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Education and graduationMay is the month associated with the end of the school year, and graduations. The word "graduation" itself speaks of time being divided into consistent measurements, such as the graduations on a syringe or a measuring cup. I was told before I graduated from high school I couldn't comprehend how quickly life would fly by after graduation. They were right, of course. And, I think one of the biggest reasons for that is that after 12 years of clearly denominated school cycles, life beyond school becomes much more ambiguous and the opportunities for marking the passing of time do not come as often or as distinctly as they do during the primary school years. With a few years' worth of perspective, I can see more clearly now the progress that is associated with certain milestones. Graduation from high school doesn't just represent the passing of 12 years, but a stage of progress and development. As a parent, we tell our children that some privileges are associated not with a particular age but, rather, with a level of maturity and readiness. Those levels are often not easily measured, although Erma Bombeck playfully tries with one milestone: "I take a very practical view of raising children. I put a sign in each of their rooms: 'Checkout time is 18 years.'" (from The Progressive Farmer, Cornerstones, May 2009). As graduation represents a milestone, it also represents a pivot point. What I mean by this is that generally a period of education is weighted fairly heavily toward instruction and graduation represents somewhat of a transition to application and implementation. In rural America, I think we've all heard comments directed to people with lots of "book smarts" but little common sense. Engineers of vehicles and farm equipment have been bumped a time or two in this way--even as we have benefited more and more from their labors. The success of an educational process, therefore, is ultimately revealed much more in the application than in the graduation. Among the professions there typically are continuing education opportunities and requirements, which for many is mostly a requirement for ongoing certification. However, in a much larger sense, continuing education represents the ongoing development of talent, the combination and application of knowledge, skills and experience. Kennedy and Coe, LLC actually has a Director of Talent Development, and a focus both on individual as well as the collective development of the organization. This is in recognition of the importance of developing talent to meet the needs of our clients as well as the company's strategic goals and objectives. All of this is relevant for farm and ranch operations. Among other topics important in strategic planning, is the assessment of future talent needs and planning for those needs, either from within the company, by contracting, or through hiring. I recently spent some quality time with a client's family, including a son home from college. Somewhere in the course of the conversation, his mother told me they were planning on him becoming a financial consultant. In spite of the fact that is the area I was working in, and that she perhaps wasn't completely serious, I thought it was a great idea to be thinking of future business needs and of developing resources to meet them. Along with some of these thoughts related to education and graduation, I want to conclude with one last thing that I think is especially important, and that is having a real feeling for, and drawing to, the work we do. Some people know early in their school years what it is they would like to do, and others don't until much later. I was somewhat in between. I graduated from high school in the midst of the 1980s--a very challenging time period nation-wide for farm and ranch producers. That gave me a unique vantage point to observe those challenges. It also gave me a feeling for those families in production agriculture struggling to successfully meet business challenges. I certainly had an interest in agriculture before that time, and also picked up an interest in business through my school years. It was my observation of the 1980s, however, that really combined the two and guided my education and energizes my work, yet today, with producers seeking success in the business of agriculture. In various ways, I assume most of my readers are involved somehow in agriculture. I enjoy historical perspectives of our industry, but also recognize the complexity, the challenges and the changes of today's agriculture. It is not the only important industry, but is certainly a special one with special people in it, as we work closely with the natural world for the benefit of humanity. It is a privilege to be a part of it. Editor's note: Greg Wolf is a consultant with Kennedy and Coe, LLC (www.kcoe.com) and works to help clients of the firm navigate toward better returns in all areas of their businesses. He is based in the firm's Pratt, Kan., office and can be reached at 620-672-7476.
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