These are the pillars of our operating procedures and strategic guidelines. They may seem simple but I use them constantly to assess whether we are on the right path, as individuals, and as a team.

Life does that to us, doesn’t it — come at inconvenient times in inconvenient ways asking more of us than we think we’re ready to give. Great leaders know that inconvenience transforms us and pushes us out of our comfortable box into unlimited potential.

Are you a people leader or people eater? And then I realized, sometimes those things are the same.

When you promote from within your company you’re not starting from scratch. You’re bringing over the passion and knowledge and values of your company to this new position. You’re using a bit of the sourdough starter you’ve been brewing on the counter for years.

Created in 1914, Extension has been and continues to be the development of people. How we do that has adapted over the years to meet the needs of a changing world; still, our core mission remains the development of people — their families, their communities, their businesses, their farms, their children.