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Bridging the Gap with Mark Stewart
37 Plays1 month ago
Does the world really need another podcast? Mark Stewart, President and CEO of AFA joins Nicole Erceg to talk about the what and why of the Cultivating Leaders Podcast. We cover what you can expect from AFA on this new platform.
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About The Cultivating Leaders Podcast
Real stories. Practical advice. Tangible growth. Join The Cultivating Leaders Podcast, brought to you by Agriculture Future of America, as we explore what it takes to lead in food, agriculture, and beyond. Whether you’re just starting out or leading at the highest level, this podcast is your go-to resource for leadership that matters. Listen now and start cultivating your leadership journey.
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Transcript
Introduction to Cultivating Leaders Podcast
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to the Cultivating Leaders podcast, where we dive deep into the minds of leaders shaping the future of agriculture and leadership.
Guest Introduction: Mark Stewart, CEO of AFA
00:00:12
Speaker
I'm your host, Nicole Ursig, and today I'm here with Mark Stewart, the CEO of Agriculture Future of America. We are kicking off this teaser episode to give you a taste of what you can experience on this new podcast, where we will explore stories, strategies, and skills that inspire transformational leaders.
Podcast Mission and Leadership Exploration
00:00:29
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast, Mark. ah You want to give the world just a little bit of background on you and AFA? I'd love to. Pleasure to be with you. Thanks, Nicole. um Have a couple decades of experience working in higher education and nonprofit spaces, usually in fundraising and development roles, but kind of stumbled into AFA, a unique world, a blend of all of the worlds that I'd worked in, meaningful nonprofit work blended with higher education.
00:00:57
Speaker
um but without any bureaucracy and I love explaining it that way because that's what I love about the work that we that we do and we get to see the difference that we make in our in our mission. um I have the pleasure of being father of four daughters and so when I'm not at work that's the other job that I'm on and been in this organization for over 13 years and in this role specifically for seven years and I've loved every minute of it.
00:01:24
Speaker
Awesome.
AFA's Mission and Connection to Students
00:01:25
Speaker
So Mark, for people who aren't familiar with Agriculture Future of America or AFA, uh, explain who we are and why, why would we do a podcast? Especially for leaders in agriculture. Yeah. So our mission is to develop the next generation of leaders for the industry. Um, ultimately, we talk about building bridges, which is, you know, connecting young people, college students to development and networking opportunities.
00:01:51
Speaker
ah bridging the gap between students and professionals and and helping with career exploration and hopefully making industry leaders jobs better and easier because they've got great human talent coming into the industry and the organization. um We love to talk about the fact that we sit in this unique intersection between academia or education, ah leadership development and workforce preparation. And so we kind of hear and observe things that are happening in the industry, in the academic setting,
00:02:20
Speaker
and what young people will tell us. And we think we're in a unique position to be able to talk about that. And so that's why I think this podcast is
Bridging Academia and Industry
00:02:27
Speaker
important. We will have a perspective we can share with you. It's not trade secrets. like We're not giving away you know industry secrets or anything else. But if we've done our job well, we have strengthened the industry through the development of human capital. And one of the greatest assets any business has is they're humans, they're people.
00:02:44
Speaker
And so that's why we talk about, you know, yeah human development and and the asset that it brings to your organization. So anyways, I think that's why this will be powerful because we'll open the door to be able to share perspectives that hopefully will strengthen the industry.
00:02:59
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. A lot of times I explain what we do is working on the culture part of agriculture, the people part. Um, and I know at least for me, one of the ways I've gotten better and grown a lot is through learning mistakes and lessons and anecdotes from other people, which is exactly what we get to share on this podcast. Absolutely. Yeah.
00:03:17
Speaker
ah So you have actually gotten to listen to one at least one recording ah because we've already recorded some episodes. um What can people expect to hear on this podcast? Why of all the podcasts on the planet is this one worth their time? Yeah, we want it to be authentic. We want it to be useful. We want you to come away with something of importance. And so we're going to have candid and open conversations with yeah thought leaders, with experts, people that can be inspirational.
00:03:46
Speaker
ah We want to provide practical advice around career development, how to navigate challenges, let people share real stories about ah trials and tribulations that they've encountered, and do it in a way that, again, is purely authentic, is useful to you, and and can be actionable in some way in your life. And again, if we've done done that well, you leave an episode taking something with you that either betters yourself or betters somebody else.
00:04:15
Speaker
I like it. That's the goal.
Insights on Talent Development in Agriculture
00:04:17
Speaker
So Mark, um, everyone in the world, I feel like has a podcast these days. Why would we, why, why does the world need another podcast? Um, you're right. And it is a noisy space. I think again, one of the opportunities we have is the unique position that we sit in between academia, between industry and between outstanding young talent.
00:04:39
Speaker
We hear and observe and collect information on a lot of different fronts that are around attracting, retaining, developing human talent. Why can't we just share that in a unique and a valuable way? I think that's probably one of the the greatest variables that we bring to you know the podcast space. And we again, we want it to be useful and we want it to be actionable and in a way that ah makes the industry stronger. And in some ways, our community is a better place. Like, wouldn't that be nice?
00:05:08
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think our organization is one of the few places where it's you're often going to see an executive and a college student right next to each other at a table. um And it's so cool to to be able to share those different perspectives that you just don't get anywhere else, especially in a workforce where we're dealing with so many cross-generational challenges and agriculture is not an easy space to be in. um It's a unique place and a unique community that we have at AFA.
00:05:36
Speaker
Yeah. And I guess the aspect of it that we really haven't hit on, we've kind of talked about it, but haven't touched on is it's done through telling stories. Again, I said authentic, but it's like, we're being open and honest in what we're going to deliver to you and, uh, the, the content that we're going to cover. But again, it's all about your developmental journey, your career journey. Um, real people sharing real stories in a way that is, um,
00:06:01
Speaker
eye-opening and inspiring and useful and all the things. And so, and and if, again, if done well, if this takes hold, we will also reach a broader audience of professionals, of industry leaders, anybody passionate about personal development and growth. And ultimately, if more people are engaged in bettering themselves and others, we have a stronger industry. We live in better and and more inclusive communities, all the things that we all want as humans.
00:06:28
Speaker
Absolutely.
Feedback and Listener Engagement
00:06:30
Speaker
Okay. So at AFA, we're all about feedback, right? We believe feedback is a gift. ah This is a new project for us. And so we'd love for you to share a little bit about why we care so much about feedback, because I think the first thing, ah the gift that people could give us if you're listening to this episode zero of our podcast is by leaving us a review and telling us what you think. So Mark, please share why we, why we think feedback is so important.
00:06:55
Speaker
So I read a book, i I believe it was called Feedback as a Gift way back in the day. I won't tell you how old I am in when I was getting my MBA. But it was through it was through more of a marketing and a business sense. But I think it's applicable in everything that we do, which is in the business world, if you have customers and they provide you feedback, you should be thankful for that feedback because it means they haven't gone to be a customer somewhere else and you still have the opportunity to engage them in ways that they will find meaningful.
00:07:24
Speaker
So it all starts with a thank you. Like we appreciate the fact that you are being open and honest with us, that you haven't left us and that we have the opportunity to mold what the content that we're bringing you in a way that will be valuable and that you're not getting anywhere else. Like the last thing we want to be is redundant.
00:07:41
Speaker
you could go, you know, if you're getting your content that, like what we're talking about somewhere else, let us know that. Let us know that there's already things out there like this, or um this is what would make it really unique, or some issues that we're facing that we really would like you to touch on. and will be as candid is as you want to be. Like, you want to go deep, let's go deep. We just got to find the right people to be willing to open up and be vulnerable about it. But but that's that's what we want to do. And we want to, it all starts with with feedback and we're grateful for it. and And we'll do everything we can to address the feedback that we get. It's the same thing we do in all of our programmatic experiences.
00:08:20
Speaker
yeah So if you're listening, we're really grateful for your time. Tell us what you think. ah Mark, anything else you want to share with folks who are about to embark on this journey with us? Again, if the takeaway is you come away bettering yourself or bettering somebody else and serving somebody else in a better way, we've done our job. Even if that's one person. Again, what a better society we'd live in, a better community, a better industry, a stronger industry we'd have if we were all a little bit better every day. And so that's kind of what we're after. We're not, you know,
00:08:50
Speaker
It doesn't have to be groundswell change, but if that happens, man, we're making a difference and we're grateful for for all that that we want to listen and embark on the journey with us. Awesome. Okay. Well, thank you so much for being with us, Mark. I'm very excited to see where this goes. I am sure down the road, we will do a deep but dive into your leadership perspectives as well, but for now, um thanks for joining us and can't wait to see what's next on the podcast. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Nicole.