b'What the 2008 EconomicMARC ZIENKIEWICZEDITOR, CREATE BY ISSUES INKCrisis Taught Me mzienkiewicz@issuesink.com @mzienkieissuesink.com2008 IS A YEAR Ill never forget and not only because it was the year our second child was born. It was, of course, the year of the global financial crisis. It was an emotional event for me, because 2008 just happened to be the year I left the banking industry toDo You Know What start a career in seed processing equipment.Watching the financial collapse was hardit was the begin- Casuistry Is?ning of a challenging time for some of my friends in the bank-ing world. Things went from being all right to no fun at all for a couple of years. It was a big change for them. IM A FAN OF Malcolm Gladwells podcast Moving into seed processing equipment was a big change forRevisionist History. Its about historical events me. At the time, I was fully immersed in learning our industry andand people that have been overlooked or misun-getting to know our customers and figuring out how to do this job.derstood. A recent episode focused on casuistry, Our company grew. The market for seed processing equip- the resolving of moral problems by the applica-ment like colour sorters only continued to grow. Theres a certaintion of theoretical rules to particular instances, amount of insulation between ag and other industry sectors, butaccording to the Oxford dictionary.what affects one industry affects them all. What led to the 2008Casuistrywhich dates back to the philoso-financial crisis was a Wild West mentality that put profit overpher Aristotlehelps people make decisions by people. Canada had the benefit of regulations that, thankfully,recognizing that we cant simply use old princi-insulated us from the worst of the banking collapse. ples to help solve modern problems. As tempting Having 11 years of experience in seed processing equipment,as it might be to refer to old wisdom in helping Ive learned the best course of action for us as a company is theus figure out modern-day conundrums, we have one that makes things right for the customereven if its not theto recognize that some problems are new and best thing for us in the short term. Even if we have to incur arequire new ways of thinking in order to solve.cost now to help the customer, that cost is lower than the damageFor example, climate change. Never before in to our reputation that accumulates over time if you dont makethe history of the world have crude oil, coal and a serious effort to do the right thing. It is not just about being anatural gas been extracted from the ground and good guyit drives opportunities for the future.burned in massive quantities, and the resulting People who recognize that they depend on others for their suc- emissions pumped into the atmosphere at rapidly cess generally dont make looking out for number oneincreasing rates. We cannot think of climate their philosophy. Its why American banks likechange as a natural cycle or simply just another Bear Stearns went down and none of Canadaschallenge that a handful of human geniuses banks didremembering that you dependwill figure out how to overcome. We need to on others for your success changes the waytake steps to deal with it in new and unprec-you do business. edented ways.The business Im in is one where peopleWhat does any of this have to do with content who buy things from you will only do so ifmarketing and promoting your seed business? they trust you. That trust is almost impos- Well, I dont have to tell you that the business sible to gain unless they know youreworld has changed. Marketing has changed. going to look out for them and dont justTechnology has changed. You need new guiding put yourself first. principles to get you on the road to success. One of those principles is that you need to promote your business. But how? MARK METCALFE Content marketing helps you to promote yourself by showing people who you are and PRESIDENT, NEXEED what makes you unique. You can do this through mmetcalfe@nexeed.ca written articles, videos, or podcasts. The sky is@NexeedInc the limit.nexeed.ca The key is using a little casuistry to get crea-tive and put yourself in front of them.So how are you going to do this? See my next column for some insights.42GERMINATION.CA NOVEMBER 2019'