Fear of Flying: Living in the Leadership Leap

This address was delivered by JD Dunbar at the 2007 ARLF/AVCLP Leadership Forum 'Doing Leadership Differently' in Beechworth.

JD Dunbar is the Chief Executive Officer of the Pennsylvania State Rural Leadership Program.  She has held that position for 18 years.

Robert Frost: “I am not a teacher. I am an awakener.”
Consider me your Yankee wake up call, the token conference accent.
Good day, great day, immense leaders, stellar leaders, advocates for agriculture and rural Australia. It is raining, blessedly. This is my third adventure somewhere over the rainbow. My virgin voyage was in 1999, on the cusp of the millennium, when you expanded my worldview commensurate with a cataclysmic cultural awakening. I am peacock proud and hyena happy to be in Australia with you.

My second exposure was during International Leadership Alumni Conference (ILAC) 2001. As the only Yank who can claim attendance at all of the conferences, the Ford & Company ILAC 2001 was an unrivaled enterprise. I wish Vince well on the March 2008 option and expect to see you there. That is part of a challenge- you have coalesced leadership programs here today from local to national. Now, you need to advocate for an international audience. Your collective voice is strong- I have listened and learned about Australia’s shared vision. Now, it’s time to share it with the rest of the world.

Just this past weekend, I turned over the 100th study institute landmark of my career with the Pennsylvania Rural Leadership Program during our program commencement. I am told by Aussies that “commencement” is an odd title for a leadership graduation, but it literally infers that you’re to begin the process of impacting public policy as an agent for positive change. A leadership program commencement is like filling 30 tractors full of expensive $3.30 a gallon gas, (I can’t make the liter conversion- not very mathy!) and nailing each accelerator down. One needs deliberation and democracy about who or what is being mowed down in the consumption of energy overload, because “born again” leaders are unrestrained- eager enough to be nearly evangelical.

So, what do I intend to do with the time Sister Cathy McGowan has endowed me? [See four boxes respectivly] When the ribbons are unwrapped, I want to honor the leadership forged in your sterling program. Then, I will provide a few cultural comparisons; ultimately explain why this gig is called, “Fear of Flying: Living In The Leadership Leap,” and wrap up with an anecdote about the magic places wherein one finds leadership.

I offer tribute to your John Allwright, former ARLF chair and leader who died young, though not without leaving an immense imprint. John, JQ Quantrill, Mike Beckingham, Rob Patrick, and many leadership pioneers all championed the Australian Rural Leadership Program and the Alpine Valley Leadership Program by excavating a concrete and galvanized foundation. You all now have responsibility for the continued “building” of your respective programs- the maintenance, the remodeling, and the forever tweaking. Wash the metaphorical windows, and landscape scrupulously. I have never seen a well packaged leadership program that’s empty inside.

I confess a fascination to all things Australian. I love the music of your lexicon, the mellifluous lilt and cadence. One of your most holistic expressions is when farmers describe themselves as, “on the land,” a powerful concept that invokes an image of a shepherd of resources. [Demo tin Akubra sign, “For a man on the land.”] Whether or not you serve Australia as a producer, in agribusiness, or a leadership advocate, you are each entrusted with a keen stewardship for, “on the land.” We each need to take ownership for “on the land” because we’re all on it. I also want to add the respectful admonition based on prior experience that the words, “just a” should never precede any occupation, and most especially not, “just a farmer.” And I was told by David Crombie last night no farmer would ever say that. We are not what we do, of course- we are who we are. But, where we choose to make a living and how we choose to make a life should both be proclaimed with pride, not apology.