The Bluegrass State has been well represented in NCGA’s premier leadership development program throughout the past year. Kentucky Corn’s Brandon Hunt and Josh Lancaster were selected to participate in NCGA’s Leadership Academy program for 2023-2024. This capstone program prepares corn grower leaders to be best-in-class advocates for the agriculture industry.
Hunt and Lancaster joined fellow corn growers from across the country for Session I in August in St. Louis. This session focused on messaging training; meeting facilitation and conflict resolution; leadership excellence; and raising your credibility quotient. The Leadership Academy class made for some Missouri BBQ and a highly competitive game of trivia as well.
Over the fall, participants engaged in a Strength Finders assessment where they worked to identify their individual leadership strengths. Upon completion of the assessment, a certified Strengths Finders coach facilitated a virtual workshop to help them play to their own unique leadership strengths and recognize strengths in others.
Later this month, class members will gather in the nation’s capital for a deeper dive into effective advocacy. The group will visit with NCGA’s public policy experts and hear the latest on the status of legislation important to corn growers. They will get a behind-the-cut look from Capitol Hill staff on what resonates with them during meetings with constituents and hear from advocacy professionals about their experiences. Putting all of this into practice, participants will meet with their respective congressional delegations about the current policy priorities of NCGA and its affiliated members. To conclude, the group will hear from the Congressional Management Foundation about how to most effectively continue engaging as an advocate for the long term.
Grower leader engagement is vital to the success of NCGA and our policy priorities. Our advocacy efforts continue to move the needle in the policy space, and it is critical we continue to fill our bench with the next generation of leaders. Hats off to Brandon and Josh for stepping up to the plate to better improve their leadership and advocacy skills!