In my last few blog posts, we’ve been discussing the innovative practices of potato farmers which would be good for leaders to adopt. The first three characteristic are to be humble curious, and agile, because humility leads to a higher level of interdependence of other people, curiosity helps to cultivate our adaptive capacity, and being agile allows for creative thought. All of these are important to being an authentic and selfless leader. Today we move to the next trait leaders should adopt from the potato farmer.
Numbers 4 & 5 – Innovative Leaders Are Optimistic and Faith-filled
The next two traits work hand-in-hand for both farmers and innovators. Researchers Sudha, Shahnawaz, and Farhat identify emotions as the determinant in the overall well-being and job performance of organizational team members. Optimism is a key contributor to those emotions and can be the silver bullet that defeats Flagellos’ raw emotions of fear, uneasiness, discomfort, and vulnerability that keep change initiatives from succeeding. In addition, faith that things will work out helps employees dealing with challenging circumstances to put aside those fears in favor of trusting God to take care of them. Once again there is a tie to humility, because, as Standish wrote, complete faith in God to work requires that we put aside ego, pride, and self-reliance.
My observance of farmers is that they have a great amount of optimism and faith, shown each time they till the ground and plant seeds. Imagine spending significant resources without any assurance that there will be a return on the investment. Drought, insects, and any number of other circumstances can wipe out a crop, leaving no harvest and no food, plus a significant loss of money, time, and energy. Oster wrote, “Innovation requires immense courage, because one must intentionally follow an entirely different path from that of everyone else.” While farmers do have other farmers for support and can reasonably assume that a seed planted will result in some sort of harvest, courage is still needed because there are no guarantees. For innovators, it is the same.
Hebrews 11, verse 1 states, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” which describes the faith of farmers and innovators. They invest with hope for things not yet seen. They are optimistic that if they tend the fields, either in actuality or figuratively, they will see a return on their efforts and realize what they had envisioned, hoped for, and invested into. A key for them to be able to be optimistic lies in another scripture. In Philippians, Paul exhorts, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” For farmers and innovators to be people of faith and optimism, they must put aside thoughts of doubt and think only of the hope they have for the future.
Innovative leaders are optimistic and faith-filled.
Lead well