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The opening session of AgriPOWER kicked off at the Ohio Farm Bureau in Columbus. As a new group of participants walk the halls of this building – you would have never guessed it. This group dove right in to getting to know everyone; our ice breakers and laughs filled the room the rest of the session.

Exciting new opportunities awaited us with guest speakers and personal development review. We began by getting to know Nationwide Insurance and getting a behind-the-scenes perspective of the Farm Bureau heritage. Dan Durheim, associate vice president, sponsor relations, brought so much excitement and enthusiasm to his role, who Nationwide is, and its mission and connection to Farm Bureau.

Dan shared how “Connectivity + Relevance + Trust = Business Environment to support mutual success,” and these three things are impactful to overall relationships. This partnership between Nationwide and Farm Bureau is important to agriculturists and something both organizations value and work together to sustain and strengthen.

Following Nationwide Insurance, we met Ohio Farm Bureau vice presidents and staff to learn more about their roles along with touring the office in general. Although their roles are different, they are still all working toward one main goal, and that’s to support the agriculture industry. Adam Sharp, executive vice president, shared about agriculture unity, industry, organization partnerships along with leadership. These communities of members are so diverse which allows for new ideas and strengths to work toward a greater plan. Nothing could excite me more than knowing we have such a strong community supporting agriculture today and in the future.

Before the session, the participants were asked to complete two different strengths assessments: Strengths Finder and Emotional Intelligence. Elise Stoddard Cruce and Jordan Henry from American Farm Bureau Federation came in to dive further into thinking about the strengths we possess and how we can utilize the strengths we have in our daily lives. Elise shared that “17% play to their strength ‘most of the time,’ are 6 times more likely to be engaged in their jobs, and 3 times higher quality.” Those numbers blew me away but also encouraged me to know I can play to my strengths more.

We rounded out the session learning about public speaking and how to know our audience when discussing a topic. These tips and tricks will be helpful when we present during session two. Kelly Burns joined us to share about the Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation missions and goals of giving back within Ohio agriculture communities.

Reflecting on the first session of AgriPOWER, I feel excited, inspired, and open. This session revealed information that helped me better understand myself and encouraged my confidence. It also challenged my thinking to continue to develop and motivated me to be a better leader within my communities. Those three small words define this new opportunity for me, with newfound strength to guide us to be confident leaders in the agriculture industry and Ohio ag.