Germination put out the call for nominations to identify some of our industry’s most important mentors who have played a role in helping the next generation develop their skills. We had three main criteria: they be a person who’s demonstrated proven mentorship skills; they be at least 55 years of age; and they be retired from their main seed industry job. Here’s the tenth of who we selected for 2022.
Age: 69
Location: Colorado
Known for: Reminding others of their big mission — to feed the world
Doug Knight has a list of personal rules titled “My Business Beliefs” he keeps near his office desk. They helped him be a long-time leader and mentor in the seed industry. For many years he held the position of director, seeds and operations at Viterra and initially worked for Syngenta and its legacy companies for 25 years. He built a team of young, fresh, energetic leaders to support the growth of the business that he led.
“During coaching opportunities, Doug would prepare us on how to handle upcoming discussions or debrief on how better to have engaged in a discussion that didn’t go as well as it could have,” say three of his proteges in their nomination letter — Lyle DePauw (director of crop innovation for Cargill); Chris Churko (CEO for FP Genetics) and Ryan McCann (director of North American seed for Nutrien Ag Solutions).
What are a few of these beliefs? Be humble, train your replacement and manage up.
Knight is a savvy business leader, with a strong vision for what’s needed to create a strong business. He’s able to see potential in people and develop that talent to become it’s best. This meant coaching young managers to become into strong people leaders, negotiators and strategic thinkers.
Now retired and living in Colorado, Knight provides consulting services to clients throughout the industry.
“If there’s one thing in life you hope to do and aspire to, it’s helping people grow and become the best they can be. I always tried to ensure that everybody understood the mission and vision, and the goals of what the organization was trying to accomplish. I spent probably a disproportionate amount of my time actually ensuring that people really not only heard the words, but actually internalized and believe them,” Knight says.
“One of the things I can recall time and time again was always reinforcing the fact that we’re not in the seed business; we are really in the food, fibre and fuel business. When you wake up in the morning, and you’re going to face that tough day, it’s so important to realize that you’re not going to a job in the seed business, you’re going there to actually help feed the world.”
For more Mentors Who Matter visit:
Ron DePauw Says Think of Your Job as a Hobby
When it was Go Time, Wes Woods was All-in
Michael Patten Knows How to Equip Others for Success
Peter Marshall Showed Others How to Work
How Rick Turner Never Lost Focus on the Grower
How Daniel Perry Ushered in a Quiet Revolution of DNA-Based Seed Testing
How Cathy Breadner Makes People Want to be Seed Analysts
Plant Breeders! Do Your Work With a Collaborative Spirit, Says Harvey Voldeng
Never Stop Learning and Nourish Your Network, says Plant Breeding Legend Bryan Harvey
