What would Churchill say?

Below are some random observations from my 30 years at MorganMyers and nearly 40 in ag and food communications. An overarching sentiment for my journey is encapsulated accurately, if a bit harshly, by a Winston Churchill quote …

“If you don’t take change by the hand, it will take you by the throat.”

New Perspectives

During my time in the industry, the motivation for farmers and others involved in providing a billion plus meals a day in this country has shifted from producing calories to aligning with U.S. consumer values. Brands are creating story-telling platforms to highlight how their current mission, vision and actions reflect customer priorities, and reshaping sourcing and production practices to embrace evolving consumer expectations. Farmers have become much more engaged in discussions around realignment and production practices as they’ve recognized it’s better to be at the table than have procurement specifications totally dictated to you. Crafting positions and messages that create engagement in this environment requires a 360-degree perspective.

Emotional Connection

Emotion beats facts – most of the time. Whenever there’s an issue, there will be studies to support both sides. Ag’s carbon footprint, GMOs, food miles, renewable fuels, high fructose corn syrup and many other topics come to mind. Most times the quality and quantity of the research more fully supports one position, but the proponents on either side will do their best to make “their” research available widely. Whoever frames their science in a more compelling way for the core stakeholders has a big advantage. Using visuals is often key.

Finding Your Brand Purpose

“Because it’s your job” really doesn’t work well as motivation for good performance in the current work environment. If the work environment fails in allowing an employee to engage and grow doing work they believe in, they’ll leave. It’s been a really great exercise for us at MorganMyers to formalize our brand purpose: “We share a passion to advance agriculture and food to make life better.” It’s clarified for our employees and potential employees what we’re about as a firm. They more fully understand what they’re signing up for, and it provides all of us with a beacon to help guide our actions. Through our brand purpose, we know what we’re doing to make a difference.

Ongoing Learning and Development

We all need to be lifelong learners as the pace of business/life continues to accelerate. When I was crazy busy early in my career, I would comfort myself by thinking that I would eventually master my craft and get so good at it that I’d be able to slow down. I was delusional. There are basic principles and theories I now use to shape my counsel, but the instantaneous nature of communications means the analysis and actions may need to happen in real time. No one we talk to in any industry sees the pace of change doing anything but accelerating. Ongoing development of our employees creates value for those employees, our clients and MorganMyers.

Try New Things

Finally, it turns out my parents did know what they were talking about. I left home with two pieces of guidance that are with me today. My Mom always told me, “Try new things, if you don’t you’ll miss out on a lot that life has to offer.” My dad was just as consistent with his advice, which was (still is, he’s 94), “Be responsible for what you do.” Those have balanced out nicely for me in my career. I’ve been eager to explore, while also recognizing my actions affect not only me, but our clients and our employees.

I’m looking forward to what’s next.