The goal of this short course is to help inform and educate existing and future leaders on a variety of the qualities, skills, capacities, and objectives of good leadership. This session targets a wide range of agribusiness folks, including pest application managers, co-op directors, head retailers, lead agronomists, sales managers, chemical shed supervisors, etc., who are involved in some level of leadership within their organization. We will start by reviewing different types of leadership approaches and the unique and overlapping qualities among them. Next, we will cover some of the skills necessary to lead in a positive manner: communication, planning, decision making, and conflict resolution. From there, we will discuss special capacities of good leaders, including motivation, teamwork, and ethics. Finally, we will share how to build achievable objectives that will result in growth and change in your organization. The main outcome of this session should be a better understanding of leadership in terms of its breadth and scope. The hope is that you will seek out further learning on many of the elements shared in developing your own unique leadership toolkit!

Speaker: Craig Campbell, University of Minnesota

Biography: Craig Campbell recently joined University of Minnesota Extension as a leadership and civic engagement community educator. He works out of the Cloquet Northeast regional office near Duluth. Prior to coming to Extension, Craig was an assistant teaching professor at Penn State University in lifelong learning and adult education. He has expertise in program planning, adult learning theory, teaching methods, and qualitative and community-based research. As a young person, Craig grew up in the small rural farming community of Winslow, Illinois (population 350) on the Wisconsin border in the driftless region. Living in the shadow of the University of Wisconsin's "Wisconsin Idea," he internalized the importance of Extension and outreach. This long-standing ideal led Craig to earn an educational doctorate in adult and higher education from Northern Illinois University (NIU). He always begins projects focusing on the learner’s experience, and then moves outward together to co-create inclusive programs and opportunities. When not working, Craig enjoys camping, cooking, reading, music, taking rides, and seeing family.