The Tailwind Problem, Building Better Boards, Shrinking Market for Underwriting Agribusiness, and Cheat Sheet for M&A Value Destruction

Welcome to the 11th edition of The Pacesetter Blog from Mosher Consulting Group . A newsletter for agribusiness leaders looking to deliver great results through better M&A and strategy execution.

Strategically & Financially Additive Agribusiness Governance with Tom Olive | Ep70

Governance is not a four-letter word, so why do we treat it like one?

Among small to lower middle-market agribusinesses, whether privately, cooperatively, or employee-owned, good governance can be an underappreciated lever for driving strategic, financial, and operational value.

In fact, successful strategy execution reflects the quality of the decisions you make, and effective governance and board performance are among the best ways to improve the quality of c-suite decisions.

Boards do not make decisions; they make made decisions better.

Tom Olive joined me on episode 70 of The Pacesetter Pod, and as a seasoned chief executive and experienced board director, he took us deep into governance and shared a pragmatic method to conduct a credible assessment of board strategy, formation, recruitment, management, and other leading practices.

Episode highlights include:

• How boards contribute and can evolve strategically [09:38]
• The four rules well-functioning boards fulfill [14:28]
• Advisory vs. fiduciary board governance explained [18:06]
• Dive into the key elements of a board charter.[24:17]
• Why board constituents must be strategy-derived [30:23]
• How to recruit expertise-based board members [33:06]
• The optimal insider-outsider ratio to a board [42:37]
• The two factors that maximize board contributions [50:33]

To listen, access the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Tailwinds Are Not Your Friend | Ep71

We all love a good tailwind in business, right?

Strong demand, healthy margins, profits up and to the right.

The problem with the good times is that they don't last forever. And there is a downside to all that upside.

Tailwinds are not your friend - in fact, they might be an outright problem for your agribusiness.

Tailwinds play mind games and create real risks for your continued success:

• They make you feel smarter than you might actually be.
• They convince you the business is healthier than it likely is.
• They trick you into thinking the business is more resilient and adaptable than it is.
• They fool you into mistaking movement for velocity.
• And overall, they provide you with a sense of confidence that may not withstand the test of changing economic and market conditions.

As we are entering a challenging stretch of the agricultural commodity cycle, it is imperative that you as an agribusiness operators do not just adjust your strategies and approaches to a new, and less accommodative, economic environment, but that you also position yourself to get stronger as a result of it.

In episode 71 of The Pacesetter Pod we explored why tailwinds are not something be universally celebrated and where strategy execution atrophy may begin to fester.

Episode highlights include:

• De-coupling market-driven tailwinds from bonafide company successes [03:37]
• How tailwinds create a business-fitness fallacy [04:48]
• The danger of untested execution capacity [06:12]
• The Tailwind Problem and how it blunts business resiliency [08:16]
• Explore the productivity born of demanding periods [09:41]
• Words matter - differentiating movement from velocity difference [12:26]
• Food for thought on sustained-tailwind side effects [14:15]

To listen, access the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Agribusiness Growth Cannot Outrun Risk with Scott Cornell and Fritz Waldorf of Lockton | Ep72

What if I told you there is a reason to celebrate an increase in your insurance premiums at renewal?

Growth is not a sure-fire method of de-risking your business, and in fact, the growth of your business alters the scope and scale of the risks you face and how those risks are underwritten.

Rising insurance costs may tell you two things:

1. That the underlying value of your business, assets, and transactions have increased.
2. And that your underwriter is not asleep at the wheel as they evaluate the risks of your evolving business.

A static policy premium year on year feels good but eventually those costs don’t pencil.

Either your coverage won’t adequately protect you in the event of catastrophic loss, or your insurance partner will not be equipped to cover the losses you incur.?

Fritz Waldorf and Scott Cornell joined me on episode 72 of The Pacesetter Pod to unpack what is changing in the agribusiness insurance market and what you need to know to navigate the shifting risk landscape.

Episode highlights include:

• The current challenges in ag insurance [04:22]
• Why there is limited underwriting for ag [06:36]
• How hyper-local but severe convective storm losses are changing national coverage trends [09:59]
• The latent potential for ag client–insurer cooperation [14:23]
• Emerging risk exposures in agribusiness [18:51]
• Why agro-chemical risks may be un-insurable [22:44]
• The optimistic industry dynamics now crystallizing [28:34]

To listen, access the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.

5 Ways to Ensure a Miserable M&A Integration | Ep73

There are an abundance of ways to destroy value while pursuing growth via merger or acquisition.

Some are obvious: buy the wrong company, acquire for the wrong reasons, pay the wrong price.

But less obvious are the more destructive pitfalls awaiting an unprepared or undisciplined acquirer: integration risks.

In episode 73 of The Pacesetter Pod we take a (tongue-in-cheek) look at M&A integration risks by sharing a cheat sheet on the best ways to deliver underwhelming M&A outcomes.

Sometimes knowing what NOT to do is more important than knowing what you should do and we hope this lighthearted breakdown of a very real challenge for agribusiness leaders helps you avoid some of the most common, and painful, missteps in agribusiness M&A.?

Episode highlights include:

• The destructive aftermath of ignoring deal rationale [03:07]
• How a post-M&A inward focus creates unwanted customer churn [04:00]
• What blind trust does to integration success [05:02]
• Un-tracked performance and the road to ruin [07:32]
• What follows rash celebrations and failure intolerance [09:01]

To listen, access the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.