Evolution of a Robot Through Strengths Based Leadership

Although I loved high school,
I was more like this robot than  a person

Perfectionism was a nasty habit I had in high school.  It wasn’t just in school, or sports, or FFA, it was everything.  In high school it was safe to say that I was more similar to a robot than a human.  I was always so focused on “fixing” what I was bad at in order to get ahead.  The result was a very stressful and socially lacking high school experience outside of school responsibilities and extracurricular activities.  I’m not saying that I hated high school.  I really did love it, but looking back now I probably could’ve gotten more out of it if I had focused more on my strengths rather than weaknesses.

The summer following high school graduation I was appointed as Virginia FFA State Secretary.  In the beginning of our leadership and team training we completed the Strengthsfinder Assessment.  During this time I still had the mindset of a perfectionist was confused by my results.  My top five strengths were: Achiever, Consistency, Includer, Harmony, and Restorative.  Looking back now I can’t remember which specific ones I did not agree with, because I eventually embraced them and never looked back.

After I began to focus more on my strengths rather than my weaknesses, there was a noticeable difference in my performance as a state officer and as a student.  Fortunately I’ve been in environments where my leaders, teammates, and teachers have engaged in helping to build myself through my strengths.  Sadly, this isn’t the case in many work situations.  Carol Hymowitz brings this up in her article: “Managers Lose Talent When They Neglect To Coach Their Staffs.”  She discusses the negativity of employers managing instead of coaching their staff, and also the benefits of an engaged boss. 

The more you focus on your strengths, the more apt you are to  hit your target.
FFA enables many students to do just that.

How can we create a better tomorrow through leadership?  From my own experience I know that utilizing strengths and being coached instead of simply being managed will result in better critical thinking skills, more motivation, and overall performance.  I suggest that high schools and community colleges utilize Strengths Based Leadership practices in order to prepare their students for further education and the work force.  Even though the book Strengths Based Leadership focuses around leadership, those who are not interested in becoming a leader can benefit.  Understanding one’s self can create better teamwork in careers; therefore anyone can perform better by using this concept.  As a future educator I hope to somehow utilize the concept of strength based leadership and always coach my students so that they can provide a better tomorrow.

Connecting the Dots of a Good Education

I love when the critical thinking skills kick in.  This is particularly enjoyable when I am able to incorporate information from several classes that I have taken at Virginia Tech and apply them to real life situations.  Today it just so happens to be integrating knowledge from my Introduction to Appalachian Studies and Leadership Effectiveness for Professionals in Agricultural Organizations classes.  You’re probably thinking: “What? No way!”  But I promise you, it will all make sense in the end. 

In the Appalachian Studies course we discussed what is known as “The White Man’s Burden” Although this is most often considered a concept from colonial times; I have seen some form of it in the present through missionary works.  Now it’s time to tie in the Leadership course.  In our last unit of study we discussed diversity in leadership.  Many leaders feel drawn to help those less fortunate than them, but sometimes it can send a wrong message.  When helping others, sometimes individuals put those in need below them and are demeaning.  Although they often do not realize that they are doing it, they are not portraying good leadership qualities.

Depiction of what "The White Man's Burden" means.  

Sometimes “The White Man’s Burden” is hard to avoid, but there is one Virginia Tech organization that has gained early success partially because of avoiding that type of assistance.  Austin Larrowe, President and CEO of Feed By Seed, has made it clear that working with, not above, those who you are assisting is the best way to approach a situation.  Austin truly exemplifies the five competencies of a cross-cultural leader, as listed in The Art of Leadership.  The third one “working simultaneously with people from many different countries,” is the one I feel that Feed By Seed expresses the most, and is the most important overall. 

            How can service organizations be successful and avoid “The White Man’s Burden?”  In my leadership class, our team is evaluating Feed By Seed and creating a case study to do just that.  Feed By Seed is currently in the process of utilizing a leadership team and building up the Virginia Tech Chapter.  Austin and Vice President Morgan Slaven, have structured the team to be high performing by utilizing appreciative inquiry.  The leadership team is to help gear the group in a direction so that Feed By Seed can become into an national collegiate organization.  We hope that with our case study, we will help other organizations to build successful service groups like Feed By Seed. 

Morgan Slaven, Vice President of Feed By Seed promoting during Gobblerfest with the Hokie Bird.

Empowering Virginia's Young Farmers

This year as Virginia Farm Bureau Ambassador I have had the opportunity to travel throughout the state and interact with their members.  Farm Bureau members can be involved in what is known as Women’s Committee and Young Farmers.  Women’s Committees are open to any female Farm Bureau member and Young Farmer’s is specified any individual between the ages of 18 and 35.  Although I have not been to every single county Farm Bureau or every type of event in which both of the groups have, it is evident that there is at least one pattern amongst the two groups.

Carroll County Farm Bureau Women's Committee members

The pattern that I have noticed that distinguishes the two groups is their involvement and activeness as members.   This statement is in no way meant to offend or lessen any Young Farmer group or the organization as a whole.  But it appears that most events and outreach programs provided by Farm Bureau are organized by the Women’s Committees.  From my observation I feel that this is caused mostly by time availability.  Many of the Women’s Committee members are older, retired ladies whereas the Young Farmer members are newer to the work force and often are beginning their own families.

Steve and Jordan Berryman 2011 Young Farmers of the Year

So what can Virginia Farm Bureau do to better empower the Young Farmer members to increase their impact in their communities with the limited time they have?  In Bradshaw and Rudd’s study: A Leadership Development Needs Assessment for Virginia Farm Bureau Young Farmers, it concluded that there needs to more opportunity for younger members to build the leadership skills important to them.  This opportunity will need to come from the top down.  I feel in order to overcome this barrier the executives of Virginia Farm Bureau need to better implement the Upside-Down Pyramid Approach to Leadership.  Furthermore another leadership aspect that The Art of Leadership mentions, which I feel has great relevance to this issue is the quality movement.  Because Young Farmers are often busy, yet very community based, I see that more emphasis from the Farm Bureau as a whole on this movement will result in more active Young Farmer members.

Taking One For The Team

Currently I am participating in the Appalachian Teaching Project this year for Virginia Tech.  From the beginning this class was difficult for me, not because of the work, but because it challenged what I know to be true and my value system.  This year the project is about sustainable agriculture in the region.  Many people (particularly those not involved in agriculture) often find this to be a black and white issue which of course it is not.


The Appalachian Regional Commission provides
funding for the Appalachian Teaching Project



As an active member in the agriculture community locally and statewide, I do my best to educate the public in everything I do about the industry.  I am the only member of this year’s Appalachian Teaching Project who is directly involved in the agriculture industry and is studying it as well.  Although as a class we established early on in the course that sustainable agriculture is often a “grey area,” we have still run into very wrong and biased opinions.  Last week we had a guest lecturer who received her Ph. D. by studying how storytelling affects people’s opinion about sustainable agriculture.  She did this by having individuals listen to a story that she wrote.  This story, sounded exactly like PETA or HSUS propaganda.  As professionally as I could muster, I confronted her about the falsehoods she so emotionally described about farm ownership and farrowing crates, among other things.  She took offense to this lashed back.  I was so furious and hurt that someone could get a degree in Agriculture and Extension Education from our fine university, and use it to cause such harm to the industry that feeds us.  Even though I wanted to storm out of the room, I knew that for the benefit of agriculture I needed to stay and make sure that my classmates were properly informed.

I know that for the rest of my life I will face roadblocks in the path to an agriculturally educated American public.  So in order to overcome them try my hardest to practice the ten qualities of leadership as expressed in The Art of Leadership (pgs. 27-28).  One of the most important qualities not available in the link is Vision.  Because I feel so passionately about my vision (to improve the agriculture industry by educating the public, and future members of the industry), I am better able to exemplify the other qualities (i.e. stability, concern for others, persistence, vitality, charisma, etc.).  Although I have been involved in agriculture leadership organizations for many years, I realize now that I have a definite vision for my purpose in life I can make a positive difference. 

FFA helped me realize my passion
 for agriculture and education



Participating in Feed By Seed has helped me find my vision



How True Leaders Can Make "The Big Bucks."

As a college student I hear how the job industry is looking for leaders.  “It’s the leaders that get the big bucks!” the professors say.   What I want to know is: Do they really?  From what I’ve seen, many times I don’t think so.  A local school principle used to be the guidance counselor.  When the new position of principle was opened, everyone encouraged her to apply.  Why?  This woman exemplified leadership skills that according to “Everyday Leadership,” are of most importance: relationship building, commitment, technical and organizational skills, just to name a few.  At the same time, my father, who is a farmer also exemplifies these qualities.  Even though they are in different leadership categories (teacher and small business owner respectively), they are both in leadership roles over a well-sized local organization.



Mark and Curtis Sowers recieved the Virginia Dairymen Award
for their leadership in the industry for 2009.



The reason I proposed the question in the beginning about good leaders in the workforce was because what happened after this woman was given the job as principle.  She became one of the bosses as mentioned in The Art of Leadership in the Learning Objectives for the first chapter.  Her relationship building became a selfish and rude attitude, instead of being committed she would mess up and then blame others, and most of all she began to be dishonest and unfair.  On the other end of the spectrum, my dad has been the boss of his business for over thirty years.  From workers’ experience and my own, I know that as a boss my dad has and continues to exemplify caring leadership.  Manning states that caring leadership has two aspects the first of which is: commitment to a task.  The other is: concern for people.    My dad not only is a leader at his job, but in the community as well.  But who out of these two examples is making the big bucks?  Not the true leader.

How can we avoid hiring tyrant bosses who appears to be leaders?  I believe it’s as simple as better interview practices, and knowledge of leadership.  From my experiences in FFA, I feel that if my local public school system took leadership as seriously as FFA does, they would not have this problem.  A study by the University of Georgia found that those who were involved in 4-H and FFA were more likely to be leaders in and outside their respective college of agriculture.  Although the study cannot say for sure whether these results are in other states and can reflect on other areas besides college, I feel that it can.  Most of the greatest everyday leaders I know were involved in these two organizations, including my dad.  Guess who wasn’t?  I know these two organizations provide many ways to build leadership skills, but I feel that how they pick their leaders can be a model for the public school system.

2008-2009 Virginia and Utah State FFA and 4-H Officers
pose for a picture while advocating agriculture in Washington D.C.