Excellence in Ag Leadership Program participants highlight the value gained
By Kindra Gordon, Featured in the Spring 2019 Newsletter
It is no secret that education is often credited with being the cornerstone to business success. Consider the words of famed investor Warren Buffett: “Investing in yourself is the best thing you can do….You can have all kinds of things happen. But if you’ve got talent yourself, and you’ve maximized your talent, you’ve got a tremendous asset that can return ten-fold.”
For the ranching industry, the Excellence in Ag Leadership Program coordinated by the King Ranch® Institute for Ranch Management (KRIRM) was created to provide the industry’s emerging leaders an opportunity to invest in education and self-improvement.
Established in 2014, the distance-education program is designed to help participants identify, understand, and capitalize on unique strengths to develop personal, organizational, and community leadership skills.
Initially, the course was offered over two years, but the program was streamlined and is now a one-year program. To be eligible, participants must have completed National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) Young Cattleman’s Conference or be a KRIRM ranch management graduate student. The program requires participants to attend three KRIRM lectureships that focus on strategic planning, managing farm and ranch employees, and systems thinking; complete a 360-degree leadership assessment; and receive individualized coaching from KRIRM faculty that are experienced in leadership coaching.
To date, two cohorts of 24 and 16 individuals have completed the Excellence in Ag Leadership Program in 2014-2016 and 2016-2018, respectively, and for 2018-2019 a third group comprised of 14 individuals is currently participating. The leadership cohorts include the current KRIRM graduate students and men and women from across the industry who have been actively involved in NCBA and state cattlemen’s associations.
Alum Reflect
Among the Excellence in Ag Leadership Program alumni are Todd Inglee from Arvada, Colo., and Ben Neale from McMinnville, Tenn. The two cattlemen, who had both previously participated in NCBA’s Young Cattlemen’s Conference, were selected to be members of the inaugural class from 2014-2016.
Both say they enjoyed the Excellence in Ag Leadership Program, but now in 2019 as their own lives and careers have transitioned, they are particularly valuing the knowledge, perspective and networks gained.
Neale works full-time as a territory sales manager for Alltech while also operating his own consulting business Total Cattle Solutions. He and his wife Lauren are also raising two young children with another due in May, own a 250-head cowherd, and recently purchased a small custom processing plant near Lynnville, Tenn. Additionally, Lauren works as director of communications for the Tennessee Cattlemen’s Association.
Inglee recently accepted the position as executive director of the Colorado Beef Council after serving as the interim executive for eight months. In 2017-18 he served as the president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. For two decades, Inglee and his wife Kim, who works in school office administration, have owned stocker cattle, been involved in beef industry organizations, and in 2010 established their own direct-to-consumer branded beef business Ralston Valley Beef (with Inglee’s new position with the Beef Council, they have recently shuttered that business to avoid conflict of interest). The couple has three children, one still at home in high school and two attending Colorado State University.
Looking back to starting the program in 2014, Inglee recalls, “I was aware of the King Ranch® Institute for Ranch Management Program and based on its reputation, when I received my nomination letter for the Excellence in Ag Leadership Program, I was interested…I knew it was a huge opportunity.”
He adds, “I hadn’t taken a course since college, so I was anxious to learn.” As a result of his participation, Inglee recognizes that “you are never too old to learn.”
Inglee says he enjoyed the perspectives of his classmates, as well as opportunities to be on the King Ranch and even get an impromptu ranch tour led by King Ranch general manager Dave DeLaney.
Inglee valued his KRIRM experience so much he attended extra lectureships and courses to earn the Texas Farm Credit Certificate in Advanced Ranch Management in 2016.
For Neale, value came from being immersed among other business-minded industry thinkers. “Meeting people who are forward-thinking about ag and the opportunities that exist…knowing there are people who are moving forward also drives us,” he says. Neale also notes he did not own the processing plant while in the Excellence in Ag Leadership program, but from the experience and insights gained, he and Lauren made the decision to enter into that business and begin to grow a business of marketing local meat products.
Additionally, Neale says that most of his prior experience in business had been as an independent individual. Through the Excellence in Ag Leadership Program he gained new perspectives in working with and managing employees.
Praise for Systems Thinking
While Neale and Inglee say they came away from each lectureship with new knowledge, the one they both cite as especially impactful was the John B. Armstrong Lectureship on Systems Thinking in Ranching.
Neale says, “This was invaluable for me. We can sometimes get single trait selection-focused even in business.” As an individual involved in several businesses, and now beginning to employ several people, Neale values the big picture perspective that systems thinking prompts.
Likewise, Inglee says, “My eyes were opened to how systems are complex and how they operate, but when you step back and look at the big picture you begin to see the leverage points. You recognize that you can adjust one thing and it can affect the whole flow – on a ranch, office, organization, or industry.
Most importantly for Neale and Inglee has been the continued relationships with other beef industry leaders who they’ve met through the program. The duo continue to keep in touch with one another as well as several of the other participants in their cohort. Neale and six others from the cohort talk monthly via a “think tank/mastermind” group call – and they meet once a year in person.
Inglee concludes, “Even though our class was from all over the country, and we had different ways of doing things, we developed close friendships….It’s been great to watch classmates assume various leadership roles within their businesses and the industry as a whole. It’s obvious the program played a big part in that for all of us.”
Learn more about the Excellence in Ag Leadership Program and view a listing of all class participants here.
