When it comes to telling your farm story, Vance Crowe, Monsanto says the agricultural community needs to reach out to those outside their tribe.
“We need people that can stretch out to the farthest areas of the networks and become embedded with them … understand their tribes and become true ambassadors,” Crowe said. “We need to show people we are curious about what is going on in their lives.”
Crowe, who is Director of Millennial Engagement for Monsanto, presented ‘Growing your tribe- How to build networks that will outcompete fear’ at the AgChat Foundation’s 2016 Cultivate & Connect conference in Kansas City Thursday.
Crowe said every AgChat communicator is in a tribe and tribes share culture and values. But every tribe needs an explorer that will reach out to other groups outside the agricultural community. He encourages agricultural communicators to do a novelty search, look for the next step, and be curious.
“It’s a path only you can discover,” Crowe said. “That path should be guided by the things that interest you outside of agriculture.”
For anyone in the agricultural industry that wants to be more active in AgChat, Crowe said there are three characteristics that makes something sharable:
- It has to be surprising. Crowe gave the example of a person who recently showed him photos demonstrating how we are now engineering the size of droplets.
- It has to be educational. Your tribe needs to feel like they are learning something.
- You have to have the same values. Align with your tribe’s loyalties.
“It’s ok to leave the tribe for awhile,” Crowe said. “Where are the other AgChat things in things I like?”
