Leadership Lessons from Dad's Cornfield

January 17, 2024

I grew up on a family farm in Red Bay, Alabama. And for a kid, we had it all, cows, horses, pigs, chickens, a pet duck, a really mean mule (ole frank), and a whole bunch of dogs. My Dad was an avid farmer, cattleman, mechanic, coon hunter, etc. and he always had a huge garden.

When it came to planting a garden, Dad believed you should not only plant for your family, but you plant for your relatives, distant cousins, everyone on Hwy 1 and on Doc Mason Road and the rest of Franklin County, Alabama. Dad and I did not agree on that theory, because every summer, I had to work in those gardens. Of course, you already know my version of a garden is Piggly Wiggly.

Now, to put a little perspective on the size of Dad’s gardens for those who maybe didn’t grow up in the country. Dad didn’t just plant a small garden in the back yard. Oh, no, it was more like 3-5 acres or more. Corn fields could be up to 7-10 acres.

So, every year, Dad would lay out his gardens, knowing exactly where to plant the different vegetables from tomatoes to purple hull peas, to string beans, okra, turnip greens, potatoes, corn and the list goes on.

When it came to planting corn, my dad believed you can never, ever, have too much corn. It might be a dry season and it doesn’t produce; weevils might get in it; it might be a wet season and it won’t grow; the crows might eat it and some unforeseen crisis might occur.

If you have too much, you store it in the barn and the cows will eat it and if you have too little, the cows didn’t get any. So, Dad always planted several fields (notice I said “fields” and not rows) of corn.

The ironic part of this is that Dad preferred to plant corn the manual way, even though we had the John Deere equipment that could easily plant those “fields” in no time at all. But that didn’t happen in dad’s smaller corn fields. He planted each row with a manual planter and farmed it manually.

Dad was very meticulous with the process. He first walked the field, then prepared, and fertilized the ground. Fertilizer was always placed in the middle, in-between the rows. He laid out the length of the rows, and the exact distance between the rows. Then as corn started to grow, dad was especially particular with the spacing between the individual corn stalks.

Each corn stalk was to be about 8-10 inches apart, with the rows being about 24 inches apart. My summer teenage job was to hoe out weeds and ensure the spacing was correct. And yes, dad inspected my work. Properly spaced corn will flourish.

Even to this day there is something about a well-kept corn field that does something for me, especially when the corn is tall, green, and full. It speaks to me. Growing up I didn’t fully understand nor appreciate the significance of the process, but looking back, I can so appreciate it now.

Looking back, I can see many lessons from those corn fields. I believe those lessons have impacted many aspects of my life, in my career, in influential leadership, and in relationships. No, I am certainly not an expert in any of these areas.

These simple truths have greatly impacted me and hopefully maybe inspire you to be the best you.

1.        Lay Out the Field

Sometimes just getting started is the hardest part. So, take time to lay out the field. No, not your entire life, but just the field that is in front of you. Whether that is your next step in your career or the next step in your business that you always wanted. Maybe it’s the next step in a well thought out plan or maybe it’s the first step of the next chapter. Go for it, lay it out.

But it’s more than just having a plan, it’s knowing where row goes, the distance between the rows and the length of the rows. Be sure to not get too caught up in the details and miss the layout of the field. I’ll let you study on that one for a minute.

2.        Fertilize Wisely

In planting a corn field, you always place the fertilizer in between the rows and never on the corn. Why is that? Fertilizer is designed to enrich the soil, not the plant. Fertilized soil will do the work, just don’t over fertilize.

So, what does well fertilized soil look like? Maybe it looks like a highly functioning team because the soil they grow in is well prepared and good soil. Maybe it’s that courage for that next step in that business or career move that once seemed impossible. Maybe it’s faith to believe for that well laid out field to grow. It will grow.

3.        Watch the Spacing

Knowing how to properly space out corn allows it to reach its maximum potential. The same principle applies in leadership and mentoring others. Allowing those you lead or mentor to have the space they need to grow is essential to their growth. But spacing can be tricky. Too much space and there are gaping holes; too little space and growth is smothered.

As a leader/mentor learning how to properly space, whether it’s in knowledge, growth or influence will greatly impact both yourself and those around you. Getting the spacing right allows for great things to happen.

4.        Work the Row

My Grandpa had a saying, “Son, grass can’t grow in your field if you are always working it”.

Be in touch with yourself and those around you. Always be two steps ahead of yourself and one step behind those you influence. Leading doesn’t mean you are always in front. In means you know your position in the row. That’s hard for some people.

So, remember to motivate someone in a positive way today, be someone’s red door, go out of your way and bless someone, maybe plant a garden, or lay out that big corn field and watch it grow.

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Feel free to share your story or lessons you've learned from a similar experience.