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Leading Without All the Answers with Julie Sexton
14 Plays13 hours ago
You don’t need to have it all figured out to be a great leader.
Julie Sexton, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Land O’Lakes, joins the Cultivating Leaders podcast to talk about what leadership really looks like when you stay curious, get comfortable with ambiguity, broaden your perspective and trust the people around you. She reminds listeners that leadership is not about knowing everything. It is about asking better questions, developing others and having the courage to keep moving forward when the next step is not perfectly clear.
Julie opens up about:
- Enterprise-level leadership: broaden your experience, stay curious and get comfortable with ambiguity
- Understand your commitments: the importance of knowing your ability, aspiration and commitment and shifting in different seasons of life
- Coaching vs Telling: asking better questions to help teams think through the work
Julie offers honest, grounded advice on navigating career growth, stepping into discomfort and learning to lead without pretending to know everything.
Want to hear more from Julie? Check out her blog here!
Connect with Julie
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- Visit their website
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About The Cultivating Leaders Series
The Cultivating Leaders Series is the go-to resource for anyone ready to take their leadership to the next level, delivering powerful insights from top voices in food, agriculture and beyond. The podcast offers immediate, actionable advice from the top leaders in food and ag, with guests who break down the skills that set them apart in the real world. Join the live webinars to bring leadership to life, with candid conversations, live Q&A and behind-the-scenes stories from C-suite executives. Together, these virtual experiences are designed to meet you where you are and help you lead with purpose, confidence and clarity.
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Transcript
The Role of Talent and Curiosity in Organizations
00:00:01
Speaker
You know i would say the overall goal is making sure that we've got the right talent in the right place at the right time. it it's It takes a curiosity about what are the other possibilities in this organization and stepping into a different part of the business or a different function that that may not be sort of what you experienced to this to this point in your career. There's not a right way, right? There's just...
00:00:28
Speaker
You showing up to be the best you that you can be and what does that look like for you? What's right for you is gonna change over over the course of your life at different points I think, and that's okay.
00:00:40
Speaker
I'm not sure what I want my career to be. Okay, what doors do you want to remain open and how do you make moves? How do you be thoughtful about your development to keep those doors open? If you build that trust, the relationships across the team, they'll achieve amazing things.
00:00:57
Speaker
But you've got you gotta to spend the time intentionally doing that as well.
Introduction to Leadership in Food and Agriculture
00:01:04
Speaker
Welcome to the Cultivating Leaders podcast. I'm your host and curiosity captain, Nicole Urzig. If you are ready to lead better, think bigger, and grow faster, you're in the right place. We bring you real conversations with top leaders across food and agriculture, focused on the practical skills and mindsets you need to lead in today's environment.
00:01:23
Speaker
Today's guest is a leader focused on building people, strengthening teams, and driving success across a global organization. Julie Sexton, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Land O'Lakes, brings a powerful perspective on what it takes to invest in your workforce while leading at scale.
00:01:40
Speaker
In an industry that spans geographies, cultures, and constant change, leadership isn't just about performance. Great leaders develop people who can stay sustain that performance long-term. If you are leading a team or want to create impact through others, this conversation will challenge how you think and how you lead going forward.
00:01:59
Speaker
Julie, welcome to the pod. hi great to be here. Thanks for having me. Thank you so much for being here. OK, so before we dive into leadership questions, I want to let the audience get to know you a little bit. and Tell me, Julie, why a career in HR?
Julie Sexton's Path to HR and Early Influences
00:02:14
Speaker
What drew you to that?
00:02:18
Speaker
the ah The ultimate question You know, i I'll be honest, like I can't say that I'm sitting here today with a long-term goal of having built a career in human resources. It certainly turned out to be a fantastic career and I have no regrets. As i was in college, I was not familiar with human resources. So I ended up getting a business degree with an ah HR concentration because honestly I thought, I'm not sure about marketing, I'm not sure about operations, I'm not sure about accounting, which were the other some of the other concentrations at the time And I thought human resources will work across the board, right? i i I know I'll be working with other people, right? I know I want to leave eventually, so it was a good place to start. And from that, I ended up doing a couple of internships in human resources, and that really helped me get more grounded in the profession, and it just landed from there, right? It's always been a fascinating area of work.
00:03:17
Speaker
Yeah. Well, no matter what what work or what part of a profession you're in, we all have to work with people. So I love that that was your philosophy and and it has panned out.
Inside Look at Land O'Lakes
00:03:26
Speaker
ah For anyone who is not familiar, I think when people think Land of Lakes, they can think of the butter. But give some perspective on who Land of Lakes is as a business.
00:03:36
Speaker
Sure. So Land of Lakes is a farmer-owned cooperative. We're just over 100 years old. about a $16 billion dollars but business by revenue, and we really span the whole food system. So our we start from a crop inputs business, which goes to market as Winfield. We have an animal nutrition business, which goes to market as Purina. And then, of course, our dairy foods business, which is also our company name, so that goes to market as Land O'Lakes. So each of those businesses are about a third of our total revenue, give or take, but it's really working across that entire
00:04:11
Speaker
kind of farm to food agricultural system. And it's a little known that we do have those other parts of our business that are really much more ag focused than our dairy foods business. So it's a broader broader business, all operating as a farmer owned cooperative, which is makes it a very unique place to be as well.
Role of a Chief Human Resources Officer
00:04:32
Speaker
Absolutely. So tell us, Julie, what does the chief human resources officer at Land O'Lakes do on a day to day basis? Like what is that job? um That job is, you know, I would say the overall goal is making sure that we've got the right talent in the right place at the right time.
00:04:49
Speaker
So what are the things that we're trying to accomplish as a business? That informs, all right, now what do we need from a capability perspective, from a leadership perspective, from just skills and knowledge across our organization? So I have the privilege of leading the team then that's focused on how do we get the talent lined up to achieve those business goals, as well as think about the environment and the context that we're providing for that talent to operate in so that they can show up fully and contribute. So on a day-to-day basis, that looks everywhere from thinking about a leadership summit that we're planning for for next week across our top leaders. It looks like working as an ah HR business partner across the executive team.
00:05:32
Speaker
It looks like thinking about leadership succession and what how are we building leaders for the long-term kind of senior level leadership of the organization. So it's a wide variety.
00:05:44
Speaker
i think the benefit of being in this role in human resources in general is i get the opportunity to work across all of those, bunch of different functions across the entirety of the business and really contribute at the enterprise level as well.
00:05:58
Speaker
Yeah,
Enterprise Leadership and Talent Experience
00:05:59
Speaker
awesome. So how has, I'm curious how your role, you've been at Land O'Lakes 27 years, I think. And so that is a a journey that I'm sure you've seen the business change and the way that you guys do talent development and leadership development. Talk about what that that progression has been like over your time at Land O'Lakes.
00:06:19
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. and and And first of all, I would start with, you know, thank goodness that I've seen progression over 27 years, right? Like if we were talking about the same organization that I had started at 27 years ago, you know. Yeah, that's fair. Everybody just needs to grow and adapt. um You know, what I've seen in that evolution is I've seen the organization come together much more as an enterprise as opposed to very segmented business units.
00:06:43
Speaker
You know, with that has brought a great opportunity then for us to think about the talent experience across that enterprise as well. And we talk about building enterprise leaders so that the value is, there's really a greater value in getting those experiences across the business, which also provides, I think, a great talent proposition because this is a great place that you can come and build a career and work in related but also very different industries from CPG to animal nutrition to crop inputs and multiple different functions, of course. So it's it creates a great talent proposition As we think more and more about how we drive results as an enterprise.
00:07:23
Speaker
So from your perspective, Julie, what does it take to become an enterprise level leader? Because I think Land O'Lakes is not the only organization who is is now operating that way. And it's... um it' is As you've talked, like that is a a very large, complex business to think about leading across. So for someone who's sitting there thinking of like, I want to be the next kind of top executive at an agriculture company like Land O'Lakes, what does it take to be become an enterprise leader?
00:07:51
Speaker
I think it takes broadening. it it's It takes a curiosity about what are the other possibilities in this organization and stepping into a different part of the business or a different function that that may not be sort of what you experienced to this to this point in your career. right if you think about If you think about the visual of an organization as as a pyramid, right so there's sort of broader and there's more individual contributors, and as you move into leadership roles, there are fewer of those.
00:08:25
Speaker
You have more opportunities. If your goal is to advance your career into those senior-level leadership roles, you're going to have more opportunities at the top the broader you are at the bottom. So use that time early in career, mid-career, to really broaden yourself across the enterprise that you happen to be working in or, like I said, across the functions as well. So I really think part of it's that broadening. I think along with that, it's that curiosity and understanding that you've got a lot to learn and being open to learning and exploring in those areas.
00:08:57
Speaker
And then just, you know, being comfortable with ambiguity, which as well, because you're going step into areas that you don't know much about and you got to surround yourself with a good team and learn from them and be comfortable sort of being in that gray space of, I just don't know yet.
00:09:13
Speaker
By the way, I think those are all good characteristics for leading into the future in general. So if it helps you be an enterprise leader at the same time, that's probably a Yeah, it's interesting, Julie, you are the second leader that we have talked to that's described your career or an organization kind of as a pyramid and broadening going out is just as important before going up.
Balancing Specialization with General Skills
00:09:34
Speaker
um And I think that, well, I guess I'm curious your perspective. I think maybe when I was a young leader, I kind of thought about like becoming a, you become a specialist and you become really good at one thing. And you kind of think like, I'm going to continue to become an expert in this thing to move up. ah And what I have heard as we've talked to many leaders across this podcast is that doesn't always seem to be the case, especially if you want to go really to the next level. Do you think that's something that's changed in career path in just like the ways that that careers evolve today? You know, i do think it's changed. i I think there are still, there's still a space for those deep specialty experts. And we've certainly got some and you need those roles as well, right? Like we need
00:10:18
Speaker
areas that are just super deep in knowledge. I think there's more sort of general roles that have developed as well. And I think as we have more technology and more information, there's value in having that enterprise view because you can make more sense of the world that's coming at you, the data that's happening in the organization as well.
00:10:45
Speaker
That's not to say that You're also going to be successful because you got with you a really deep specialist as well. so So I do think it's possible to have a career in both ways, and I think that's okay. That's really going to come down more to personal choice and how someone wants to build their career and their expertise and what just drives them. Like what's your own internal motivation? You've got to start there too. not a right There's not a right way, right? There's just – you showing up to be the best you that you can be? And what does that look like for you?
00:11:22
Speaker
I like that. I think too, it's, we would just talk to Scott Kay in a former episode of this, and he was talking about his career. It's exactly what you're talking about from an enterprise leader. And that he's like, well, I did sales and I did marketing and I did like, he he moved around quite a bit. And ah I think it's interesting as you think about like being able to absorb all of that different perspective and knowledge and lead at a higher level.
00:11:45
Speaker
He's been in the shoes of almost every one of the leaders that that he leads. And I think about the kind of leaders that I like to work with, if they can speak your language or have some, at least they have context, right? Like they can have a, ah ah it may not be an incredibly deep conversation, but they can go at least a couple of years down with you. i think those are the kind of leaders we want to work with. too Well, and I think that's the value of broadening, right? you're You're showing up as curious, you're broadening yourself, not because you need to know how to do everything in all of those specialty areas, but if you're going to lead a broader team, you need to have a working knowledge so you know what questions to ask, how to help your team think about things, right? Because they're the experts and they're going to have more of the answers. Your role as a leader is to show up and help them
00:12:34
Speaker
think and pressure test their thinking and help them, you know, coach them in their own, in their development as well. So you need to know enough to be conversant and to learn. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:45
Speaker
What advice do you have for leaders who are are, maybe in that phase of broadening or looking at a phase of broadening and it can be a little nerve wracking and that I'm about to step into something that I have never done before. maybe I'm an expert in sales I've always been in sales or I've always been in marketing or product and I'm about to step into one of those other roles that like I'm familiar with, but I'm not the expert here and I've got to lead a team. Yeah.
00:13:10
Speaker
Um, so I would think of a few things. I think, uh, um, First of all, use your team. like Trust your team. right They're the experts. So how do you start with onboarding yourself and learning from them?
00:13:24
Speaker
i think there's always value in thinking about what's your external network as well. what Where are you learning from? So if you're moving from one function to another or one industry to another,
00:13:38
Speaker
Take a look at the external network that you've got and think about how do I need to reset this? How are you engaging with peers at other companies that are doing a similar role? Because you'll learn that way as well.
00:13:50
Speaker
And then I think the combo between those is just have some self-awareness. What do you know? What don't you know? How do you need to fill in those gaps? what what you know What do you need to lean on your team to know? Because you don't need to know all of the answers. Again, you need to sometimes generate the conversation and help broader teams problem solve and think.
00:14:12
Speaker
I'm curious. So what I hear you saying, Julie, is as a leader, I need to be prepared in some of those soft skills or those leadership skills. Like that that foundation is really important to be able to transfer and move over.
00:14:23
Speaker
What responsibility do you think lands on the employee and the emerging leader to find and develop those skills versus the organization? and where does where did where do those best come together?
Shared Responsibility in Career Development
00:14:37
Speaker
Yeah. You know, we talk about that development is a shared responsibility, a shared accountability, right? So the employee is really in the lead, right? It's up to the employee to identify how am I performing? What am I interested in?
00:14:52
Speaker
um What am I committed Like how much of a commitment do I want to make to do this? So that's the employee responsibility. We also talk about the leader has a responsibility as well to engage in those conversations with the employee to provide the feedback you know in some conditions in some spaces to to provide the conditions or the context for employees to explore those areas as well.
00:15:15
Speaker
I think the third leg of that stool is the human resources team, which also then is about building those leadership leadership skills and having those conversations and also you know providing some of the tools for the employees to develop. So I really, we talk about is the shared accountability with the employee in the lead.
00:15:31
Speaker
right? Like you own your career, you own your development. so Nobody's going to make that happen for you. If you're interested in something, our CEO says this, like nobody can read your mind.
00:15:42
Speaker
Step into the conversation and say it, right? Use your words. And then also, you know, be clear with yourself what you're what you're committed to do and what you're what you're willing and interested in doing.
00:15:54
Speaker
I think for a lot of young leaders, i I'm saying young, but like um maybe late 20s or some folks that have have given quite a lot to an organization, sometimes leadership opportunities or or growth can come at a, like the company is willing to give you the opportunity. But it's also going to take more work from you as a team member as well that may not may lead to a path for greater compensation or or bit greater title or that kind of thing. But it doesn't happen right away. You've got to give first. What advice would you have for someone in that kind of situation? Like when is it worth it to yes, like employee give first and then see the reward or versus knowing when like, hey, this is –
00:16:38
Speaker
this doesn't feel right. I think especially with a lot of young people, there is a like, as soon as you give more responsibility, you expect to get more from the company. Yeah. Yeah. It's not a one-for-one relationship, right?
00:16:50
Speaker
Talk about ability, aspiration, and commitment, right? So that's how we think about potential. And as we evaluate kind of where are people at what's their potential in their career, what's their ability? In other words, what what do they have the skills and knowledge to do?
00:17:03
Speaker
What's their aspiration? What do they want to do over time? And what's their commitment? which is the part that you're asking about, don't want to put in the time, right? Those things fluctuate over time. So what I would say is there's no there's no one answer to that. There's your answer.
00:17:20
Speaker
So I've had points in my career where I was working on my ability. i was pretty clear about my aspiration, but i the commitment that I could give to it at that time for various reasons just wasn't there.
00:17:32
Speaker
So I stepped back a little bit. right? And then that change, life circumstances change, right? it And then I could lean in a little bit more and demonstrate more of that commitment.
00:17:43
Speaker
But I would encourage people to think about those three components, right? You can be working on your ability in multiple different ways. Be clear about, be self-reflective about what's your aspiration and know that it's okay if your commitment changes because of life over time.
00:18:01
Speaker
But when is that when is that right for you? And I think you've got you gotta to play the long game, right? You might get one opportunity now, and maybe it's not the right time because you can't make that commitment.
00:18:13
Speaker
It might come along again. It might not, right? but But I think it's a, think about the longer term, and maybe you need to make the commitment because now is the right time, and it'll play out in, you know, three to five or seven years, whatever that timeline may be.
00:18:30
Speaker
But that's going to, What's right for you is going to change over over the course of your life at different points, I think. And that's okay. Yeah, absolutely.
Keeping Career Options Open and Planning Development
00:18:39
Speaker
I'm curious, Julie, you talked about being really clear on your aspiration. What?
00:18:43
Speaker
what would you share with someone who is like, i maybe I don't know what I want next, or I know what it is, but it's I'm like loosely holding it because I want to grow as much as possible.
00:18:55
Speaker
um How specific should you get on what that aspiration really looks like? should you Should I be like, yes, I know I want this job title? Or what should that look like as you define what what maybe be the pinnacle or ultimate career goal kind of looks like?
00:19:08
Speaker
Yeah. You know, when i when I have people ask me that question, my coaching to them is Think about what doors you want to remain open. So it's not always about, if you know there's a specific title that you want, great. Recognize it might not be a straight line. It might not be your straight line to get there, right? Again, you gotta to broaden. Life happens, right? Opportunities might arise, might not arise. So but if you've got an aspiration that's a specific thing, that's great. We can talk about whether that should be a title or not. I've got a different point of view view on that. but
00:19:42
Speaker
That's fantastic. If you're not sure, i think that's okay. I mean, I can't say that I spent, you know, again, early in my career, I'm going to be a CHRO. I would not have said that.
00:19:54
Speaker
But I also was thoughtful about, do I want that to be a possibility at some point? Yeah, I think I do. Okay, so then what do I need to do to keep that door open so that the possibility at the right time and place, does it line up with my aspiration my commitment, I'm working on my ability.
00:20:14
Speaker
um Again, that that long game. So that's what I would say. If you're not quite sure, um not sure what I want my career to be. Okay, what doors do you want to remain open?
00:20:27
Speaker
And how do you make moves? How do you be thoughtful about your development to keep those doors open? I like that. It makes it like possible to feel like there's multiple journeys that you can go on in your career and you don't have to pick the right path right now.
00:20:43
Speaker
Right. Yep. Yep. Awesome. What advice do you have for leaders who are managers and trying to be good coaches to their team members, trying to balance, okay, how do I balance performance with also making sure I'm investing in my people in the right way?
00:21:02
Speaker
I would think about your role as manager, which is about making sure particular body of work gets done, to shifting to a leader, which is about the outcome, but helping people think about how to get that work done.
00:21:19
Speaker
So your role shifts from telling you exactly telling somebody exactly what to do um to more of a, I need this outcome. Let's talk about how you're going to get there so that they can develop their own that's That's the development, right? It's moving through that ambiguity of I'm not quite sure how to do this and I'm not telling you how to do it. I'm i'm telling you what to think about helping you think about what you need to do.
00:21:46
Speaker
So that's what I would say is is step back and think about are you directing or are you coaching? Are you helping people think and ask questions are you giving them the answer? And sometimes being more in that questioning space and thinking or just simple questions like, tell me how you're thinking about this, will move into more coaching and development for people.
00:22:08
Speaker
For someone who is in a role that is looking to grow into people management, that can be a tough shift. But also, how can those individual contributors signal that they are ready or good potential to be people leaders?
00:22:24
Speaker
what are skills or or ways that they can show up in the workplace to signal, obviously talk to your manager, I think, but how can they show some of those skills or some of that, like, what do they need to be able to show that like, hey, yes, I'm i'm ready to take this on for this step?
00:22:38
Speaker
Yeah. You know, I think the, they, they need to show they can be collaborative and that they are good listeners. I think they need to show that they're willing to step into something that's not very well defined, right? Because leadership doesn't come with a rule book.
00:22:55
Speaker
So you've got to be able to to live in that space of sort of, I don't know what the next step is here. You know, a good way to demonstrate some of that is to step into just project leadership too. What are those informal leadership roles that you can demonstrate or just different project opportunities that give you the opportunity to show collaborative, I'm listening, the team is following me, right? They don't have to, but I've got some good followership here.
00:23:23
Speaker
So those are are some things that I would think about, about how to demonstrate that on a kind of not quite at the scale of actually leading teams, but those foundational capabilities. Yeah.
00:23:35
Speaker
I think one of the things you've continued to bring up is the ability to deal with ambiguity. And I think that's so real in a leadership role because there's lots of things that get thrown on your way that there is no playbook or handbook for. I'm curious, do you have a time in your career where you ah can talk about dealing with ambiguity and when something was maybe came across your plate that was like, I didn't know how to deal with this, but here is how we worked through it.
00:23:59
Speaker
Sometimes i feel like that happens every day. um A specific example of ambiguity.
Dealing with Ambiguity in Career Planning
00:24:06
Speaker
You know, i I remember moving into a role.
00:24:10
Speaker
This is when one of our business units was the crop inputs business was just forming. It came it was a it was a merger that came together of two different businesses. And i was offered the HR leadership role in that business. And there was a lot of ambiguity because it was like two sides it.
00:24:28
Speaker
of the business that were like standing next to each other, but not really integrated and not really working together. So my role as part of the leadership team was to figure out how we were pulling that together as an integrated business.
00:24:44
Speaker
um And there, there was, when I remember, if I think back on that, there were, there was like this whole series of things that probably needed to be done, but no order to it at all.
00:24:57
Speaker
So I think that's that was a good opportunity to step back, again, with my team and just just start chunking it away, right? What's out there? What do we know? do we know are going to be that the places we should – what don't we know?
00:25:14
Speaker
and then just start making a plan that that honestly continued to unfold the further we walked into it. So it was a little bit of acknowledging that there's a lot here,
00:25:26
Speaker
simplify it into, all right what's something that we can do that will be impactful? Let's start there. And then just letting it unfold. And so it was dealing with sort of making some sense of that ambiguity, but also knowing the ambiguity was right there at the edge. Like we kept stepping closer to it as well.
00:25:42
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think ah especially with integrations, like it' just it's getting comfortable with knowing that what you don't know and that no one else knows either. and yeah together we're going put together the pieces of the puzzle.
00:25:54
Speaker
Yep, and just start. Yeah, I think that actually, I think that's really good advice, Julie, because I think sometimes that can be the most overwhelming part when you don't know what to do yeah or you're not, you may not even be clear on what what the right outcome or the goal is, but getting started. What's the first step?
00:26:13
Speaker
yeah Yeah, because it's not going to get better just looking at it, right? And I think there's also, like give yourself some grace for you might not get it right the first time.
00:26:24
Speaker
That's okay. Now you know something different. Now you know something more for the next time that you, you know, the next step that you take. And that's okay as well. I do think there is, sometimes we apply this pressure on ourselves as leaders of I need to know everything. I've got it all perfected. and I need to just deliver it. And that's not...
00:26:42
Speaker
That's not realistic. it's ah It's an impossible standard to hold yourself to. So give yourself some grace to learn. We're all learning. And I think too, ah I think about leaders that I admire too.
00:26:56
Speaker
they They know a lot of things, but they don't pretend to know it all. And I think that can be the most ah refreshing and and sometimes even validating thing to follow in a leader is when they're like, hey, here's what I don't know. And let's figure it out together. Because working with someone who who does know it all and is like, this is the way, that's hard to collaborate with sometimes.
00:27:19
Speaker
But I think it's hard when you're a new leader, that's a growth space, right? Because you're you're an individual contributor, so you do know, right? You know everything intimately. Now you're a leader, and you don't know, but you're you're sort of tuned into, but I need to know. I've always known, so therefore now I know.
00:27:40
Speaker
and so I think that's a big developmental step that all of us need to go through. I went through in that in my career, So that can be a big stretch in moving into a leadership role. It's just recognizing that your role is no longer to know everything. It's to lead the team.
00:27:59
Speaker
And I think it's, it is probably the first step in a long journey of getting uncomfortable with what we have talked about as ambiguity, but also just being really uncomfortable is that like, that's a not fun space to be in when you're used to knowing all the answers and you don't anymore. yeah And then i think there only becomes more, ah more scenarios like that throughout your career and they become bigger and hairier. Oh yeah. Higher up you go.
00:28:25
Speaker
I remember at one point in my, in my career,
00:28:30
Speaker
so a leader telling me that's good. I'm glad you're uncomfortable. There's growth and discomfort. And I remember thinking, yeah, I can use a little less of that.
00:28:40
Speaker
I had to tell, ah give myself a pep talk recently of like, if I'm not uncomfortable, I'm not growing. So I should lean into this feeling. Yes. Yes. Yep. Yeah. yeah ah Julie, I am curious. I'm sure in your years of working with people and developing people, you have used a robust toolkit for people, leadership and and leadership development. What are some of your favorite tools or books or or resources that you like to direct people to and and even use at Land O'Lakes?
00:29:14
Speaker
I'm looking over at my bookshelf right now. You know, there's one book that i that resonated a lot with me that I've referred a lot of people to. It's called Quiet.
00:29:25
Speaker
It's by Susan Cain. So it's about the power of being an introvert. Because I think a lot of times there's this notion that all leaders are highly extroverted and and and there's just like we apply a connotation to that, right? And this book is really as a major introvert myself, right, it was really reaffirming about like there's a lot of value that introverts bring. So I think that's a a leadership book that I refer my fellow introverts to on a regular basis. You know, another thing that I'll say that i that we're doing now at Land O'Lakes that is the brainchild of my team that I think is a great tool is we're doing what we call a master class series. So it's directed at our directors and above as we invest in their development And it's about having senior leaders, so some of my peers, just do a webinar about their own leadership journey.
00:30:24
Speaker
what they What they went through, how they learned, pivotal points in their career, challenges they faced. So I think of that as ah it's a really good tool because people can learn from the stories of others.
00:30:37
Speaker
So I think that's that's another tool that I encourage. When when those those that series is done about twice, two or three times a year. And I always encourage people to sign up for it or to use the, listen to the recording because it's just a great way to learn from others as well.
00:30:51
Speaker
I bet it's a great way for the team to connect with senior leaders too. It's like, yes you know, sometimes, oftentimes like, you know, when you, you see senior leaders, it's like at a large town hall or, you know, on some stage or something like that, but to hear the real stories of them, that's neat. Yep.
00:31:06
Speaker
Yep. So what are the key takeaways from Julie's masterclass? I haven't done one. I haven't been asked yet. i think it's because it's my team that's doing it. So they're working their way through the entire, they keep asking me to approve other leaders. I'm like, yeah, that's good. Yeah, that one's good. Nobody's asked me yet. So we'll see.
00:31:20
Speaker
Does it make the pressure worse? Cause now you know what everyone else has done? um No, I've i've listened to to most of them and there's just some wonderful stories. And and like you said, getting to know people more personally and their, their humor and and just sort of you know, unfiltered a little bit is always a good refreshing place to be too.
00:31:42
Speaker
Yeah. So I'm curious along those lines, Julie, what advice would you give to what you know now? ah What advice would you give to a younger Julie on her leadership journey?
Valuing External Perceptions
00:31:53
Speaker
I would say, you don't have to be perfect. I think that's one that still struggle with all the time. Um,
00:32:05
Speaker
I would say one that I that i remind myself that that I learned early in my career that I've told others as well is listen to what others see in you.
00:32:18
Speaker
Sometimes we're so self-critical that it's hard to see our own contributions and strengths. And every once in while you get someone who will tap you on the shoulder and say, hey, you should you should think about this over here.
00:32:34
Speaker
And instead of discounting that, listen to what they're saying. I and will say some of the greatest opportunities I've had in my career is because somebody took the time to do that. And i very quickly wanted to say, what are you talking about? But I gave it a shot and they were fantastic opportunities. Again, because they were seeing something and me or something that they thought they could develop in me and it and it and they turned out to be great experiences. So I would i would tell my younger self to
00:33:05
Speaker
listen to that listen to that sooner, maybe. Don't be so skeptical. That's good advice. Thanks for sharing. Um, Julie, so one that we've talked about personal development, I'm curious about, as we think about really building high performing teams.
Building Trust and Relationships in Teams
00:33:25
Speaker
And as leaders who are focused on, okay, how do I how do I build a team or a really good team culture? um I'm curious first, what are your like, top tips for for culture building of high performing teams?
00:33:39
Speaker
um So when you say teams, right, I think of i think of kind of small or intact teams. And I think the place to start there for me is always the relationships that the team has. So there's always the work to be done.
00:33:55
Speaker
but I do think that as humans, we we need to get to know each other a little bit, right? That's how we build trust, right? That's how we build. Wendell Lakes is a heavy relationship-based organization.
00:34:08
Speaker
And people want to know a little bit about each other, right? what What makes you tick? What do you think about your, everybody shows up as a whole person. So what's that whole person you?
00:34:19
Speaker
So I always encourage leaders, particularly of new teams to spend, let some of that happen. You, the team might've been there, but you're new. So now there's a new team.
00:34:29
Speaker
So we have some good tools that we use with leaders to help them integrate into a new team or help new teams integrate. So I would always say, start there. If you build that trust, the relationships across the team, they'll achieve amazing things.
00:34:46
Speaker
But you've got to you got to spend the time intentionally doing that as well. Yeah. I want to flip that around. What mistakes do you see leaders make in attempting to build culture or build teams?
00:35:00
Speaker
Or most common mistakes, I think I'll ask. Yeah. I don't think telling ever works very well. um so I'm, you know, I'm new to the team. I'm going to lead the team. This is the way we're going to be.
00:35:13
Speaker
there's There's always more ownership if the team can organically build that. So with some facilitation, right, build build how we want to be together. um And I think new leaders, particularly earlier in career, again, I think I probably did some of this as well, want to come in and, like,
00:35:33
Speaker
Again, you're coming in as that expert, right? I know how to do this. I know how to get it done. I've read a book about leadership. I've gone to a class about leadership. Therefore, here I am as the leader. um doesn't Doesn't work that way, right? These are actually people.
00:35:48
Speaker
And they don't people don't want to be told what to do, right? They want to contribute. They want to show up fully. They've got expertise. So listening, building the team,
00:36:00
Speaker
goes a lot further. So what you're talking about, Julie, takes time. Yep. And in a business, time is money. and it's And it's an investment to do things like team building and relationship building and leadership development.
00:36:14
Speaker
What value do you think some of this work or this work in general, whether it's leadership development or team building type of work, has on the P&L?
Impact of Team and Leadership Development
00:36:24
Speaker
I think it drives the P&L.
00:36:26
Speaker
I think if the team can't show up fully, we're going to lose the contributions of those individuals, right? We're going to lose, either they'll leave the organization, they'll be less engaged, and and there's numerous studies, right, about how engagement impacts business productivity. I think there's, we also lose, you lose what that team or what that individual could become in the future.
00:36:49
Speaker
So that has an impact as well. So the investment up front in building the team, building the culture, building leadership skills will pay off. it doesn't It doesn't all have to be done at one time, right? it's not like It's not like we're saying, okay, so I'm out. Everybody's going to stop for two days, and we're going to focus on team building.
00:37:09
Speaker
it's It's a bit more organic than that, right? And you've got to start where you are, but but pay attention to it and do that intentionally, right? Have your team, you'd doing something with your team, you know, maybe quarterly, you're doing a step back to say, all right, how are we doing? We set these norms for how we want it to be. Are we doing all right on those? Do we need to adjust them? I mean, it can be something as simple as that. It could be something as simple as let's have lunch together, right? It doesn't need to be intense.
00:37:37
Speaker
Yeah. I think it's what you're getting at is it's more of a, it should be more of your day to day and like business as usual. Then it always has to be like a, I mean, not that the retreats and stuff can't be fun, but yeah, But it doesn't have to be costly, right? And it doesn't have to be uncomfortable and it doesn't have to be a big deal. It's just how you're leading the team.
00:38:00
Speaker
Another question I am curious from your perspective on, Julie, is for those leaders maybe approaching more of that enterprise level or who are are leading teams, ah what do you wish that that leaders knew about partnering with HR and how to partner well with HR?
Strategic Role of HR in Business Success
00:38:18
Speaker
I would say...
00:38:21
Speaker
earlier is better. but I think truly partnering to me means we're not throwing things over the wall at each other. It means we're having a discussion about what's the work that needs to happen, what's the change that needs to occur, and why What's the outcome you're trying to drive in the business? All right, now how do we line up the talent to achieve that as well?
00:38:46
Speaker
So I think those that truly starting with the outcome that we want to drive to, pulling in your HR partner because they've got people expertise, and you're not going to achieve that business outcome without without the people, without the team. so have them have them help help you. let them Let them help you shape that talent strategy and the capabilities.
00:39:14
Speaker
thing that comes back to what we talked about in like it's okay to not know everything yeah and lean on people. Yeah. yeah Yes. Yeah. The thing that any HR person is going to not like is, hey, I made this decision. Will you just go execute this?
00:39:29
Speaker
I think nobody wants to show up. No one wants that. right like Think of your HR partner, your finance partner, your technology partner as part of your team. Would you do that to any of your other team members? Probably not.
Thoughts on Leadership and Future of Agriculture
00:39:41
Speaker
Thank you. Okay, Julie, i want to move into what we call the rapid fire segment of the podcast where um try to answer in one sentence or less, and I will do my best not to ask follow questions.
00:39:53
Speaker
Quick answers only. Okay. ah What is something you had to unlearn to become a better leader? That i have to know all of it, that I have to do all of it. What is one leadership habit that has made the biggest difference in how you lead others?
00:40:08
Speaker
I think intentional reflection and building my own self-awareness of how I show up. What is one word that you would use to describe the future of leadership in agriculture?
00:40:20
Speaker
You've got to be resilient. There's a lot of change happening. There's a lot of unexpected things all the time. And you've got to be able to take those in stride, stay curious about them, and take a step forward.
00:40:34
Speaker
Oh, okay. I have a follow-up question here. know always say I try not to ask follow-up questions. We talk about this and I feel like a lot of leaders have talked about like, if you want to be successful in agriculture, you got to be able to deal with change and yeah that resiliency.
00:40:48
Speaker
Okay. As you, as you work at being a resilient leader, how do you find the the right mix of when do you just soldier on? Because like that is part of it versus how Some of these things are really hard and there is an emotional toll to being a leader. And when do you grieve the change and give yourself time to process and then step back as as part of resiliency? Like, is resiliency to you a combination of those two things?
00:41:14
Speaker
I don't know if I have a good answer to that. here's Here's what's coming to my mind. you know, resiliency is, sometimes it is, don't i don't know that I have a good answer to that, Nicole.
00:41:25
Speaker
That's okay. I'm curious. Yeah. What is resiliency? like what is what is that but The only thing that's going through my mind right now is
00:41:34
Speaker
you got to self-manage through some of those things, right? and And you learn through your career a little bit of judgment about, I don't necessarily like that, but I know in the larger scheme of things, I'm not going to sweat it, right? And you build a little bit of wisdom or self-knowledge about when to just let it go because in the larger scheme of things or the outcome that you're trying to get to or what's really important, it won't matter in the long run.
00:42:00
Speaker
Right? ah There's also a moment of you've got to, you can't be on all the time. Right? So sometimes your resiliency is also determined by how are you sleeping?
00:42:18
Speaker
How are you taking care of yourself? right How are you balancing out the rest of your life with the stress that can be work sometimes? So that's what I think about with resilience. those Those feel like two sort of unrelated things, so I don't know if it's a good answer to your question, but I i think of resiliency across that, sort of knowing when to just let it go and knowing when you need to self-manage with, that i just got to step back here a minute, and if it's grieving, if it's...
00:42:49
Speaker
yeah you know, whatever that is for you. Just being frustrated. Like it, like whatever that is. i think at some point though, you've got to make a leadership decision about if you're part of a leadership team and there's been a a decision to move forward in a direction, you're part of the team and you are You need to own that decision, express your point of view about it, but own own the decision as a leadership team and step forward with the rest of your peers.
00:43:21
Speaker
So what I would say is not resilient is sort of continuing to hold on to something that the team has decided we're going move on from. That was great. Thank you, Julie. I know we like worked through that together, but I love what you had to say there. All right.
00:43:37
Speaker
Okay. I will go back to not asking follow-up questions. Two more rapid fire. I'm i'm the worst at rapid fire. i always have follow-up questions. Okay. What is a leadership skill every manager should be working on right now?
00:43:51
Speaker
Curiosity. st in in ah Is that a skill or a trait? I don't know, but challenge yourself to stay open and ask okay, what if, what if, yeah.
00:44:04
Speaker
What is one belief about leadership you've changed your mind on? That leaders know all the answers. I like it. We have a theme here. Okay, Julie, at AFA, we love hot takes. so these are unconventional, bold opinions, either about leadership or the future of agriculture.
00:44:22
Speaker
And we are curious, what is a hot take that you have on leadership or the future of ag?
Innovative Perceptions of Agriculture
00:44:28
Speaker
um You know, I think one, brand I think that the agriculture industry gets sometimes is that it's old-fashioned or set in its ways or slow to move.
00:44:42
Speaker
And i I'm not experiencing that with what I do every day, right? where're There's a lot of opportunity. There's a lot of dynamic technology things happening in this in agriculture.
00:44:57
Speaker
And I do think having family members who are involved in in farming, working for this organization. like There's continuous, like how do we make it better? How do we make it more efficient?
00:45:09
Speaker
How do we continue to grow? and i And I think that's not a new thing, right? where As I mentioned at the start of this, we're a cooperative that's a little over 100 years old, and we're not unique as a little over 100-year-old cooperative. there's a number of them, right? So those businesses wouldn't have lasted had they not...
00:45:27
Speaker
sort of moved along at, at pace. Right. So I like it. As we've talked about agriculture is constantly changing and need to be resilient to that. If you're going lead in the future.
Learning About Land O'Lakes
00:45:38
Speaker
Okay. Julie, you know, at AFA, we are all about building bridges. So, and connecting people, um, where can listeners connect with you or learn more about the work that is happening at Land O'Lakes?
00:45:49
Speaker
Um, well, there's always our Land O'Lakes, uh, Inc website. We, um, and particularly from a human resources, a talent perspective, we've always got things out there.
00:46:00
Speaker
i think LinkedIn is another good place, whether it's myself or, or the ah LOL Inc. And I think we're also doing things on Facebook or Instagram as well, right? We're trying to share our stories. We're really proud of the employee experience that we're creating. So we're sharing some more and more of our employee stories and it's always great to hear directly from them, right? That like, that's going to be more meaningful than anything I can say. So follow us there.
00:46:24
Speaker
I don't know, Julie. I think you've had many meaningful things to to share with us throughout this podcast episode. So thank you so much for joining us and sharing about, you know, that leaders don't have to know everything, but to always be curious and find different ways to learn. So thank you so much for joining us for this episode of the Cultivating Leaders podcast.
00:46:45
Speaker
Thanks for listening to the Cultivating Leaders podcast, where leaders grow. If this episode challenged your thinking, be sure to share it with someone else who is on a similar leadership journey. You can stay connected with the Cultivating Leaders podcast by following AgFutureAmerica on social media or drop a comment in the episode description. We'll see you again on the next episode.