Lead through listening. When we think of leaders so often the image is of an important, successful person standing at a microphone and talking to a crowd. That’s not really leadership though, or at least not the whole picture. True leadership is about listening, not talking.
That was the central theme of Day 2 in Marshall, where we were joined by our colleagues in the South Dakota Agriculture and Rural Leadership (SDARL) program for a day of training and thinking led by Michael Brandwein. Michael has been helping form the next generation of agricultural leaders since the beginning of both MARL and SDARL, and he was a fantastic keynote for our time in Marshall.
Almost all leaders have one thing in common: the ability to communicate. Leaders are generally able to express their thoughts confidently and coherently. Great leaders can do that and more, drawing out and listening to the thoughts and opinions of others. Michael led our classes through a series of exercises meant to teach us how to really listen to each other, finishing with an exercise that challenged us to do so yet demonstrated just how difficult this will be for us to put into practice.
We had the chance later, however, as we toured the culinology department at Southwest Minnesota State University and asked questions of the students pursuing their degrees in culinology and hospitality. That was followed a wonderful banquet sponsored by Rabo Agrifinance and emceed by Brian Brandt (Class I, or as he liked to call it: “First Class”) where we heard from Marty Seifert about how different towns and regions are adapting to changing times.
Keynote Speaker Marty Seifert
Special Guest Professor Emeritus Dr. Dan Gee, Co-Founder and past director of the MARL Board
Emcee Brian Brandt and MARL program co-leader Mike Liepold
Then we said goodbye to our classmates from SDARL and turned in, to sleep and get ready for another full day.
Submitted by Greg Bohrer
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