Episode Details

Introduction

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General Topic – Are the people surrounding you causing frustrations? – Humble Hungry and Smart

• Introduce Guest
• The Ideal Team Player – Book by Patrick Lencioni – A Leadership Fable about the Three Essential Virtues
  • Is this book about three things that make the most successful farmers the most successful?
• Let’s take the setting of this book out of the corporate world and apply it to farming and agriculture!
  • We often talk about whether someone is a ‘team player’. In interviews, performance reviews, or while sharing feedback.  Everyone agrees that being a team player is extremely desirable in an employee or vendor that a farmer does business with. 
  • We all in our minds have a definition of a team player, what’s yours?!
• According to Lencioni, a team player has three characteristics. Further, Lencioni states, when a team member significantly lacks one or more of these virtues, the process of building a cohesive team becomes hard, and in some cases, impossible. 
  • So in the words of your farm.  If you or a member if your team (family, employees, advisory team, or vendors) don’t share these attributes or aren’t working to grow them…..you’re less likely to succeed.
• Virtue #1 – Humble
  • This is by far the most obvious and easiest to understand. 
    • Humility in a team member shows up as a lack of excessive ego, or concerns about personal status. 
      • Whoofta – who just thought of that salesman/buyer that you don’t like working with…..acting like their shit don’t stink
      • Probably also just thought about someone you know who always seems to genuinely care when you meet them for a conversation
    • They are quick to share credit, praise others freely, and sometimes even forego credit due to them in the interest of celebrating the team’s collective win. 
      • I’m thinking of an agronomist we just interviewed….even though he made the suggestions, he’s going to celebrate you when your production results come in.
    • They demonstrate strong alignment towards the team’s goals, and prioritize collective wins over individual ones. 
    • Humble team players are self-confident, but not arrogant. A memorable quote that summarizes this indispensable attribute is:
      • “Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”
      • Note-Be careful: People who are insecure sometimes discount their own talents and thereby appear humble. People whose sense of self-worth is extremely deflated often end up hurting the team by being very passive. They don’t advocate for their ideas, nor call out the team’s inadequacies.
• Virtue #2 – Hungry
  • Hungry: Hungry people are always looking for more.  (just like our listeners)
    • They are intrinsically motivated, diligent, and have a strong desire to do more by going above and beyond. 
      • I think of most of these to be business owners.  I find in farming it is rare to find an employee that will go above and beyond for the benefit of their employer’s farm.  I know they exist, just