MIDALE, Sask. — Maverick farmers are disruptive, and that’s good for their business, says Kevin Stewart.
Stewart, who grew up on a southern Ontario farm and spent a dozen years in media before launching his own company, Ag Vision Media, told farmers at a Jan. 16 workshop that disruptive questions and habits lead to innovation. In today’s world of quickly changing technology, innovation is critical.
“The status quo is not sustainable,” he said. “If it ain’t broke, you haven’t looked hard enough. That’s how fast it’s all changing now.”
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Stewart was in Midale as part of Farm Credit Canada’s Ag Knowledge Exchange event series.
He said he understands the anxiety that comes when considering change, but mavericks in all types of business, including agriculture, know they have to face the fear and take the risk.
They ask themselves questions such as, ‘what would my replacement do?’ and ‘why are we struggling with this, really?’ ”
In farming, much of the fear is rooted in tradition. Many younger farmers face the obligation of carrying on an operation just as it is and the guilt of not wanting to do that. Questioning that history is disruptive but it has to be done, Stewart said.
“Managing fear is so important in terms of innovation,” he said.
Stewart cited a University of Chicago study that found the greatest predictor of success today is one’s network. Mavericks have invested in social capital and social media in a big way.
“Social media for the first time in history has allowed agriculture access to the only truly sustainable competitive advantage and that is to learn and adapt quickly,” he said.
“Agriculture has never had access to it before.”
Farmers are able to reach out to the brightest minds in the business world through Twitter, Facebook and other platforms.
“They have traded traditional independence for influence,” Stewart said, which provides a huge management advantage.
“We all have blind spots in our thinking, and the beauty of having a network of people around you is to eliminate blind spots.”
Stewart challenged his audience to transform their thinking, to see their circumstances differently and see outside those blind spots.
“We think we see the whole thing, but we don’t.”
Stewart also said young mavericks adopt action-based planning rather than creating a plan and sticking with it. He described it as a change in philosophy from “ready, aim, fire” to” ready, fire, aim.”
“Every time you take an action, the next step becomes clear,” he said.
“I’m not talking about taking catastrophic crazy chances.”
For example, crossing a creek doesn’t involve setting up a five-year plan and sticking to it. Instead, you take one step and another and readjust as you go, he said.
Execute early, execute often and execute with focus, Stewart added.
“One of the main reasons in this age of disruption that we don’t find innovation is because we lack focus,” he said.
“We are so preoccupied with the to-do list.”
Executing early and often requires fear management and a philosophy of “when in doubt, do something.”
Stewart said young mavericks use constant course correction because they make progress even when the way is unclear and gain momentum as they go.
“Constant course correction creates the maverick habit of the millennium: quitting,” he said.
Rather than being a character flaw, quitting the right things at the right time can simplify a business and make room for new ideas. He said one researcher examining what made good companies either great or fail found it was determined by deciding what to stop doing.
“I get that this can be very anxious to do this and to get it right,” Stewart said after his presentation.
“Even with spring inputs, now a million bucks goes out the door really easily, so when you make a choice, the anxiety is just that much higher.”
That’s why a strong peer network is important because it helps mitigate the fear and risk.
He said that network could be the coffee shop but reminded producers that they are the average of the five people they spend the most time with.
“It’s kind of a different approach to farm management,” he said.
“It’s not sales, marketing, operations, finance. It’s the thinking before that.”
Today’s young farmers speak this language, Stewart added, and it’s important for the older generation to understand, too, because of the estate planning and transition that has to happen.
