A Lesson Learned from Sunflowers

The sunflowers are in full bloom, which means the specialty crops team at Perdue AgriBusiness has been out visiting some of our East coast growers’ beautiful sunflower fields. We harvest the crop to produce organic high oleic sunflower oil, a high value oil that is desired for its performance in many food brands like Late July, Annie’s or Simply Tostitos.?

There’s a phenomenon our team observes with young sunflowers called heliotropism, where the flowers follow the sun across the sky throughout the day.?Heliotropism increases plant temperature, enticing insects to stay longer on the flower basking and foraging, enhancing the pollination process while maximizing photosynthesis in the early stage of life. You will notice the sunflowers begin the morning facing east to follow the sun throughout the day and end the day facing the sun as it sets in the west.?

There’s something to learn from sunflowers: follow the good energy to find the growth.?

If you’re at a stalemate with where to lead your team, look for the projects and opportunities that spark enthusiasm and excitement with your people. The path to growth is there, you just have to look for it.

Say “yes” to an out-of-the-box idea, give a genuine compliment, or lend a smile more often than usual. It makes all the difference on an otherwise dreary day. Positivity is an underestimated building block in a team’s performance and growth.?

You can bark and nag at people all day long to meet goals and milestones, and maybe it’ll work, but who wants that? I’d much rather lead a team of associates motivated by optimism and confidence. Seek out the good energy to maximize growth. Try it out and see what happens.

#PerdueAgribusiness #Growth #Leadership #Mentoring #Teamwork #Positivity