Growing Our Future
Competition + Compassion = Excellence
In this episode of the Growing Our Future podcast, host Aaron Alejandro welcomes Bruce Cobb, Executive VP at Certified Angus Beef. The episode explores Bruce's journey in agriculture, emphasizing the role of mentors and ethical leadership.
Bruce shares insights on the positive aspects of competition and the importance of aligning values in leadership. The discussion highlights the virtues of ethical leadership and the opportunities for young professionals in the evolving field of agriculture. Both Aaron and Bruce stress the critical role agriculture plays in addressing global food challenges. The episode leaves listeners inspired and optimistic about the transformative power of ethical leadership in the agricultural industry.
Story Notes:
- Ethical Leadership
- Leadership Traits and Virtues
- Opportunities in Agriculture
- Ethical Leadership and Producing Good Fruit
- Opportunities in Agriculture
Learn More at:
In this episode of the Growing Our Future podcast, host Aaron Alejandro welcomes Bruce Cobb, Executive VP at Certified Angus Beef. The episode explores Bruce's journey in agriculture, emphasizing the role of mentors and ethical leadership.
Bruce shares insights on the positive aspects of competition and the importance of aligning values in leadership. The discussion highlights the virtues of ethical leadership and the opportunities for young professionals in the evolving field of agriculture. Both Aaron and Bruce stress the critical role agriculture plays in addressing global food challenges. The episode leaves listeners inspired and optimistic about the transformative power of ethical leadership in the agricultural industry.
Story Notes:
- Ethical Leadership
- Leadership Traits and Virtues
- Opportunities in Agriculture
- Ethical Leadership and Producing Good Fruit
- Opportunities in Agriculture
Learn More at:
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 is your host, Aaron Alejandro.
Speaker 2:Well, good morning, good afternoon or good evening, or whenever you may be tuning in to the Growing Our Future podcast, I tell you we just enjoy this platform and the opportunity to bring guests on, guests that are willing to share their experiences, inside expertise. Like we always say, if you want to know what the future is, grow it. Well, to grow something, you got to have the right seeds, you got to plant them, you got to nurture them and then you got to harvest them. Today's guest is no different. He's a great example of all of those things, but, more importantly, he's joining us to share today. And today we're honored to have Bruce Cobb, executive Vice President of Production of Certified Angus Beef. Bruce, thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 3:I'm glad to be with you, Aaron Been, looking forward to this. So hope I can create some value and deliver it all at the same time.
Speaker 2:Well, if it's anything like the brand that you work for, something tells me this is going to be a great, great interview.
Speaker 3:Well, let me give a quick commercial. If you're not eating Certified Angus Beef, now's a good day to start.
Speaker 2:There you go. All right, no more commercials. All right, let's get started. So we like to start the show with the same question for all our guests, and so I'm going to ask you the same question that we ask all of our guests, and that is Bruce, what are you grateful for today?
Speaker 3:Well, we're not going to have enough time in this podcast for me to answer all that, but I think, probably outside of my faith, the thing that I'm grateful for are those that have gone before me, whether it be in this organization, ffa, people in my community, parents, people that have gone before me and prepared the path.
Speaker 3:And you know, when you put all that together, really, when you're talking about people that have gone before you, the proxy for that is mentor, and so I'm really grateful for those people that had the patience, the vision to chisel on me, and those who are still chiseling on me, chiseling on me, that have taught me that it's a never-ending process.
Speaker 3:You know, mentors are truly, you know, they're special people that you invite into your life and who are willing to invest in your life. So, when I think of the opportunity that they have created for me, I'm grateful for that because I know, you know, without those mentors, there's no way that I could be doing what I'm doing today. There's no way that I would be enjoying what I'm enjoying today without those mentors. And I've had some fantastic mentors, you know, throughout my whole life, and your mentorship is such a biblical value. You bring in those that have experiences and have wisdom that you don't yet have because of what they have experienced in life, and it's I'm not going to call it a shortcut it definitely causes life to be far less painful and far more enjoyable when you have good mentors that invest in you.
Speaker 2:I couldn't agree with you more. By the way, everything that Bruce said he's grateful for I agree with him. I'm grateful for the same things. I'm grateful for my country, my faith, my liberties, my family, my faith, my faith, the shoulders that we stand on for the opportunities that we have today. And I think, Bruce, sometimes that you know one of the reasons we bring this up every episode is because it's a noisy world out there and if you get to listen, you can sometimes get a little negative. But I think it's awesome to bring great leaders on and to hear them immediately profess things that they're grateful for, because a gratefulness creates an energy, it creates an excitement, it gives you, it gives you some hope and some want to. And I think it's awesome that every person that's been on this show can start off by telling us what they're grateful for.
Speaker 3:I'm glad that you guys do that. That's how you started, because that's that's not the norm that we hear on a daily basis, right? What we hear on a daily basis is you know what's wrong, what mistakes have you made? And it just goes on and on and we hear you know those, you know those, those negative thoughts, and we put them in our head, we allow them to get in our head, and you know, we don't invite thieves into our house to steal our stuff, right? But yet we'll allow that negativity into our brain to steal our joy. And so being grateful reminds us every moment that there's there's a lot more good in the world than there is bad.
Speaker 2:Good to agree. Okay, we can stop there. That was great. No, that was really good, bruce here.
Speaker 2:I loved your comment about mentors and I would say thank you for being one of mine over the years. I appreciate the fact that you've always been willing to do that and you know bringing guests on here. There are some that I know more and better than others, but you know to be able to call somebody a mentor to you, just like you said, is somebody that brought value to your life, and I just want you all to know that our guests today and I go all the way back to high school and it's another example of the power of that blue and gold jacket because we met at a McDonald's in College Station, texas, and from one meeting we've had a lifetime of friendship, a lifetime of business relations and we've experienced a lot of life together. But I'm not going to tell that story. I want Bruce to tell that story.
Speaker 2:Bruce, you're the executive vice president of certified Angus B. Something tells me you didn't just land in that chair. Something tells me that there was a journey that led to that chair. So I'm wondering if you could take us back and put us in your shoes and how your life's path took you to the job that you have today at Certified Angus Beef.
Speaker 3:Well, I guess, first off, you know every story is characterized by grace and it's purely by grace that I've been able to participate in and enjoy a lot of the things that I've done for the last I don't know, 40 years, 30 years, and it's, you know, whenever you have that grace and you accept it and you live it and then you're obedient to it, good things kind of happen, right. It's whenever we try to take control for ourselves that things get off track. But you know, I would have grown up in agriculture, studied agriculture at Texas Tech and then at Texas A&M and grad school, and it was passion that developed in me through FFA in the early years. And you know that seed sprouted and it just kept growing and mentors kept watering it and you know the fun experiences and the relationships continued to, you know, really provide the nutrients for that seed to grow. So, you know, after school, you know I was involved with Texas Beef Council, us Meat Export Federation, doing international marketing.
Speaker 3:And what's kind of cool about, you know, my time in agriculture, in the food industry, is that I've been able to play on both sides of the fence of supply and demand and it's kind of a neat opportunity.
Speaker 3:Whenever you can you bring together an understanding of what's happening with supply and what's happening with consumer demand and you can connect them together and really understand what might seem to be really complex.
Speaker 3:It really isn't. It's a matter of you know. On the supply side, we do things to be responsive to customers and customers send us signals as to what they want, when they want, how much they want, and on the supply side, if we'll just listen to that and be market oriented or demand driven, it all happens. So you know, through all my career Texas Beef Council, meat Export Federation, consolidated beef producers I was able to understand both sides of the supply and demand equation and now certified Angus Beef that's what it is every day is understanding what's happening in the marketplace, all the way back to seed stock producers, to the other end of the supply chain with consumers, and just really being a steward of that supply chain and helping each dot in that supply chain understand the other side in each segment. And when we get in alignment which is a leadership value when we get in alignment, well, some really cool stuff can happen. And so I'm just, I'm, blessed, very cool to be doing what I'm doing today and serving the industry and doing it with some really cool people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, bruce has had a really interesting background. He was an active member of his FFA chapter. He was an area officer. We actually served as area officers together. I went on to serve as state president and Bruce followed me the following year. So Bruce was state president next year. I had to clean up a lot of that mess, I understand, and then a lot of our past will just keep moving, a lot of our career paths. We both took different pathways, but I think there are certain leadership traits, values and core values that remained and were consistent throughout our careers, if you will, and I think they've been guiding principles.
Speaker 2:And I love how you use the word alignment. There's a lot of words for our listeners. I know a lot of time students are going to hear these words, like strategic planning. In the FFA world we use programs of activity, but I hope that everybody kind of understands the importance of the words that Bruce used. So the reason I say that is this when we use the word alignment, think of it this way If you put a bunch of dominoes and you stacked them on a desk and you were going to try to make them tumble, they can't tumble when one's over here and one's over here and one's over here.
Speaker 2:You got to get those dominoes in alignment. And when you can get those dominoes in alignment and then you start something, a catalyst, then all of a sudden you get momentum and velocity. And organizations are much like that. You've got to have alignment, you've got to make sure everybody's kind of together and then you start creating the catalyst that starts to establish momentum and velocity. And when I think of the story of certified Angus beef, by the way, I see a lot of that analogy in CAB is there was a lot of strategy in bringing everybody into alignment. Then there was a lot of strategy. And how do we create the right catalyst to create a culture of excellence, of continuous improvement? And you look at all of the things that happen within your brand, within your organization. There's really a lot to unpack in the very simple example that you shared.
Speaker 3:I think some of the most beautiful things to observe is any kind of team, a well functioning team. Everybody has a role, everybody has strengths, everybody has weaknesses, everybody has their own talents. Well, individually you just can't accomplish what you can collectively. And when you pull everybody together and you get a team in alignment as to here's the objective, here's the resources, here's the training, here are the strategies and there's communication across the team at the same time, and then a willingness to back up your teammates when there's a fumble, you get everybody in alignment. And then it's beautiful to watch, whether it's an orchestra or a football team, a board, an officer team. When there's alignment and there's passion and there's energy backing up that alignment, great things happen.
Speaker 2:That's good stuff. I love it. All right, so let's jump into another one here. I'm going to. I know that you were the president of a very successful school board, so I'm going to. I'm going to challenge a little bit of your knowledge there for a minute. Do you happen to know how many high schools are in Texas?
Speaker 3:So there'd be what like 1300 or so somewhere in that neighborhood. A lot, Okay, you know the number.
Speaker 2:I figured I was going to get a lot. So you're right on about 1300 school districts. So that means there's about 3000 high schools, okay. So think about that for a second. So 3000 high schools. Everyone, I'm going to have a graduating class. So students that are listening to this pay attention Everyone, I'm going to have a graduating class. That means, all of a sudden, you're going to get out and you're going to be vying for a job, a scholarship or an opportunity.
Speaker 2:The question is what separates you from everybody else? What's your competitive edge? What is it that you bring to the table that's unique, that will give you a greater opportunity to excel? I would say the FFA provides young people with a competitive edge. I believe it gives them a professional network, I believe it gives them a spectrum of potential mentors and I think, when you add all that up, it gives our kids a competitive edge. But the reason I think it's important that people understand that is because when you get out in the real world of business, of government, of politics, of just organizational and community activity, it is a competitive world and there is no doubt that CAB has to play in that space of being competitive. How important is it, bruce, to have a competitive edge. How important is it to understand that you've got to give your brand a competitive edge to be able to compete for consumer attention, market share, organizational excellence. Walk us through the importance of that competitive edge.
Speaker 3:Yeah so the neat thing about our business is that it is intensely competitive, and I love it because competition makes us better. Competition is a good thing. Okay, I think. For whatever reason in our culture today, around us, competition has been watered down. We try to enable others by giving them crutches so that they can compete in a way that doesn't help them get better. So competition is a good thing, and what's neat is that competition makes us better performers, but we also have to have compassion as a competitor.
Speaker 3:Compassion makes us better people. Competition makes us better performers. You've got to have both, but you can't replace one for the other. You can't just be compassionate with people and never challenge them to step up and get better, and you can't just always be hammering on people in a competitive way because that'll break their spirit. It's a balance between the two. So when I think about competition especially in this business, because there's only so much consumer demand I appreciate and value our competition in the marketplace because you can either have a fire within or a fire underneath. I kind of like both. It stirs me and it drives a business and it drives a team to go and win together. So you know, at the end of the day, if you can look back and say I competed to be my best and I competed fairly, and tomorrow I'm going to get up and do it again, there you go.
Speaker 2:That's it, that's it right. There Can you take your best self today and can you beat your best self tomorrow.
Speaker 3:Be better than your best self today.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm saying. Can I actually? It's 1%.
Speaker 3:Right. I mean that's I talk a lot with the people that I work with about just 1%, 1% better. If you're 1% better each day, think about how much better you're going to be at the end of the year, or what your performance is going to look like A year from that, or you know what your, your team, is going to look like a year from now. If you're constantly competing for each other, with each other and challenging each other, well, you can. You can really move mountains.
Speaker 2:That's really good right there. I like that a lot and I hope that chapters and I hope that young leaders hear that because they can be this kind of catalyst to their community. They can be this kind of catalyst to their school, to their, to their chapter. I mean this. That's the beauty, the beauty of this program and the beauty of what our guests share. We all want to be in charge of our lives. That's our nature. So when Bruce and others give us skills, they're giving us the tools that we're in charge of, and I love that. I get to be in charge of being 1% better tomorrow. I get to be in charge of honing a competitive edge. That's your decision, it's our decision. It's a beautiful thing, yeah, so, bruce, I know that you're, you know. I know that over the years we've involved with with issues and discussions and strategies about leadership and leadership development. So I want to stun pack this concept of leadership, but I'm going to take it a notch up. Is there a difference between leadership and ethical leadership?
Speaker 3:It's night and day. Literally it's black and white, it's it's darkness and light.
Speaker 2:Talk us through this.
Speaker 3:I want to know what is the difference between leadership and ethical leadership.
Speaker 3:So this is something that that my wife and I, many years ago, we became very passionate about. There are effective leaders in the world today that are very skillful. You know they, they have been trained and in many of the leadership functions. Unfortunately, you know there are some leaders that use it for themselves or use it for bad. You know they're still effective at leading. They're just leading in a way that that creates bad instead of good. They're leading for themselves as opposed for others around them or for their community.
Speaker 3:So when I think of ethical leadership, those are the leaders that use their leadership skills and their talents and their knowledge and experience for the betterment of community, for the world around them or their business. And so you know we think about ethical leadership. Or you're approaching your team and your business and you know your organization with an honesty, with integrity, with collaboration, with true servant leadership. So when I think about ethical leadership, those are those are the components that I look at, as opposed to the other kind of leadership that is self-focused and self-serving, that creates things just for the benefit of themselves. So, making decisions on a daily basis as a leader if you want to be a good leader, you got to make decisions based on values and principles that then determine your behavior and determine your decisions.
Speaker 2:That's really good. By the way, I love one of our board members that serves on the Texas FFA Foundation board is Tom Ziegler, the son of the late great Zig Ziegler, and he talks a lot about virtues and being a virtuous leader. And I loved what Bruce said because I've had the pleasure in the day, because of Bruce and Margie, to be able to participate in the Sautiqua Center for Ethical Leadership. I think it's under a different flagship now, but I'll never forget the discussions that we had with Don. Sautiqua was talking about ethics and business ethics and leadership, and then to hear Tom Ziegler talk about virtues and he said you know, if you could become a virtuous, if I could become a virtuous, what does that mean? It means to be kind, to be selfless, to practice self-control, to be respectful, to be positive, to look for the best, to be the light, to stand firm, to be humble and never give up.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 2:And I think those are just 10 virtues that have practiced, make your leadership style ethical.
Speaker 3:Can I add one more comment to this? Sure, so every leader is going to produce some kind of fruit right.
Speaker 3:And you know, we have the opportunity to determine what that fruit is by our words, our thoughts and our actions. And is that fruit going to be abundant so that others can enjoy it, or is that fruit going to be something that leads a sour taste in everybody else's mouth, Right? Is it going to be nutritive? Is it going to have, you know, value that helps people grow and develop? Because that's what you know. Ultimately, leadership is about helping others grow and develop. Right, it's not about being the best, it's about helping others be their best. And if you're producing good fruit and providing that fruit to others around you, then they can be their best, and that's the mark of good leadership. Look at the people around a person. What are they producing? They should be producing what that leader is producing and feeding as well.
Speaker 2:So, for the students out there, if you've ever been to one of the workshops and things that we were able to put on, one of the things that I like to share is you show me your friends and I'll show you your future.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, because you're viable, attractor tribe and that tends to be an extension of also the virtues of those around you as well. So Bruce is spot on with that. Bruce, let's switch gears here a little bit, because I think it's another important topic here and the role that you play at CAB. You travel across the country. You get to experience a global perspective of food. If I'm a young person sitting in a classroom right now, are there any opportunities down the road in agriculture? Is there anything out there? Is there any possibility that I could find a job in agriculture or didn't? I need to look for something. I'm in the city. I'm not a country boy or country girl, or you know. I'm in the city, I'm in the suburbs. Are there any opportunities in agriculture? What? What do you see?
Speaker 3:That's a very timely question because, honestly, I have told a lot of people within our organization that are from a different generation Okay, not saying, not qualifying myself as old there's others that are from a different generation. I tell them I would love to be a young professional in the food industry right now, especially in our organization. Okay, and I say that because when you think about consumers and what their demands are, they're demanding today, like always, high quality, great flavor, consistency. Those are things that have made our brand, our product, great through the years. But now consumers are talking about animal care and environmental stewardship. Those are things that also are driving and shaping consumer demand.
Speaker 3:And I look at it and I think, man, this is perfect, because when you look at agriculture and you think about stewardship, environmental stewardship you think about animal care. Hey, we started that party decades ago, generations ago. So if those are the things that consumers are really dialed into, above and beyond consistency and taste and flavor, I'm in right Because we've been doing that Right and I look at opportunities for young people in agriculture In that regard of consumers appreciate and value things beyond just product quality, consistency and the opportunity to demonstrate and communicate and build programs that help them better understand what agriculture is all about and that we are the original environmental stewards and that we are the original animal stewards. Hey, join the club, come on. We've been doing this a long time, so I really would like to start all over again and just add to what the brand has already done.
Speaker 2:I'm going to add to what Bruce said. The bottom line is this this whole world is going to need a lot more food the next 20 years and there's not going to be more land to do it on. There's not going to be any more water to get us there. It's going to require some bright minds to ensure that we can feed, clothe and shelter the world, and I would tell you that if I was a young person and I like to use the quote from Wayne Gretzky when they asked Gretzky what makes you such a great hockey player? And he said most players skate to where the puck is.
Speaker 2:I skate to where the puck is going, and where the puck is going is a necessity for more food and food security, and so I would just challenge young people to always remember there's an opportunity. It could be in linguistics, it could be in marketing, it could be in engineering helping to create a bridge over a river to get food to another village or another tribe. There is so much opportunity in our food chain and our food supply and our food security to be aware. One of our guests the other day, bruce, said we got to be good listeners, and I like the way he said that. He said I'm not just talking about good listeners with your ears. He said you got to be good listeners with your eyes. You got to be learning and paying attention and being able to spot trends and opportunities. And I think that the FFA is going to give you a competitive edge, but you, you've got to pay attention so that you don't miss the opportunity.
Speaker 3:Yep, yep, I look one of one of my opinion, the greatest attribute or feature of success is what is a person's level of grit, and we learn that in agriculture. Right yeah, we understand adversity, we understand challenges. You know, there's not many businesses that have to endure extreme weather conditions like we do in agriculture.
Speaker 3:And if you're going to be in agriculture, you have to leverage your grit because you're going to face challenges and those people who approach everything with a high level of grit and if you don't know the definition of grit, I encourage you to go look it up those who have the grit are those that succeed in any endeavor, whether it's in their business, in their church, in their home. You have to have the grit and when I think about leadership, that that is one of those attributes, that is a prerequisite to being a successful leader, is grit.
Speaker 2:Love it All right. So let's just give me a summary here real quick. Give me three leadership tips. If you were able to sit in front of a classroom of every high school student in the United States right now, what would be three tips you'd give them? You'd say here are three leadership traits that you should put in place. Okay, Three.
Speaker 3:Number one your team will succeed if they care, and the way that your team learns to care is by watching you care. So great teams can get a lot accomplished together if they care about each other and they care about what they're doing and they care about the objective. So leaders have to care and they've got to be that example. Okay, that's one. Two is it is priceless. It is invaluable to appreciate and respect others.
Speaker 3:Business is about relationships. Life is about relationships. You know we won't put here to live life on our own. We were put here to interact and relate with others and, for whatever reason, it seems like, you know, this pressure to isolate ourselves. Social media is one of those tools that it isolates people. You know we are intended to grow together and be together and support each other. So you know, great leaders, they value relationships and they value helping others accomplish what they want to accomplish. So relationships and it goes hand in hand with the third one, and that's just service, day in and day out.
Speaker 3:Where is your opportunity to make a difference in somebody else's life? Is it your neighbor? Is it your child? Is it your spouse? Is it your teammate? Is it the guy at the traffic light? You know who's struggling with whatever. You know that day or the. You know the person in the parking lot and you can tell that you know they're struggling economically. What are you going to do to make a difference in that person's life? And we have plenty of opportunity to serve if we'll just take our take the focus off of ourselves and put it on others. And you know what happens when you put the focus on others. You grow and benefit in tremendous ways when you give yourself to others.
Speaker 2:What was it that Zigg always said If you help enough other people, get what they want, you'll get what you want. Yeah, and I like your concept of service. You know our ambassador program that we have with the kids. That's one of the things that we talk about. We say if all you do in high school is take, get after it. There's a lot to take, go get it. And then when you go to college, if you wanna take a little bit, get it. Take a little bit, but the taking's getting a little bit smaller. But when you leave college you can get out in the real world. It's a little bit harder to take. There's not nearly as much there to take. But I tell you this if when you're in high school you learn to serve, you go to college guess what? You have a chance again to serve and when you graduate, move into a community someday. You won't take you long to look around. There will be an opportunity to serve.
Speaker 3:Every day there's somewhere somebody that needs a little help, and help Yep.
Speaker 2:Right, so that was really good. Well, bruce, thank you so much for being with us today and sharing some of your experiences at CAB and tips of leadership and seeds of greatness that you've experienced along the way. We're honored to have you. We love bringing guests on that can provide the insight that you have, so thank you.
Speaker 3:It's truly a joy, it's a labor of love to be a part of what Texas FFA and Texas FFA Foundation is doing. Ag teachers are some of the biggest hearted people in the world and when I shared earlier about leadership is not about being the best, it's about helping others be their best. That's an ag teacher and I appreciate them and I'm just I'm grateful for opportunity to share that message.
Speaker 2:Thank you. You don't get out of here without one fun question, and so I like to ask the guests a fun question. So, bruce, here's your fun question what's the best concert you've ever been to?
Speaker 3:That's easy ZZ Top. Look it up. Look it up, ZZ Top.
Speaker 2:ZZ Top.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm the great group it's a great group. I love all the country concerts that you might find at the youth talk show or San Antonio talk show, but back in the day, man, ZZ Top. Still today they're in their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for a reason.
Speaker 2:I'm not gonna disagree with you because I'm a fan. So thank you so much for sharing All right. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us for the Growing Our Future podcast. You know, abraham Lincoln, that there's a quote that they attribute to Abraham Lincoln. He said that the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.
Speaker 2:And one of the things that we like to say around the ambassador room and around our foundation leadership development program is the essence of leadership is to plant trees under whose shade you may never sit. The reason that we bring you the Growing the Future podcast is for exactly what you heard today. You heard a guest that talked about seeds of leadership that somebody planted with him opportunities to grow those seeds and then to harvest those benefits, to be able to serve others and then to turn around and plant trees for those who will follow in our footsteps. So, thank you for joining us. Until we meet again, go out and do something great for somebody, and always remember if you wanna know what the future is, grow it. Thank you for joining us.
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.