Dairy Coach

For the past few days I’ve been driving with my ‘Check Engine’ light on. I brought it into the shop on Friday for a surprise, all-day, expensive repair and the light appeared as soon as I drove left the shop. I called the mechanic right away and he said it probably wasn’t anything serious, but suggested I bring it back in this week to do a diagnostic scan. He was right. It’s nothing major, and I can drive it with the light on until I decide to spend the money on fixing it (or not). For now, I’m going to save my money and just ignore the light.

But, that got me thinking. Although I can justify ignoring the warning light this time in order to save some money and time, what could it cost me in the long run? What if something else, something truly serious, goes wrong with my car?

Since the engine indicator is already on, I wouldn’t realize that a new warning light was trying to communicate a different, real problem. All of a sudden I’m starting to second guess whether I should spend the money on this unnecessary repair, mainly to get the light to disappear.

So what are some of the “unimportant” indicators you’ve been ignoring lately? Team conflicts, financial shortfalls, toxic employees, incompetent vendors, safety near misses, or even recurring chest pains. What’s your justification for ignoring them?

Chances are, the most extreme outcomes won’t actually happen. But dealing with minor issues before they become major problems is typically wiser than being aloof or over-confident.

What do you need to finally address? What will you continue to ignore? The choice is yours.

Lori Grenier, known as the “Queen of QVC” on the hit TV show Shark Tank, is credited with saying “Entrepreneurs are the only people who work eighty hours a week to avoid working forty hours.” I never thought of it like that, but I think she’s onto something.

So what drives you to work so hard on your dairy business?

Is it your passion for what you do?
Do you love the challenge?
Are you afraid of failing?
Do you have something to prove?
Are you trying to leave a legacy for the next generation?
Is it for the financial reward?
Do you want to make a difference?

Like many “big questions” in life, there’s no one-right-answer. But identifying (or admitting) your personal “What drives me?” could be a real game changer. Discovering your “Why” will reveal what you truly want and has the power to show you what you should and shouldn’t do next.

Too often, most people do what they do because “that’s what everyone else is doing”. In the dairy industry, it seems that many dairies get bigger because everyone else is getting bigger. Many people believe that if they don’t expand, their neighbor’s will – making it that much harder to acquire more land in the future. So, “how big?” is “big enough”?

Before you start trying to figure out how big you can or should get, the first question you might ask yourself is “What am I trying to achieve… and WHY!?” And after you come up with your answer for that question, ask it again. But this time, reword it slightly… “And what will life be like if we succeed at that?!”

For many entrepreneurs, the answer lies in the words “love, challenge, and reward”. For others, the answer consists of “money, ego, and power”. The first three address an internal hunger and a quest for inward satisfaction. The second three also feed on an internal hunger but they also seem to focus more on an outward expression of success.

Regardless of what drives you to work as hard as you do, it’s your choice. It’s your journey, and your path is different than everyone else’s. Keep asking yourself what you truly want and why you want it. Let that be what drives you.

Leadership. It’s all around us. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that all leadership is created equally.

Although you can definitely learn from every leader you encounter, some leaders will teach you what to do while others will show what not to do. Sometimes the biggest challenge is to figure out who you should imitate and who you should ignore.

Being a good leader is rarely easy. But it can be simple.

Real leaders don’t obsess about themselves.
Real leaders don’t blame others.
Real leaders don’t divide people and amplify their differences.

True leaders focus on the mission.
True leaders own what they say and do.
True leaders unite and inspire people to become better and achieve more.

Who are you watching and learning from in order to become a better leader? Who do think is learning from you?

And just like that, the month of June is over, and we’re officially halfway through another year.

Look back at how you spent the past six months… did you invest your time the way you said you would back in January?

Regardless of how you answer that, here’s the good news… today starts the beginning of the next half of the year. Unlike the time that’s already gone, you can actually do something about the time that’s in front of you. So, what will you do with it?

Will you focus on what’s truly important in your life? Or, will you get consumed by doing what’s disguised as important.

It really boils down to two options… We can either work hard and invest in what matters all the way through the end of December, or we can hide in our busyness and wait to start again at the beginning of next January. Yes, those are two very different choices. And, both of them will set you up for more of the same.

Hopefully, in these next six months, we’ll have better vision in order to see what truly matters and possess the courage to actually do it.

How old were you when you became fluent in sarcasm? Do you remember where you learned to resist change? How long did it take you to become a master at procrastination?

Over the course of our lifetime, we spend countless dollars and hours on education. We enroll in schools, seminars, and short courses to intentionally acquire knowledge, skills, and experiences to help us grow and improve throughout life.

And during that same time, we unintentionally acquire traits and behaviors that undeniably hold us back. While we slowly learned some of these traits day after day, others were always there and we just never got control of them.

Blaming, complaining, judging, defending, grudge-holding, score-keeping, selfishness, stubbornness, anger, sarcasm, criticism, and the list goes on.

Did you notice something about that list? Almost every one involves what we say.

As much as we’ve succeeded on getting information into our head, we often fail at choosing what gets out of it through our mouth.

Ultimately, we are like sculptors and our lives are our sculptures. By removing the unnecessary and undesirable pieces from our character, we start revealing more of the good. All of us have traits and habits we need to remove from our daily lives in order to become the person we’re capable of being.

What habits do you need to unlearn? Start today.

Over the past few days since the horrific attacks in Orlando, two lines keep replaying in my head. One is from Mister Rogers, and the other is a scene from the movie A Few Good Men.

Fred Rogers said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'”

In one of the final courtroom scenes of A Few Good Men, Lance Corporal Dawson accepted responsibility for his actions / inaction that resulted in the death of a fellow Marine when he said, “We were supposed to fight for people who couldn’t fight for themselves.”

Unfortunately, people are capable of saying and doing some really bad things. Fortunately, most of us will never encounter the level of evil we saw in Florida. But that doesn’t mean we’re immune to it.

Every day at workplaces around the world, people are being harassed, bullied, intimidated, and abused by their fellow co-workers and managers. That’s a serious problem for all of us. And not because we’re the victim or the perpetrator of these actions.

The real problem isn’t simply that the “bad guys” do bad things, but that the “good guys” do nothing.

Leaders have a distinct duty to do what’s right and protect the people who’ve been entrusted to their care. Too often, when faced with these tough situations, managers lose sight of what’s right and try to seek easier answers by asking wrong questions like “But, he shows up every day and is a good worker, right?”

There will always be people who do bad things. There’s not much we can do about that. However, the world will always count on people who are willing to stand up and do the right thing. And we can do everything about that.

Each year, dairy producers throughout America’s Dairyland celebrate June Dairy Month by promoting and sharing what they do by serving “Breakfast on the Farm” to thousands of visitors. It’s a great way for dairy producers to engage and educate people who typically don’t get on modern farms.

So how do you show your passion for what your business does the other eleven months of the year? And no, I’m not referring to how you reach out to connect with your neighbors and strangers.

The real question, the one the really matters, is… “How do you engage and educate the people you rely on to make your dairy more successful throughout the year?”

Without a doubt, it’s a lot of work preparing your farm for thousands of people on just one day. But it’s even more work to be prepared to lead and manage just a few people every day.

Internally, every month is “Dairy Month” at your farm. So what are you doing to engage your team and show them how much you care? Live your passion for your dairy, at your dairy.

It feels like only yesterday that the rock ballad “Something to Believe In” was at the top of the charts. Apparently, that was over 25 years ago.

Of course a lot has happened over those past 25 years. Unfortunately, the problems that Bret Michaels and the band Poison sang about still exist. And on top of those problems, our great country is currently debating about how we should fix many, many more.

While countless people throughout the world live in squalor, we worry about what bathroom someone should use. Millions suffer from starvation around the world, and we have people protesting that our surplus of food comes from farms that are ‘too big’. Every day, people are persecuted and killed because they believe in God, and Americans are calling lawyers because somebody said a prayer in school.

Don’t get me wrong, this great country of ours has problems. And if we don’t work together to try fixing them, they’ll probably get worse. But it seems the real problem with problems is that if we only focus on what’s wrong, we won’t be able to see everything that’s right.

This weekend, hopefully we can all turn off social media and the endless campaign coverage and just be grateful for everything that’s right with our country. Grateful for all the blessings we have. Grateful for the men and women who fought to make that possible. And grateful for all those who are truly focused on finding solutions, not just complaining about the problems.

America is the land of free because it’s home of the brave. Together, we’ll always have something to believe in.

As you drive through the countryside this week, take a look at the low spots in all the fields you pass by. In the middle of green growth sits barren ground. Even the weeds struggle to grow there. Fast forward a few months from now, after a few weeks without rain. It’s easy to see the effects of a hot, dry summer.

Water is definitely a “good thing”, right? But from one extreme to the other, it has the power to both sustain and suffocate life.

And so it is with many good things in life — salt, exercise, food, and rest. Even our most virtuous personality traits, when taken to an extreme, can become vices.

Many people are hardworking, yet sometimes their ambition turns into workaholism. Some people are very honest, and at times their honesty becomes “brutal”. Many people are kind and generous, unfortunately some people treat them as pushovers and take advantage of them.

What are some of your good traits that you need to turn down a notch? What are some that you should turn up? Whether growing crops, preparing a meal, or interacting with others, the key to success is nothing in excess.

Each April, pro football fans across the country turn their attention to the NFL Draft. So-called experts weigh in on what positions every team needs, and who the best collegiate players are to fill those needs.

Although there are hundreds of hopeful young athletes who hope to get a phone call during the three-day draft extravaganza, there are a limited number of draft picks and an extremely limited number roster spots for the few players who actually make the final cut.

Besides the obvious fame and fortune, do you think the NFL Draft is a lot different than your dairy?

Just like your favorite football team, your business also has a limited number of resources available to offer… positions, wages, and time. Since your business doesn’t have room for everyone who wants a job, you need to choose who you think would fit well on your team and help you win. The moment you commit to offering a position to one person, by default, you eliminate everyone else.

So how serious are you about filling your limited spots with the right people for your team? How intentional are you when it comes to your “most important assets”?

In his book Above the Line, Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer said it best… “You don’t get the team you want, you get the team you build.”

Yes, building your team starts each time you hire someone. But fortunately that’s not the only opportunity you have to build your team. Your team is being built every day by the behaviors you demonstrate and by the behaviors you allow. Take a look at your current team. Does that sound accurate? The good news is that you can always choose to do something about it.

So, how much room do you have on your team? How much payroll do you have to cover it? How much energy do you have to guide it?

Chances are the answer to all three of these questions is “Not Enough”. There never is.

Whether you’re building a football team or a farm team, your resources are limited. How well are you taking care of them?