Julie’s Fresh Air

For a bit more on his agriculture roots, Dave grew up on his family’s farm in Northeast Kansas, where the family worked both livestock and grains.  His father, and brothers, continues to farm today.  The family grows close to 8,000 acres of row crops (mostly corn, wheat, soybeans), and another 2,000 acres are in pasture. They run a cattle herd (Herefords) of about 200 head, and they feed out close to 100 yearly steers and heifers every year.  Says Dave, “When I was young, we also ran two finishing houses (feeding out 1,000 head of feeder pigs each year), and we had horses and at one point sheep.  I was the point man on most of the operation when I was growing up. No cab tractors like today!  I drove grain trucks, all sorts of tractors, two different combines, our backhoe, you name it.”  When describing the equipment used on the farm, Dave says, “Mostly Case and International equipment, some John Deere thrown in. JD was expensive back then!”And of greatest significance, Dave is a husband and father of three (all girls). He’s been married to his wife, Gail, for 15 years. A city girl from Boston, she’s helped him gain a healthy perspective and balance between the city and the country.  Add to this, his background as a Kansas farm kid and you’ve got success written all over this bio. Dave’s insights below can inspire anyone assessing and designing their future.

Fresh Air:  What do you think has been the measure of your success in your professional life?   Dave: I believe that one measure of my success professionally is the wide variety of career activities that I have been lucky enough to pursue in my life.  The fact that I have been able to get involved in, and be successful with, such a wide portfolio of interests reflects a mental drive probably honed on the farm growing up.  I’ve been successful in the chemical industry, the agriculture and food industry, the software and services industry, the oil and gas industry, and now in venture capital and investing.  That’s quite a portfolio when you think about it. In almost all cases, I’ve had the good fortune of impeccable timing – perhaps that’s why I’m now in venture capital. 

Fresh Air: How did your farm background positively help you with your career and professional successes?

Dave: Growing up on a farm gave me the advantage of developing a strong work ethic, very early in life, without any safety net.  I was given a tremendous amount of responsibility at an early age, as my father did not have outside help running our farm.   As a consequence, I took on a number of leadership roles, and was relied upon to make critical decisions running the farm.  This backdrop was a tremendous training ground for the business world later on ─ there’s nothing like common sense coupled with hardship at an early age to prepare you for the ups and downs of a corporate environment, or that of a start-up (growing a business).  Set backs are part of life (and business); it doesn’t faze me when things go astray ─ you deal with it. 
 

Fresh Air: What is one of your fondest memories about farm life that you recite to others in your professional circles and have told more than once?

Dave: When times get tough or difficult, I’ve always liked reminding people that there are a lot of situations out there that are worse.  When I was growing up, we ran two finishing houses (500 head each) that we fed out feeder pigs after farrowing.  Every 6 months, my brothers and I would have to clean several hundred gallons of hog sh__ out of the drainage pits into the settling lagoon behind the hog house.  It was a ritual that required a bath in toothpaste and tomato juice to get rid of the smell after you were done.  Think about 6 to 8 hours of shoveling and scooping runny hog manure, and then smelling so bad that it takes a case of Crest toothpaste scrubbed into your pores to get the smell out.  No one ever seemed to complain much about things after I told that story.
 

Fresh Air: What advice do you have for others about plotting a successful course for their careers? Dave: For folks plotting a course in their careers, I believe you have to honestly assess your strengths and weaknesses ─ which is something that’s not easy to do.  You’ve got to spend some time figuring out how to turn your strengths into career assets, and how to leverage others in areas where you’re weak.  You should have a high-level plan with a reasonable (which usually means longer than you think) time horizon, and be open to serendipity when it hits you.  Beyond that, you need a strong faith in God that things will work out. 
 

Fresh Air: Why does farm life seem to always have such an influential impact on our lives?
 Dave: Aside from the idyllic, Normal Rockwell-like imagery that people tend to think it comes with, I think farm/rural living is very influential because one’s daily life or routine in a rural environment is so experientially (or tangibly) based.   You have to deal with issues that others take for granted, on a continual basis.  Rural living brings the environment, weather and other factors into your immediate purview ─ you appreciate what you have, you respect what others have, and you learn to rely on each other if necessary.  
 

Fresh Air: What has been one of the most defining moments of your life?

Dave: Probably leaving Central America in 1996, where I had a terrific job and was reporting to the President of the company, with a 1 year old and a new born in tow, and joining a small start-up in Pittsburgh called FreeMarkets.  Convincing my wife that, despite the risks, this thing called the Internet was going to have a big impact on businesses world-wide, and we had to be a part of it.
 

Fresh Air: As Fresh Air attempts to observe what’s occurring in rural America economically and with a business focus when possible, what’s important to consider today in American Agriculture’s supply chain? Dave: I believe, more than ever, that it’s important for farmers to have a deep understanding of 1) the upstream and downstream value chains that affect their production, and 2) the global financial market’s impact on their cost of goods.  In other words, you don’t just haul cattle to the stockyards in Kansas City and start the cycle again ─ what is going on in the beef processing market downstream of the feedlot?  Why is Cargill investing in processing capacity downstream of the local elevator?  What is the true cost/benefit of hybrid seeds if I lock in pricing today? Why are corn futures in November $0.20 higher than today (and should I hedge that)?  Should I buy my anhydrous ammonia today or wait until this fall?  Today rural farmers need to incorporate real-time information into their decision making, and learn to react to events in the value chain that impact their cost of goods, logistics, and processing. 
 

Fresh Air: What can farmers learn from corporate America’s use of Supply Chain Management? 

Dave: If anything, I believe that farmers have an intuitive sense of what good supply chain management practice is all about, it may just be somewhat parochial.  I think a problem may be they don’t necessarily have the same access to technology and information, or are just now getting that access.  I believe that they can learn to incorporate technology and tools into their decision making in much the same way that the industrial world has done.  I also believe that farmers don’t necessarily leverage professional organizations as effectively as their counterparts in the corporate world do.  From the farm bureau organizations to the livestock associations, there are a number of good sources and resources out there ─ you just have to use them.  

• Posted in : General, Success
• Author : freshair