Farmer Mastermind Groups in the 21st Century
The mastermind principle, as originally conceived by Napoleon Hill, is about the power of a “third mind” made possible through regular collaboration.
That’s when a small group of co-equal colleagues and contemporaries share experiences and insights that create “Ah ha” moments for each of them.
In a farm mastermind group there are no profesional organizers. There are no gurus acting as experts.
And nobody is paying anybody for advice, group management, or facilitation.
In a farm mastermind group it’s just you with a few of your colleagues, other people you know, like, trust, and whose opinions you respect. Simply peers with no ax to grind and nothing to sell, with only your best interests at heart.
That’s right – no professional moderators and no organizers are required to have a successful sustainable group that meets regularly over the years. You will need a tried and true process, an evolving agenda, and simple management tools. More about that in a minute.
Many of the old fashioned mastermind groups are the face-to-face variety, like the one that Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone made famous nearly a century ago.
Just think, if you could put together a group of peers, people from your industry, you could have all the benefits that come from sharing experiences with people who know what you want to know. People whose insights are directly relevant to you.
Today, cheap long distance calls, instant online webinar services, and free Yahoo! groups can make your meetings much more effective than the old fashioned face-to-face variety. No time and money wasted getting to and from the meetings and the ability to connect with the other members of your group 24/7 – to deal with the speed of business today.
You can get together in person of course – that’s what your trade association meetings are for.
A few years ago I suggested to several farm owners from across North America, members of the same association, that they create a mastermind over the phone to continue a discussion we had together at their annual meeting.
That was about 15 years ago and they still get together twice a month to share strategies, offer insights from their experiences, and provide support to one another.
During the intervening years a couple of the original members have retired and one has passed away – each to be replaced by their successor as the process moves inexorably forward.
It is the farm mastermind group that transforms farm succession planning into a never ending process of growth, where next generation leaders and managers learn with the help of the senior generation’s peers.
Farm mastermind groups form a powerful experience exchange resulting in continued expansion of insights and knowledge based on the experiences of the entire group.
Using the simple techniques that we later complied into a free video series that is part of Passing Down The Farm in the 21st. Century I established and participated in several peer to peer mastermind groups.
Recommended Reading
- Family Farm Succession Planning
- Who in The World Requires a Farm Succession Planning Consultant?
- Farm Success Nowadays Needs High-class Management Competencies
- Who Are The Important Members Of Your Farm Strategic Planning Team, and Where Will They Come From?
- Farm Succession and Strategic Planning Group
