5 leadership trends amongst agrifood executives
Here's what leaders are saying to me behind closer doors.
I've coached an incredible portfolio of visionary leaders building a better future through food.
I'm noticing a few trends that differ from the normal conversations I experience in tech and startups circles.
Here's what leaders are saying to me behind closed doors:
I work with nature’s time scale
I see more leaders taking a long-term view. They're not just building for themselves, but for future generations to come. Their work goes beyond 0 and 1s, leaning into nature's time scale.
They start by thinking about the vision for the future and the legacy they want to leave behind. From that place, they make decisions and carry out operations, always checking in with the higher vision & why.
Success is product market fit
Instead of a "spray and pray" mentality of flooding a market with capital to acquire new customers and expand, I see more leaders pursuing organic, sustainable growth where product-market fit is key. Success is no longer about vanity metrics like valuation, number of media mentions, or millions raised, but the impact on customers and real sales that lead to profitability.
It’s not about my ego
I see an increasing number of leaders putting impact first. They couldn't care less if they're CEO. This work isn't about them.
Instead, they are building companies where people can be interchanged. The org is built so that no one person is carrying it. They aim to replace themselves. Promotions allow you to stay in your zones of genius instead of being forced into a managerial role. Collaboration and diversity of thought are encouraged.
Every decision is made based on the company's vision and values, which unite everyone instead of fulfilling a sole leader's desires, ego, or opinions.
Embodying regenerative principles
When designing products, services, and the organization, they are taking inspiration from nature. They use biomimicry, follow their intuition, and focus on being in harmony with themselves and the world. This means working towards their goals, but also nourishing themselves with good sleep, food, relationships, exercise, and time in nature.
Collaboration over Competition
I'm experiencing more leaders who see competition as a good thing. Changing the world is a big job for any one company to take on and we know that monocultures fail. So why not embrace a diverse range of players and solutions working towards achieving the same goal?
Leaders are teaming up with competitors and exploring collabs with uncommon partners to bring solutions to market faster. All of these relationships are based on a shared vision for the future and values, which bring everyone together in service of a higher goal.
I dive deeper here:
I went live on Instagram to share the full details of what I’m noticing amongst future food leaders behind closed doors. We get into specific examples. This is useful context for any leader building in this space!
Does this resonate with you?
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