Discover why inner leadership is the cornerstone of effective leadership in farming and agriculture.
Good leadership isn’t just a nice thing to have; it’s a business imperative. But what if leading other people starts with how you lead yourself?
On episode 96 of the Mind Your Farm podcast, host Shaun Haney sat down with Mark Gasparotto, President of the Gasparotto Group, a leadership development firm specializing in leadership consulting, to talk about how improving inner leadership can drive business performance.
There’s more to leadership than what you see on the outside
Drawing on two decades of experience leading soldiers with the Combat Engineers in the Canadian Forces, Gasparotto believes that many assumptions people make about leadership are actually turned inside out.
While leadership is essential to success in farming and agriculture—or any operation—Gasparotto explains that the conventional understanding of leadership is incorrectly based on a “notion of followership.” In other words, good leaders are people others want to follow.
There are a couple of problems with this, he argues. First, “The best leaders are also very good followers because they know when others need an opportunity to lead.” Second, he says, there’s much more to leadership than what’s seen on the outside.
Looking from the outside, says Gasparotto, we don’t see all the sacrifice that went into getting there. A high degree of inner work accounts for those leaders’ success.
The inner game of leadership
Host Shaun Haney highlights a few key points: “Often in leadership, we jump right to the outer game. We romanticize about certain behaviours a leader may or may not have … but if that’s all we focus on … one of the ultimate consequences would be ineffective leadership.”
Smiling in agreement, Gasparotto goes on to say that good leadership really begins by “mastering your inner game.” “To lead others effectively,” he adds, “starts with leading yourself.”
Developing this internal leadership means building self-awareness: reflecting on who we are, how we do things, and how we relate to others.
Can anyone become a good leader?
If you’ve wondered about your leadership capacity, the good news is that, in Gasparotto’s eyes, anyone can become a good leader. While this inner work may be challenging or unfamiliar, if we embrace it with accountability, resilience, and a willingness to change, Gasparotto believes everyone can learn to lead.
You might be thinking the same thing host Shaun Haney was: Okay, that’s great, but how do I know what inner work I need to do to become a good leader?
Says Gasparotto, “You can’t really know how self-aware you are until you’ve tested the hypotheses with other people.” Whether through a personality assessment like Myers-Briggs or simply seeking feedback from those around you, others can help you “shine a light on what’s going on and drive how you show up.”
What it ultimately boils down to, explains Gasparotto, is learning about yourself, experimenting with that and then getting feedback from those around you.
Watch the full episode of Mind Your Farm Business here to learn more about Mark’s theory on leadership and compelling examples from his own life and learning. (This podcast is only available in English but includes French captions).
