Ep. 128 - Agriculture, Rodeo, Career Growth, & the Future of the Western Industry with Alex Russell of Syngenta

Well, I definitely want to just take a moment here for the listeners at home, just tag something like listening to you talk.

I mean, I hope people notice this.

And if you didn't, like, you're going to hear me say this, and I want you to go back and listen to that again.

Your critical thinking ability is off the charts, which I think is something that I enjoy.

That's why we gap for two hours before we start recording, because we can talk about any topic and we start talking about anything.

patterns that we're noticing.

And then we like, Oh, we, I looked this up.

I talked to this professional.

There's this whole level to that.

Do you have a strategy with that? Or are you just like very naturally curious and a little bit more extroverted and just go after it? Like, what does that look like for you?

I think the ability of being naturally extroverted helps a ton for sure.

But I know a lot of people, whether it's in my last role and my current role and the one before it, that are not naturally extroverted, but execute on that to the nth degree.

I'm sure somebody somewhere has studied a pattern, a series, a skill set to do or how to get there.

I tell you what, natural extrovert-ness fostered by company and people around me who want me to grow and get better and learn, has fostered this ability to never be afraid to stick my hand up, to never be afraid to stand up and say, I don't agree with this.

And I know that's probably, unfortunately, a rarity in corporate America.

I don't think it's such a rarity in ag or the Western world, but I know it probably is from a corporate America lens that you've got people around you that it's not a competition, right? Unless you and I are competing for the exact same role, there's this aura of- Teamwork.

lottery.

Truly, truly.

And at the end of the day, we spend more time at work than with our spouses.

So I'm of the, of the mindset of like, let's do our job.

Let's get it done.

Right.

But if we ain't having fun along the way, there's not a lot of point in this gig.

What I was going to say too, that was like my next thread of topic was like, I think a lot of us, myself included, have always heard even from like other big podcasts.

Like I adore her, but Jenna Kutcher on the gold digger podcast being like, I left corporate America.