older than I currently was. Youth was something that held me back from the experiences and respect I wanted. When I was in junior high school, I wanted to be in high school. When I was…

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About six months ago, I was elected to the elder board of my local church, Grace Fellowship in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. While I’m only a quarter of the way into my two year-term, I’ve learned quite a bit, and I thought I’d take this time to reflect on the journey thus far. It’s interesting. During the day at my job at CHS, I deal with leadership transitions, mission focus, financial pressures, and organizational change. Then at night, as a board…

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I’ve hired and managed a lot of people in my career. Every once in a while, I get a highly confident engineer that looks at the series of tasks at-hand and worries out loud to me: “I’m going to work myself out of a job.” They see a list of chronic problems to be solved and a bunch of manual processes to be automated. They see themselves as equal to the task. That’s a good thing, but there’s more to…

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I remember it like it was yesterday. A few years ago, I was in hotel conference center in downtown Minneapolis at one of the premiere events for technology executives. It was a high-end event that attracted the top leaders in the area. I, along with everyone else, was wearing a suit. The lights dimmed, and the keynote speaker walked on stage. A hush fell over the crowd. It was Palo Alto Networks founder and CTO, Nir Zuk. He was wearing…

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For most of my career, I’ve looked at mentorship as something I needed, and not something I had to give. I’ve benefited greatly from mentors in my life. I saw them as wise and experienced. I saw myself as a learner. They helped me see things and understand challenges in ways that I could not on my own. I think I will probably benefit from being mentored for the rest of my life, but when is the right time to…

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