Leading With Purpose: From Manager to Mentor | Kathy Biondi

[laughs]

The thing is, I came from a family where there was always a leadership involved with, at some level, you know, whether it was my, my dad being on the milk committee or, uh, pork producers at one time, or in the cooperative.

When my grandparents were involved, we, we're practically on a first-name basis with the individuals working in the ag office.

And, and, I mean, I, I've done some work on my family history, [laughs] so I'm, uh, assured that this has been the norm for generations, that where people tended to step up and, um, want to make change, want to see betterment of the community, want to see betterment for agriculture and food.

So, I mean, I was kind of in that mode.

My mother was a teacher, and, uh, when it came time in, um, our school days to do a public speech, well, we were practicing that in the farm kitchen, um, at length until we got it just perfect, and we, we, we...

That's a very important...

Speaking is a very important skill as a leader, and so she knew that, and she was really on those kinds of things with us to help us develop our personal leadership as children.

That's amazing.

And like your parents, you know, you, you've had a real, you know, I'd say, uh, uh, attraction to public service and, and serving your community as well, and much of your career has been in working with the college, with government, and, and, and other public institutions.

So what, what drew you towards those organizations whose mission's about serving communities rather than simply making profits? Is it just from your parents? And maybe how did you get into it?

Yes, it is a little bit of a funny story because we really just need to roll back the clock a little bit regarding that question because I can tell you plainly, I did not seek out a public service job.

[laughs] I, I didn't make that a, an objective on a piece of paper or anything like that.

But, um, I did spend most of my career in the Ministry of Agriculture.

I was raised on a farm.

I worked on the farm as a, a young kid, and we, we learned the value of work and, and getting things done and meeting, um, you know, the weather, uh, implications or meeting any of the, um, the goals that the farm presented.

And as I said, my family seemed to be, always be involved with these community organizations and to the point where, you know, sometimes the assistant ag rep would be on the farm, and there'd be this laneway conversation with my dad about some upcoming meeting for whichever commodity group he was involved with at the time.

And then as young kids, we went to 4H, all four of us.

We got to know the staff in the ag office, and, and it's as simple as I just wanted to be one of them.

I, I wasn't even concerned about who was gonna be the, who was gonna write my paycheck.

[laughs] I just really thought that they had the best job in town, and I'd like to do that.

So then I realized, well, that's a public service job.

Well, that's, that's fine.

It still, it was all the same things that I was hoping it would be, you know, meeting farm people, uh, being on, on their farm and maybe, um, you know, providing educational opportunities for the family, for farm organizations, any of these things.

And I guess I'd have to say again, I just love the people.