Lessons From the Farm

This week I spent some time in rural Northern Michigan helping my father-in-law with some work on his farm. Sure, it’s always fun for a city guy to drive a tractor, but frankly the cool, clean air would have made just about any sort of effort tolerable if not enjoyable. Other than the struggle of attaching a tricky hydraulic fluid hose from the baler to the tractor, the work was pretty easy. I fixed up a wood-slat flatbed for hauling hay and moved around the large equipment in preparation for hay collection.

As I cleaned the grease and dirt off my hands before leaving, I felt satisfied with what small but productive tasks I had accomplished. We left after about a half-day’s work feeling rejuvenated. 

As we drove away in the pickup, my mind wandered back to a conversation my father-in-law and I had in the barn. My father-in-law explained that his baler had previously been owned by the local school district for agricultural education, and he bought it from them, used but in good condition, for a steep discount compared to a new baler. Knowing nothing about farm economics, I asked him how much hay he sells each year. When he told me the amount of cash he generated, I considered whether the annual revenue produced a good return, taking into account the capital costs of all the equipment, operating expenses and hard labor. I quickly concluded - no back of the napkin needed - it was likely not a good return. 

I looked over at my father-in-law, now 80 years old. He seemed content. We drove the truck to a general store near the farm, even though there are large modern supermarkets near his lake house twenty minutes away. He made small talk with the Amish woman behind the register, and it was clear they had established a friendly acquaintance from previous similar trips. My father-in-law drove us up to the lake house and we both went in to get cleaned up and changed before dinner. 

It was just a handful of hours on a farm, but the experience reminded me of something important: work is about far more than earning money. What we do to be productive, to challenge ourselves, to learn new things, to collaborate with others and to build something delivers rewards that cannot be measured in financial currency alone. My father-in-law retired from a phone company years ago and between his pension and savings, he has no need for income from the farm—I suspect he never even turns a profit. He has a tenant at the house on the farm who often can’t pay rent and he lets it slide, even though he sometimes has to do physical labor to maintain the property. He told me with some pride about the man who lives there and how hard the man works to provide for his family. Clearly, my father-in-law does not get under a tractor on his 80 year-old back with a crescent wrench to make a profit. There has to be something else to it. 

About a year ago, I gave up a cushy role as partner of an AmLaw 100 law firm to form two firms, Converge Government Affairs and Converge GPS, a lobbying firm and a public affairs firm. I did it knowing there would be some risk involved and likely a lot of hard work. Fortunately, the risk has paid off, as both firms experienced tremendous first year growth and attracted extraordinary talent. On the flip side, I work more and I have greater responsibility for a lot more clients and people than I did in my previous role. 

Despite the added pressures of the new role, I have an overall sense of contentment and, if I am being honest, joy. I wake up each day not knowing what challenge I will face and knowing I must generate new opportunities for growth and new clients for revenue. I manage complex personnel issues across the organization, and I put in the hours required of someone who wants to deserve the role of the organization’s leader. My rewards are the thrill of the challenges we face, the brilliance of my colleagues and their innovative ideas, mind-blowing clients and the chance to build an organization where engaged, thoughtful collaboration is the norm.

I’ve read and heard a lot about the idea that people who retire to a sedentary life are not very happy. My father-in-law seems to have figured that out and done something about it. I cannot say whether, like him, I would take up farm work in lieu of retirement as the challenge of my older years. But I do not have to wait until then to know that the value of work can be found in the work itself. And that has me looking forward to Monday morning.