b'MARC ZIENKIEWICZLeading in Times of Fear EDITOR, CREATE BY ISSUES INK @mzienkie and Uncertaintymzienkiewicz@issuesink.comissuesink.comRecord Your FirstTHEY SAY CHANGEis constant.dont need a cheerleader to motivate If thats so, its equally true that fearthemthey need a leader, someone Podcast Today greases the bearings in the wheels ofto jump with them. Every time we change. Until recently, COVID-19 wasjump, our commanding officer is the simply something many of us onlyfirst one out the door, and we follow heard about on the evening news.his lead.PODCASTS ARE ALLthe rage these days, forBut in a matter of a few weeks, nearlyInspire Confidence with Integrity. reasons I discussed in a previous column. But howeveryone has been impacted by theTeams want to believe in our leaders, to break into the podcast game? The good news isvirus. Now, our attention is hyper- and a cornerstone in establishing this anyone can do it with some basic equipment andfocused on our political, business andtrust is for leaders to acknowledge simple know-how. civic leaders. Given these challenges,when fear surfaces and actively, You need three main ingredients: computer, mic,how should we be leading during thisconstructively manage the energy and recording software. time of uncertainty? associated with this emotion. In other Just about any modern computer can recordCommunicate Honestly. Whenwords, courage is the ability to lead audio. Theres really no point wondering if yourconducting an employee town-hallpast fear.machine of choice can do itthe answer is yes itfor a company awhile back, someoneMaking Leadership Real. Whether can! The real issue is whether or not it has a micoffered this thought: We can dealit stems from a downturn in the built into it.with change; its uncertainty thateconomy or the health and well-A variety of external mics exist on the market,drives us crazy. Consider thismanybeing of our family and friends, fear but my favourite by far is the Blue Yeti USB micro- employees have been trained to drawcan easily surface in our lives. Rather phone. Its affordable, looks impressive and includesbusiness conclusions from limitedthan trying to overcome it, leaders a number of settings designed for different record- sources of data. In the absence ofneed to understand that fear can be ing situations. You cant go wrong with it.effective communications, peopleharnessed to bring out the best in A simple handheld digital recorder, the kinddevelop their own conclusions basedtheir teams.journalists use for interviews, can also be used toon rumors and speculations. In thisFor more about leadership and capture your audio. This can be useful for inter- light, it is important to understandprofessional development, visit the views done on the fly or at locations where its notthat it is equally effective to com- Center for Food and Agricultural practical to sit down and record using a computer. municate what is unknown as it is toBusiness website at agribusiness.Next the editing. The software question has acommunicate what is known. If youpurdue.edu/programs.variety of answers. I use an Apple laptop, which hasdont fill in the information gap, your GarageBand built into it, so thats what I edit mypeople will.podcasts with. Its easy to figure out and containsBe Visible. While observing the numerous settings that make your podcast sound82nd Airborne conduct a night drop really great. The great thing about podcasts is theywhere 1,500 soldiers jumped into can be as simple or as complicated as you like. Ifa field upon which Humvees and youre a beginner, obviously you want to keep itartillery had just dropped, I asked simple. As you learn, you can incorporate soundthe Jump Master how they motivate effects, music, and a variety of other bells and whis- someone to jump out of a perfectly tles that you can use to jazz things up. good airplane. She answered, They Once youre done, you can publish your podcast quite easily. If your website is Wordpress-based, you can upload the audio file right to your site. A variety of podcast publishing platforms exist as wellPETE HAMMETTthat you can tie directly into your website.VISITING PROFESSOR; OWNER, PURDUE UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR FOOD That might seem like a lot of info to digest, butAND AGRICULTURAL BUSINESS; HAMMETT once you jump in and start recording and editing,CONSULTINGyoull get the hang of it quite quickly. Want somepete@hammettco.commore advice? Just contact me and Ill help all I can! agribusiness.purdue.edu 26/ SEEDWORLD.COMJUNE 2020'