b"GROWING LEADERSGlobally renowned leadership consultant Pete Hammett will be presenting his top management and leadership development tips at the ASTA Leadership Summit in Nashville June 15. Madeleine BaergYOU KNOWwhats wild? In thea leader is to support others growth to agribusiness world and seed in par- develop more leaders. Which is more ticular, we know so much about what'simportant? In fact, says Hammett, both. In going on with our fields and our crops.the short-term, results are critical to keep We have technology today that can lookany business afloat. Over the long-term, at how a crop is growing and decidedeveloping others builds the breadth and in the moment whether we should putcapacity necessary for innovation, resil-product down or not. We can link ouriency and growth.harvesting equipment to satellites thatHammett has had the honor of sup-read the biomass of the field and tell ourporting leadership development exten-equipment exactly how to harvest thatsively for the U.S. military. He says he field. Yet in the world of how we growwas at West Point working with officers and develop our people, we scratch ourdeploying to and just returned from Iraq heads and say: I don't know what to do.and Afghanistan. He says one officers If we knew as much about our people asstatement about the necessity of leader-we do about our crops and fields, wedship has stayed with him.be in a remarkable place. The officer said: I thought my job was Thats how behavioral scientist Peteto lead my guys into combat, he says. I Hammett, ex-NASA software engineer,realized after my first engagement that past VP of operations and technology forLeadership consultant Pete Hammett. my guys knew exactly what they need American Express, past global leader- to do: theyre good at their jobs and they ship trainer for the Centre for Creativedon't need me barking orders at them. Leadership, past head of HR for OGEthe past handful of years. In HammettsWhat I realized was my job is to grow and Energy Corp (the list of credentials goesexperience, even five or six years ago adevelop each person in my command, on and on), begins our chat.discussion about growing ones peopleso thatGod forbid, if I fallany one of Six years ago, Hammett tried earlywas a simple determination of how bestthem could step up and lead. If they don't retirement. It didnt stick. to put to work that persons skills andknow how to lead and I fall, more could My friends started calling, saying:experience. In just the last couple of years,fall. It is our obligation as leaders is to Hey, if youve got time, were going to usehowever, the conversation about leader- grow and develop our people. it, he says.ship has fundamentally changed.Hammett will be one of the present-So, he started a leadership consul- Were now seeing a development anders at this years American Seed Trade tancy that has garnered clients, from agrefinement of tools that make leadershipAssociation Leadership Summit 2024, companies like John Deere, to institutionsdevelopment much, much more inten- taking place in Nashville June 15-19. In his like Purdue University, to large-scale con- tional. The questions now are: how do wesession, he will focus on two core com-struction firms.identify what we need? And then how dopetencies: self-awareness and self-devel-Hammett has found that the biggestwe go after what we need? How do weopment. Key takeaways will include the single reason leaders dont invest enoughgrow and develop ourselves first and thenmyths and facts regarding development; in developing their employees is bothothers second? Hammett says.how to assess, encourage and develop simple and complex: they dont know how.One of the biggest distinctions inpotential; and how to give and receive Nobody did it for them, so they dontleadership today is the division betweenfeedback.know how to do it for others, he says. managing and leading. Simply put,Development is a personal commit-Luckily, the field of leadership develop- the number one goal of a manager is toment, Hammett says. You make the ment has grown by leaps and bounds inachieve results; the number one goal ofchoice.SW30/ SEEDWORLD.COMJUNE 2024"