Speaker 1: Welcome to the Growing Our Future podcast.
In this show, the Texas FFA Foundation will take on a
journey of exploration into agricultural science, education,
leadership development and insights from subject matter
experts and sponsors who provide the fuel to make dreams come
true.
Here's your host, Aaron Alejandro.
Speaker 2: Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening or
whenever you may be tuning in to the Growing Our Future podcast
Number one, thank you.
Thank you for stopping by.
I meant, when you're asking somebody to give up a little bit
of their time, you're asking them to give something away that
they're never going to get back .
So the fact that you're joining us, we want you to know that,
we appreciate that and we value that.
We also appreciate the fact that we've got this incredible
platform, this technology that we have that allows us to bring
subject matter experts on, to bring guests on that are willing
to share their insights, their experiences, their expertise, to
share seeds of greatness.
You know, like we always say, if agriculture has taught us
anything, it's taught us.
If you want to know what the future is, grow it.
Well, how do you grow it?
You got to plant the right seeds and today we've got a guy
that's going to bring some seeds of greatness.
It has been an honor to get to know him, it's been an honor to
work with him and, I will tell you, it's even more of an honor
that he's taking time out of his schedule to join us.
Ladies and gentlemen, steve Derman, steve, thank you for
joining us.
Speaker 3: Aaron, thank you for having me.
It's always an honor, definitely a pleasure, to be
here.
Speaker 2: You're going to learn more about Steve.
He is the founder and creative director of Four man Furnace.
We'll talk a little bit about Four man Furnace and you've
probably seen their work and we're going to talk about that
here in a minute.
Steve, every episode when we start, we like to ask guests the
same question.
So we start every episode with the same question and you get
that question today and it is Steve, what are you grateful for
today?
Speaker 3: Gosh, I'm feeling incredibly grateful today just
for family.
I've got my beautiful daughter Tessa here at the office with me
today.
She's helping me at work.
She's incredibly talented and is able to actually legitimately
be a help here at the office even at 12 years old.
But definitely just feeling incredibly grateful for family
today in general my son Wesley, my wife Leandra, across the
board, just very blessed.
Speaker 2: That's good, I agree with you.
And the thing I appreciate, steve, steve, is how much you
appreciate your family and you value your family and it shows.
And I showed the kids a picture of our family the other day and
I said look at that.
And they're like what I said look at that, you know.
Look, I want you to look at it.
And I kind of got a little sappy with them and I said you
know, if you'd ever grew up with one, you don't understand why
this is such a precious picture.
Yeah, and so when you share a family, I just want you to know
that that means something, because some people never grew
up with that.
And so when we get to see it, we appreciate it and we value it
.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's the one thing that we get in life
that we don't get to acquire or choose for ourselves.
Either we're born into a family not of our choosing, or when we
choose to have a family and create a family, we don't really
have a whole terrible amount of control over how that turns out
and the people that kind of become a part of that.
So it's always a blessing.
It's also a challenge, but through those challenges we grow
and become better people.
So, yeah, just I'm feeling it today for sure.
Speaker 2: Awesome.
Well, good luck to those kids, and I know they're going to do
good work.
They got a good boss, so that's a good thing.
Appreciate it, thanks.
So, anyway, hey, listen.
So for people that aren't familiar with Steve Durnham or
Four man Furnace, let me give y'all a little backstory.
So several years ago we wanted to do a project, a promotional
project, to promote really what we see as the value of
agricultural science education and the FFA program.
And those of you familiar with our show and what we talk about,
I always say if you want to be the best, train with the best.
So if you want to be the best at something, go find the best
out there and train with them, hang out with them, watch them.
And we had caught word of this company called Four man Furnace.
We got word of this gentleman named Steve Derman and we
reached out and we started a relationship, a business
relationship, and I got to tell you I would say this on the air
and off the air I appreciate this organization.
I appreciate their employees, their leadership, their customer
service.
They are always on top of their game.
I love it that they listen and because they know this, they've
got that skill of just listening with eyes and ears.
It helps them create the products that they create, and
it shows in what they put out there.
But, steve, I don't suspect that you just fell into that
seat that you're in.
I don't believe that you just fell into being the creative
director and founder of Foreman.
Something tells me that there was a journey that led there,
and so I was wondering if you might take a minute and tell us
how did you get on this path to this journey for this company,
for marketing and creative, and how did you end up in that chair
?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I didn't fall into the chair.
I think it was equal parts, intention and equal parts.
The other half of that coin is really just kind of going where
I was led at any given moment in time and so my background is as
a graphic designer.
That's what I went to school for.
I have my BA in graphic design and graduated in the late 90s,
went to work at the time I was living in New Jersey went to
work in Atlantic City, which was near where I lived at the time
at a casino in their marketing department, and really was able
to cut my teeth on just this industry that we're in creative
services for marketing and branding and advertising and so
really learned a lot those first couple of years working in the
casino.
In early 2000, moved here to the DFW area and had aspirations of
working at an advertising agency Back then.
To me the advertising agency life was exciting and fast-paced
and creative and the types of clients working at an agency
gives you access to is really exciting.
So I did that.
Middle of 2000, I landed a job at an advertising agency.
So I'm going to fast forward a bunch because there was a lot of
steps along the way there, but ended up as a creative director,
an advertising agency, and at the same time, on the side, I
was working with my own clients, kind of consulting on the side
and it got to the point where both of those endeavors were
incredibly intense and demanding a lot of my time.
And so I'm leading a little bit into two things One, the
founding of Four man Furnace and , at the same time, how I chose
that name for the company.
So at the time we were or I was going to work as a creative
director at a pretty intense working environment and then,
coming home and working a full-time job on my consulting
clients, found out that my wife was pregnant with our firstborn
this was in late 2007 and decided to quit my job.
Something had to give and I said I'm going to quit the day
job and I'm going to make this consulting thing, this freelance
thing, the main thing.
Which was really scary because there was no, you know, working
at the agency as a creative director.
I knew I had a job next week, next month, whatever Was working
on some really good clients and working with some really smart,
talented people and going freelance.
Nothing was guaranteed.
It was quite literally a leap of faith.
It was what I believe to be the right decision, but definitely
not the easy decision.
So I knew, okay, I'm going to start creative business of my
own.
What am I going to call this thing?
It needs to be memorable, it needs to attract some attention.
People need to hear the name and it needs to be somewhat kind
of compelling and intriguing.
But to me, it also needs to have meaning, and I really felt
a story from the Old Testament of the Bible.
At the time I felt like I was going through a similar
experience, and it's the story of Shadrach, meshach and
Abednego, when they refused to worship the king of Babylon and
the punishment was he was going to throw them into a furnace of
fire and burn them alive.
That was their punishment.
He was going to throw them into a furnace of fire and burn them
alive.
That was their punishment.
And so the story says that, confronted with this, they said
to the king well, that's kind of scary and do what you're going
to do.
We believe we're making the right choice and we're keeping
the leaving the results up to our God.
And that's kind of what I was doing.
It was scary and I believed I was making the right choice and
I was kind of leaving the results up to our God, and
that's kind of what I was doing.
It was scary and I believed I was making the right choice and
I was kind of leaving the results up to God, and so, of
course, the story has a happy ending.
Hopefully a lot of your listeners are familiar.
When they were thrown into the furnace, the king looked in to
see to ensure that they were dead, and what the Bible says is
he didn't see three men in the furnace.
He saw four men in the furnace.
They were walking around unhurt , having a conversation, and
that fourth man appeared to be an angel of God protecting them.
And so I really clung to that story in the early years of the
four-man furnace because it was a scary ride, like I said, and
nothing was certain, but I was every day going to work in faith
, trusting that I was doing the right thing.
Speaker 2: What a story.
I love it, by the way, and I've expressed that to Steve.
Even off the air, I thought it was a very clever take.
And when you know the background and you know why that
leap of faith was so important and, like you said, it was more
than just a leap of faith you actually felt like I'm being
thrown into fire.
It's something even more incredible.
And there's a comfort that comes with faith, by the way,
and I think that that comfort is what's giving you that
foundation to take risk.
And you know all successful people that I'm aware of, steve,
they've all taken risks, yeah, and they typically, if you
really drill down, there's always a component of faith in
taking risk.
And so you've already kicked this off just perfectly, because
you know what we really want folks to gather from this
podcast is bring on successful people and what are those
elements of their journey that made them successful?
Because somebody listening is going to find some seeds of
greatness.
You know, like we always say in agriculture, if you want to
know what the future is, grow it Got to plant the seeds.
So we need guests like you to share those examples.
So somebody that's listening right now says you know, I got
to do the seeds.
So we need guests like you to share those examples.
So somebody that's listening right now says, you know, I got
to do a better job of that and I can't be so afraid of the fire
and I can't be adverse to taking risk that everything that we do
is risky.
I will tell you, in the nonprofit world, you know, we
don't live on production lines, we don't live on services that
we get money for.
We live on the generosity of others.
And so when you get ready to saddle with a company and you
say we're going to go spend a lot of money on a marketing
company, we were kind of in there with you because we were
really relying on faith, that we felt like we were making the
right decision.
We felt like there was this incredible story of the Texas
FFA that needed to be told, and we needed to tell it in a way
that we've never told it before.
And thus that's how we came to know you and began working with
your team and that relationship.
Now, how long has that relationship been going on?
Speaker 3: We launched that program in 2016.
So I want to say we probably started conversations in 2015
around it.
Speaker 2: So that's what I'm years, yeah, and it's been great
, and again, I say this just because it's the kind of
relationship that I like.
They always answer the phone and they listen.
We throw ideas, but I think, steve, would you say it's fair
that we listen to you too.
Speaker 3: Oh for sure, Absolutely yeah.
You and your team are tremendous to work with, and one of our
core values here is we have two core values.
One is do amazing work, and the other is be amazing to work with
, and we've.
I firmly believe if we can do those two things, then, you know
, the work will come our way, because who doesn't want to work
with amazing people who do great work?
And so I think one of the when I think about be amazing to work
with we we can break that down into a few different areas, but
one of the things that we try to focus on is know when to give
direction and when to take it, and I feel like your team
understands that as well.
They give us great direction in terms of articulating to us
what the goals are for an initiative that we're working on
for y'all, but when we have ideas or a perspective that we
want to share, in response to that and collaborate on, hey,
maybe there's a better way to do this.
Your team is all ears and they're 100 percent willing to
listen and to take that direction.
So we've we've had nothing but joy in working with you guys for
almost 10 years now.
Speaker 2: It's crazy, you know.
Let me share this.
You know, one of the things that I like to talk about when
we talk about agriculture is I remember this time where these
two young ladies this was really clever their school district.
Every February 2nd, every Groundhog Day, they would send
their seniors out to job shadow companies, which I thought was
pretty clever.
So these young ladies come to my office and they really
shouldn't have been in my office , they should have been in the
director of the Ag Teachers Association, because why they
were there was they want to be ag teachers, agricultural
science teachers and so I let them kind of watch what we do
during the day.
And I finally said do y'all have any questions?
And they said yes, we do during the day.
And I finally said do y'all have any questions?
And they said yes, sir.
They said we want to be great ag teachers one day.
What does it take to be a great ag teacher?
And I said well, it takes three things to be a great ag teacher
.
I said number one do your job.
And I said you need to listen to what I'm telling you.
Do your job If your boss says don't dot I's, don't cross T's
and staple in the top right-hand corner.
You better not dot cross and you better staple in the top
right-hand corner.
You're going to be looking for another job.
So number two have your own personal board of directors, get
mentors, get people around you.
That will make you better.
And lastly, you got to think big .
I said because if you can't think big, you can't teach big.
If you can't think big, you got to think big.
I said because if you can't think big, you can't teach big.
If you can't think big, you can't inspire big.
And if you can't think big, the kids in your care will never be
big.
And they said, well, what do you mean by that?
And I said, well, can I show you?
And they said, sure.
So I took them on a route through downtown Austin and we
walked several blocks and I took them to eat lunch at a sushi
restaurant.
I love sushi, so take them to the sushi.
They'd never had sushi before.
So I'm having fun watching them eat seaweed salad and squid
salad and eating sushi, and it was great.
We get back to the office and I asked them I said how many
performing arts centers did we pass?
And they start listing things.
I said how many museums did we pass?
They start listing things.
How many musical venues did we pass?
And they start listing things.
I said how many museums did we pass?
They start listing things.
How many musical venues did we pass?
They start listing things.
I said now, how often are those places open?
Well, mostly daily, some just on the weekend, but relatively
all the time.
I said now think about what y'all just said.
All of the people that go to this all on a regular basis.
How many of those same people make a trip to the Austin
Livestock Show and Rodeo once a year?
And they all looked at me and they said I don't know.
And I said see where I'm going with this is.
We sometimes shake our fist at the world and we say how come
you don't understand this?
How come you don't understand this?
How come you don't understand agriculture?
How come you don't understand FFA?
And I'm sitting here going.
We have a responsibility of taking our message to them.
And the reason that we wanted to forge this relationship with
Foreman is because y'all came from a background that wasn't
just agriculture and we thought who better to help us tell our
story than somebody who can translate our story in a way
that helps other people really get it?
Yeah, so I just want to give that background so that people
understand how this relationship started, why it started, and
you can kind of see the paralleling core values that
drive Steve and his team are the same values that drive myself
and our team and Team, ag Ed toward a message so we can tell
people about this incredible story of ag science and FFA.
Steve, have y'all enjoyed getting to learn more about ag
science and FFA through all this experience?
Speaker 3: Oh, it's been amazing .
I mean ag science and FFA.
It was really a light bulb moment in early on in one of our
first meetings.
Like I mentioned earlier, I grew up in New Jersey, so South
Jersey, so it is the Garden State.
There is a lot of agriculture in New Jersey, but I wasn't
exposed to it growing up.
So learning the impact that an ag science education and all of
the leadership development attributes of the FFA experience
has on pointing young people in the trajectory of success and
leadership was really was inspirational to me at the time.
I had young kids and really saw the value in that, and so
learning about the programs and you know, all of the different
kind of areas of focus that an ag science student can go into
that will have not only are necessary for the future of
American society but will have a positive impact on the future
of American society was.
It's been really, really cool and I talk about it all the time
with people you know when we're talking about the future and
talking about concerns of food and environment and leadership
and technology and technology as it applies to all these things,
the FFA and the preparation that you guys are doing for our
future leaders is always a part of conversation if I'm involved,
because it's just something that I've grown to love.
Speaker 2: Thank you and we appreciate that.
Again, that's the reason why I like working together is you
become a conduit, you become an ambassador for us to an audience
that we might always know how to speak that language, but you
can help us translate that, because in the world of FFA and
ag science, we can talk LDEs and CDEs and SREs and we got so
many acronyms.
We all know what they are.
The rest of the world's going.
What in the world did they just say?
And that's why we've got to have the right people that can
help us translate that so that it can be assimilated by an
audience that we might not have reached yet.
Yeah, that's the value that your teams bring into what we do
have reached yet.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the value that your teams bring into
what we do.
Yeah, and the fact of the matter is that what you guys do
legitimately has an impact on everybody, and so it's easy for
someone like me who focuses on communication.
It's easy to translate that story in a way that's meaningful
to people, because they need food and you know they need high
quality employees and they need , you know, responsible citizens
who understand how the world works.
And so the need is there for for, if you want to call it, the
product that the FFA experience delivers, but it's really the
people.
But the need is there for the people and their output, and so
it's really really easy to speak to.
It's easiest for us to do our job when in selling things
because, look, I mean, at the end of the day, our job at Four
man Furnace is to help our clients sell, whether it's an
idea or a product or a service.
And it's easiest to sell something when somebody feels
the need.
And part of our job for other clients is to get them to feel
the need right, Like manufacture a need or convince them that
they have a need.
That maybe isn't front of mind, but the needs that the FFA,
that kids who come through the FFA program fill are felt by
everybody.
They're just front of mind for business owners and leaders and
community and people who are concerned with where food comes
from.
And so it's easy for us to tell your story because the need is
there and you guys do such a good job at scale of filling
that need.
Speaker 2: That's awesome, thank you, you said something I'm
going to piggyback on what you just said, cool.
So one of the things I like to ask the kids is I say, tell me
about your business.
And the kids will look at me and they say, well, I don't have
a business.
I said, yeah, you do, you're it ?
What time do you open?
What kind of customer service do you deliver?
Are you articulate?
Can you sell me?
And you know one of our great sponsors, carlos Guerra.
He always says no show, no tell , no sell, and he's always
talking about cattle.
And if you can't show the cattle and you can't tell me
about your cattle, you'll never sell your cattle.
Kids, you know they're our business, they're our future.
You said it, they're our future .
They also represent our brand and one of the things that I
think I've seen organizations take very lightly, very lightly,
is their brand and they don't put enough time and effort into
creating what their brand is.
And I've been fortunate through my career to sit through
several of those.
I got to sit through the development of CEV Multimedia
and I got to watch CEV create its initial brand.
I didn't watch that brand evolve into ICEV.
I got to watch La Quinta go through their rebranding and
their starburst and I'll never forget getting to watch that.
I got to watch Mahindra Tractors when they did some
rebranding of their messaging.
But there's a lot that goes into brand.
There's a lot that goes into a company's, an organization's
brand and what I wanted to ask you is is how important and this
goes back to the individual that's the reason why I'm
bringing this up it goes back to you're your own business.
You're your brand.
Everybody that knows me on social media knows I'm the live
your brand guy.
Live your brand.
What you post, what share, what you engage with, that's your
brand.
Steve, as a marketing professional, how important is a
brand and what thought process goes into creating the creative
of a logo of a brand?
So how important is the brand and how important is it to put
that into an image like the Nike Swish or the Texas FFA
Foundation?
Give me an idea.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I always say the kind of analogy I use to
disambiguate even what is a brand, because that word means
different things to different people and I always what I tell
clients who come to us for branding is your marketing is
like asking someone out on a date and your brand is why they
say yes.
So your brand essentially what your brand is about it and
develop your brand to communicate to the market what
you're about and communicate to the market what they should
believe about you.
I think so many companies leave it to the market to define what
their brand is.
They'll just create a great product, offer a great service
and kind of let the chips fall where they may when it comes to
the brand, which could be great if you have a great product or a
great service and then you're defined by that.
But it's hard to get people to trust handing their money over
for what you offer without a brand.
Like I said, your marketing is asking someone out for a date
and the brand is the reason they would say yes or say no.
So the importance of a brand I don't think can be overstated,
because it is the promise, it's how you communicate your unique
value to the market.
If it's done well.
You can very quickly and succinctly educate your highest
value customers about what you offer and why they should want
it in 15 seconds.
To me, a brand is more than a logo.
A logo is just a very.
It's an important but small part of a branding project that
we do.
Your brand is understanding who your consumers are.
It's understanding what their goals are as it pertains to your
product offering or service offering.
It's understanding the needs that they have, both kind of
felt needs, their higher order needs that maybe they can
articulate as well.
It's creating a messaging platform that includes the
hierarchy of how you talk about what you do, includes the tone
of voice or the copy style in which you communicate, the voice
, the tone of voice or the copy style in which you communicate,
and then it also includes your logo and color palette and fonts
and other visual assets.
I think what a lot of people think of when they think of a
brand is the logo, and a lot of people go to the Apple logo or
the Nike logo or some of these iconic logos that are so great
because they're so simple and they're so easily recognizable.
But one of the litmus tests I always give our designers when
we're creating a piece for a client is if you cover up the
logo, can you still tell that it's for that client?
So you mentioned La Quinta.
La Quinta was one of our clients for a long time.
It's actually, I think, how we connected was La Quinta was a
supporter of the Texas FFA and we were doing work for La Quinta
, and so that's how kind of we we found ourselves in the same
sphere of influence and so when we were creating assets for La
Quinta, we'd cover up the La Quinta logo.
And can you still tell that that advertisement is for La Quinta
if you cover up the logo?
If not, then it's not a well-branded piece, because the
colors and the fonts and the photography and the tone, the
headline, how it reads, the emotions that it's conveying,
all are part of the brand, and so branding is incredibly
important.
I mean, just get back to the simple question that you were
asking.
Branding is incredibly important.
I mean, just get back to the simple question that you were
asking.
Branding is incredibly important because if you do it
well and if you do it strategically, you're not
leaving your brand up for the market to decide what it is.
Speaker 2: That right there, steve, what you just shared.
For a lot of our kids right, for a lot of the young people
that listen to this, for them, the most prominent place of
their brand right now is on social media, yep.
And so what I tell them is is that, you know, consistency
creates credibility.
So, first thing is, in my world , what I like to say is you know
, make sure your profile picture is consistent.
That way I know I'm talking to the right person, because if it
looks different, I'm always questioning is this the same
person or I'm not really sure?
You're making me guess at stuff and I don't want to guess, I
want to know.
And then, secondly, what you like, share, comment on all of
the things that you engage with.
That becomes part of your brand , like you said.
So when I take your image away, I could see a comment and I
could go oh, I know, that's Steve, it's talking about cars
and really cool stuff.
But you know, I think you're on to something there and I hope
people heard that that consistency creates credibility
and you want to create a brand that's known for its consistency
, and that consistency is the tone.
It's what we see.
If I hear somebody giving me a speech about things that's
inconsistent with what they're posting on social media.
It's going to be harder for me to reconcile those two.
So I think there's a lot of genius in what you just shared,
and I hope people really take a moment and drill down and listen
to that, because that was really good advice that you just
shared yeah, I think your, your audience too, they would.
Speaker 3: you know there are exercises you could go through
to to show how what you're saying lack of consistency, or
when a brand is, uh, applied consistently, you can spot
inconsistencies.
They stick out like a sore thumb.
So if somebody were to see a fake Nike ad that had the Nike
logo on it but very clearly had the wrong messaging, even though
it has the Nike logo on it because that brand is so well
applied, they could spot a fake from a mile away and they
wouldn't trust it because they feel like that's not on the
brand.
Somebody just slapped a Nike logo on a fake ad or whatever.
So you're absolutely right, it's that it's trusted brands
that are are consistently kind of stewarded through through all
of the communications, in all of the different channels in
which they, in which they appear .
Speaker 2: Wow, Zig Ziglar.
You know I love Zig quotes, I'm a big Zig fan and Zig and Tom
Ziglar have said that if they know you they'll listen to you,
but if they trust you they'll do business with you.
And I believe that you build that trust through consistency.
I believe you build that trust through relationship, through
consistency.
I believe you build that trust through relationship and I think
that you know, like you said, we either take charge of our
brand or we leave it up to somebody else to determine what
our brand is, and we may not like how they interpret our
brand.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Well, and how are they going to do it, too?
You have to think to yourself.
They're going to do it by how you most consistently represent
yourself.
Think to yourself, they're going to do it by how you most
consistently represent yourself.
So you are branding, whether you're doing it on purpose or
not.
We're all in the business of creating a brand, and if we're
leaving it up to others to define or to articulate what the
brand is, what they're going to do is look for how do you
consistently treat others, how do you consistently show up, how
do you consistently dress, how do you consistently speak, and
that's going to be what your brand is.
So, yeah, I mean, the idea of being consistent in the things
that are important to your brand is really really important for
individuals as well as for corporations and companies.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and that's kind of where I was.
This is why I wanted you on the show right here, because you're
a professional in marketing, you're a professional in
creative development and you're you're helping us understand as
individuals.
You know, it's like I tell the high school kids.
If we could get to every eighth grader and tell every eighth
grader do me a favor for the next four years, find something
that you're passionate about and talk about those for three.
Three things for four years.
Just talk about those things.
Let that be your brand, and then, when you get to college, I
want you to do the same thing for the next four years.
Find three things that you're really passionate, interested in
, talk about those.
I guarantee you, when you get ready to graduate from college,
you won't have to look for a job , because your brand will be so
well known and so consistent that somebody will say that's
who I want working here, because that's how they're going to
promote my brand, going to promote my brand.
So that's why I say that consistency and understanding
that is so important to both a person, an organization or even
our companies and we work with some great brands, by the way.
We work with some great brands and we enjoy getting to work
with them.
I remember when we got the gift from Ford Motor Company to
build our building in Austin Texas we got the gift from Ford
Motor Company to build our building in Austin Texas there
was a book, probably this thick, just on the branding of the
oval, on the building of what we could and we couldn't do.
So that's how serious brands are, that's how much those
brands are worth.
And, to your point, steve, what's more valuable than your
own personal brand?
Yeah, so these tools, these suggestions, these ideas that
Steve and we're sharing through the show, those are those seeds
that you can plant that will grow a strong brand.
They'll grow a brand that can open a lot of doors of
opportunity.
Let's talk about leadership for a minute.
Sure, because you're a leader, I would say.
You've been around leaders.
You've traveled the country, You've been exposed to a lot of
different types of leaders.
You've been in business meetings with leaders.
If, in your experience, you could condense some of that down
and tell young people here are three leadership tips what would
you tell them?
What would be three tips on leadership you would share with
FFA members?
Speaker 3: The first tip would just be to listen.
I think good leaders listen, and that's not to say that they let
the voice of other people necessarily influence the
decisions that they make, but they listen to you mentioned it
earlier, aaron mentors or your personal board of directors.
They listen to their employees, people who have their finger on
the pulse of the day-to-day.
And they listen to the market.
They understand what's going on in their industry, what the
future may hold, you know, staying relevant, whether it's
through continuous learning opportunities or podcasts like
this one or other types of industry voices that they're
paying attention to.
So I think listening is a really the first thing that
jumps to my mind, and partially because I've seen it modeled and
partially because a lot of the less than stellar leaders that
I've observed.
One of the first things I've noticed is they don't listen.
Nobody can say anything to them .
They get defensive or they bristle when somebody does
something they don't like.
Get defensive or they bristle when somebody does something
they don't like, so they don't genuinely have an open mind or
an open ear to differing opinions.
So good leaders listen, I think also, good leaders have a
vision for the future.
They see a direction and they're willing to take steps in
that direction.
I liken this to kind of something that I learned when we
had our first child was this idea of a flexible routine, and
I think good leaders have a version of that flexible routine
.
So the flexible routine that we learned with children is, like
you know, there's a general model when you have a newborn
infant.
It's sleep, play, eat, sleep, play, eat, and it kind of is on
repeat for the first nine months or so.
But you need to be flexible with that.
Right, there's a pattern, but you can break the pattern a
little bit and still be fine, and it's good because it keeps
you sane, but it also keeps the child kind of in the zone of
having their needs met in the way they need to be met.
And so I think in business it's very similar to have that
flexible path forward, the vision for the future that can
be influenced by market dynamics , it can be influenced by
technological innovations, but you know you've got a direction
because you can articulate it to your team and they can rally
around it, which builds the camaraderie and builds the
environment in which people can succeed and know what's expected
of them.
And then the third part is probably accountability, I think
being accountable to your mentors, being accountable to
your own moral code or promises that you've made or commitments
that you've made, and being accountable to the team that
you're leading, because, at the end of the day, your job as a
leader is to make your team successful.
It's not their job to make you a success.
It's your job to make them a success, and so you need to be
able to say hey guys, I'm sorry, I messed up, I made the wrong
call here.
Hey guys, I'm sorry, I messed up, I made the wrong call here.
Or I know I said I was going to do this and I fell short, and
that's on me because I either over-promised or I
under-delivered.
So I think accountability is also incredibly important for a
leader, and there's probably more attributes of leadership
that we can talk about, but those are the three that really
come to mind right now those are strong, by the way.
Speaker 2: And what's interesting is you bring guests
on and you ask them that question and you start finding
these common denominators.
Yeah, and you know one of the ones that you said is they say
listen, and they don't mean just with your ears, they mean with
your eyes too.
Pay attention, because you never know what trend you may
spot ahead of somebody else.
And, like you said, vision.
I tell people all the time the one thing I've learned about
leaders that I've worked with is they're visionaries.
And if you can't communicate things where they can see
themselves as the hero of the story, if you can't communicate
things where they can see how they can be part of the solution
or be part of a positive outcome, it's hard for them to
unpack it and understand.
Why am I here, why do you need me involved?
But if you can show them that vision and help them understand
it, they want to be part of it.
Now, I believe it's biblical, by the way, as a matter of fact,
of it.
Now, I believe it's biblical, by the way, as a matter of fact,
in 1985, when I ran for state FFA president, I took the stage
with the quote the Bible says where there is no vision, the
people will perish.
I'm Aaron Alejandro with a vision for the Texas FFA, and
that was in 1985.
And here we are today and we're still trying to create visions,
we're still trying to find opportunities for the people
that are going to follow in our footsteps.
And then, lastly, I love it, accountability.
You know there are some people that you know you got onto me.
Well, I got onto you because I care about you.
Exactly, I got onto you because I want you to have
responsibility, and when I give you responsibility, I need you
to know I need to hold you accountable for that, just like
I hold myself accountable for that.
So that's excellent, steve.
I wrote them down.
Listen, vision and accountability Good stuff, thank
you.
Well, listen, you know time flies when you're having fun,
and here we are.
We've just about wrapped up the time that we have set aside for
another episode of Growing Our Future.
We appreciate you taking time, steve, to come by and share with
us, but you don't get out of here without the fun question,
and everybody on the podcast gets a fun question.
So here's your fun questionve.
Tell me what is the best concert you've ever been to?
Speaker 3: oh, gosh uh, best concert.
I've ever been to.
The most memorable concert.
I think it was because I was younger and a little bit more
impressionable.
Early in college I went and saw no doubt at the electric
factory in philadelphia.
I was living in southern New Jersey at the time, so it was
only a 40-minute drive, but this was before they were big.
So this was a small venue, standing room only, and it was
crazy.
It was, I mean, like nothing I've ever been to before.
It was insane.
It was like a crazy party.
That was the concert I've been to.
It maybe not have been the best musically, but, from just
making memories, I went there with my cousin and some friends.
It was a good time.
Speaker 2: Isn't that great.
I love it.
I love asking guests that question because when you look
at the spectrum of guests young, old, male, female, different
backgrounds, different experiences it's fun to hear
what music we like, to hear the experiences that we've had.
And you know, I think sometimes we overcomplicate things.
I tell people all the time people don't change, they never
have.
You can read the Bible and you'll find pessimists and
optimists.
You know, you'll find sinners and saints.
And guess what?
Fast forward to 2024 and guess what?
You find Pessimists and optimists, sinners and saints.
People don't change.
I think individuals can change, but I don't think people change.
And I think sometimes we look so hard for that silver bullet
when really the same thing that motivates, inspires you, is the
same thing that motivates, inspires me, yep, the good song,
the good movie, good book, and I, you know, family, friends,
incentive.
And I find the same thing works with my kids, yep.
So I think a lot of times we we get so caught up in looking for
the magic bullet but it's really not there.
Sometimes it's in the simplest things.
Yeah, off there.
Sometimes it's in the simplest things.
Let me tell you about the no Doubt concert I dated myself a
little bit there, I think I know who no Doubt is.
Speaker 3: Okay, good.
Speaker 2: Anyway, steve, thanks so much for coming by and
sharing.
Thanks so much for the work that you do.
If y'all are not familiar with Four man Furnace, I'm going to
put the link in the comments, but if you want to see some of
their work, go to the mytexasffaorg website.
Go to mytexasffaorg, click on our stories and watch four
videos.
These are award-winning videos.
Go, check these videos out.
They were written, helped, directed by Steve, his team and
some other collaborators, but they are outstanding and they
have an incredible evergreen shelf life to them because of
the way that y'all designed them .
So we appreciate that and you'll just see some of the
incredible work.
And then, when you get to Foreman's website, you're going
to see some of their incredible work, not just with the Texas
FFA but with other clients.
Steve, thanks again for joining us.
Thank you, aaron.
For everybody else, thank you for stopping by.
You know time is the only thing we get to spend.
We can't save it, we just get to spend it.
And guess what?
You spent a little of your time with us and we want you to know
that.
We appreciate that.
We appreciate again the platform where we get to share
guests like Steve and their insights with all of the
incredible audience that we have and we appreciate you Again.
Like we say in agriculture, if you want to know what the future
is, grow it.
That means you've got to plant seeds.
You've got to put them in place in your life.
As Steve said, they're part of your brand.
Make sure you're planting the good stuff so you can harvest
the good stuff.
And until our paths cross again , everybody go out and do
something great for somebody.
You'll feel good about it and guess what, along the way, you
just might make our communities a better place to live, work and
raise our families.
Until we meet again, everybody be safe.
Speaker 1: We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the
Growing Our Future podcast.
This show is sponsored by the Texas FFA Foundation, whose
mission is to strengthen agricultural science education
so students can develop their potential for personal growth,
career success and leadership in a global marketplace.
Learn more at mytexasffaorg.