Too often the only focus is the cost without adding to the scale the benefit that person adds to the organization: the value of their historical knowledge, the speed of completing work they’ve rehearsed hundreds of times, the respect for the process and the people, the willingness to go a little bit farther than what is expected, the intuition to know the next right step on their own.

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.

I’ve always said my superpower rests in taking the complicated and making it understandable, finding the sliver of extraordinary and elevating it above the noisy clutter. I think every good storyteller needs that perception, that discernment to grasp what is obscure and see what is not evident.

John Milton Gregory knew. We all are better when we are all better informed.