Agriculture’s Future – New Paradigms & Futuring
The day started off with myself as part of the seminar management team. This part was terrifying in the beginning, and this time, I was sort of looking forward to it! They say the only way to get better at public speaking, at introductions, at toasts, etc. is to practice – and it’s true!
The afternoon was spent (and it flew by) with Shelly Schell, from MARL class 6. She helped us through the Strengths Finder exercise, and we spent a lot of time diving deeper into our strengths, finding out about our classmates strengths, and learning how these have been working (or not working) in our lives. For me personally, I had initially been confused by the strengths it identified. The words, or labels, didn’t particularly identify with me on how I view myself. Shelly did a fantastic job in helping us dive into those themes more and understand what makes us stand out from others, how to be more aware of our talents and others, and how to apply our talents. The ideas for action were also very helpful. Finally, as we got to know not only our strengths, but discussed the other strengths in our class, we attempted to use that knowledge to identify tasks or identify where we might be lacking.
I was so inspired by the afternoon. I have a lot of practical tips on how I can leverage these strengths now, and a lot more insight into what makes me tick. As a side note, I went home, and read my husband’s assessment that he had taken a couple of years ago and we compared notes.
Getting to not only know our classmates but understand our classmates has been fascinating and really meaningful to me.
We ended the day with our MARL banquet, which included our first attempt at an auction (not too shabby) and an inspiring speaker in Representative Rod Hamilton, Minnesota House of Representatives. May we all have that kind of passion, understanding, and may we all be flip floppers at some point in our lives. I hope I am.
Anna Boroff
Comments