SAY NO: how to say no and why it might garner respect page 3

Processing page 7 LIKE A PRO

GROWING PAINS page 9

REFLECT learning [to lead] by doing:

page 5

R E F L E C T

January 2015 | Volume 13, Issue 03

Megan Tanaka works as a national FFA education specialist on the educational development team, focusing primarily on projects related to WeAreFFA, My Journey and agricultural advocacy. Megan, originally from Oregon, holds an agricultural communications degree from the University of Wyoming and is completing a master’s of education at Ball State University. In her free time, Megan enjoys painting, camping, binging on horror flicks and playing with her pets (three cats and a Yorkie).

As a state FFA officer, you’re no stranger to balancing a full plate of deadlines, appointments and high expectations. Just think about your schedule on an average week! While most people in the general population only have work or school to worry about, your calendar asks much more of you: chapter visits, business and industry tours, public speeches, leadership camp planning and more.

Do you ever feel unprepared for any of these obligations? Maybe the situation looks a little like this: Flipping through your calendar, you realize you are scheduled for an industry tour tomorrow afternoon at a biotechnology lab. Your state advisor expects you to ask eloquent questions, come prepared with a resume and consider job opportunities in the biotechnology field. Unfortunately, your time has been sparse and you haven’t prepared whatsoever. The clock is ticking, your panic is rising and you fear this is one task that simply slipped off your plate.

Sound familiar? Consistently managing all of the responsibilities of a state officer is a tall order, so it’s no wonder the situation above can hit close to home. With the release of “My Journey” in February, however, your ability to manage all of your obligations will become much more feasible.

My Journey, an integrated part of the new FFA.org, aims to help you expertly navigate everything from preparing for that last-minute biotechnology industry tour to writing a workshop for a leadership camp. This online platform acts a bit like your personal assistant, providing you with resources, tools and connections relevant to your year of service.

Once you navigate through My Journey for the first time, you’ll see that the platform is divided into three areas —Explore, Build and Connect:

• Explore lets you delve into videos and articles about leadership, growth, careers and agriculture.

• Build gives you tools and generators to develop personalized speeches, workshops, cover letters and resumes.

• Connect links you to mission-based opportunities both inside and outside your state.

Given this brief preview of My Journey, you may already recognize how the platform will help you accomplish the plethora of activities in your state officer schedule. You may further see that instead of wasting time panicking when faced with situations like the last-minute industry tour, utilizing My Journey will allow you to fully prepare with time to spare. Long gone are the days of feeling overwhelmed by your state officer responsibilities; with My Journey in tow, you’ll be primed to balance all of your obligations with flying colors.

No matter what responsibilities you face in 2015 — be it industry tours, speeches, or classroom workshops— remember that relevant resources can likely be found

within My Journey.

VISIT FFA.ORG/MYJOURNEY ON FEB. 9, 2015, TO SEE HOW MY JOURNEY CAN ENHANCE

YOUR YEAR OF SERVICE!

FROM FFA DRIVEMy Journey: Your Path to Premier Leadership, Personal Growth and Career Successby Megan Tanaka

OFF THE SHELFCreativity, Inc., by Ed CatmullReview by Bethany (Bohnenblust) Parker

THE READ

Produced by Pixar Animation Studios, the blockbusters Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Up have been favorites at the box office. As a dominant player in computer animation for the last 20 years, Pixar has secrets of success to share. Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, tells the story of how an inspired college student, along with Apple genius Steve Jobs and other technology greats, finally put the impossible on the big screen. Follow these dreamers as they build their company, protect its identity, and reap great success, even with recent big hits like Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen.

Even if you’re not a tech buff— no worries, neither am I—you’ll love this book. You gain a greater appreciation for the films we enjoy and for the scientists who have given their lives to combining physics, computer science and storytelling. You get unique insight into the creation of characters we’ve fallen in love with like Woody and Ellie and Carl!

Any team can benefit from the lessons learned in the 1996 merger of Pixar and Disney. Their willingness to evaluate and keep dreaming allows everyone to be bought into these creative principles: Story is King and Trust the Process.

THE REALITY

Everyone notices creativity.

But so few risk enough to be creative. Catmull addresses the root fear people have of change. “For many people changing course is also a sign of weakness, tantamount to admitting that you don’t know what you are doing. This strikes me as a particularly bizarre—personally I think the person who can’t change his or her mind is danger.”

Are you afraid of change? I can be. But change is the only thing that is certain for the length of our lives! Just think, without creativity we wouldn’t have cellphones, Wal-Mart, or laser shows at convention. We need creativity to keep moving ahead. We’re grateful for founding men like Henry Groseclose, but aren’t we grateful that FFA has grown beyond those 33 men in Kansas City in 1928?

Progress comes from an environment of creativity. Catmull says, “The goal then is to uncouple fear and failure—to create an environment which making mistakes doesn’t strike terror into your employee’s heart.” How much more of an experience could we give our FFA members if creativity was a trademark of your team?

THE RESPONSE

• Create a team “Braintrust”— a safe arena for candid responses for developing projects.

• Do a “PostMortem” (Pixar’s word) after a big event. This offers a rare chance to do analysis that wasn’t possible in the heat of the project. Use a kitchen timer to limit and focus responses.

• Never stop learning. Watch Ted talks, read the newspaper or take a course outside of your major.

Bethany (Bohnenblust) Parker lives in India working with college students in leadership and character development. She served as a state officer and national officer from Kansas and has facilitated and spoken in all 50 states. Bethany and husband Morgan enjoy traveling, eating spicy foods and checking off their bucket list.

“Creativity is more like a marathon than a sprint.”

2Bright Ideas • Volume 13, Issue 3

LEARNING THE HARD WAY

It was fall at college. Much like many of you, I was involved in everything. A daily routine went something like this: 5:30 a.m. prayer and Mass at the seminary, breakfast, three classes, speech team practice and lunch. After lunch, it was off to downtown Indianapolis for a planning committee meeting or to see a friend from out of town, then back to campus for more classes, a workout, evening prayer, dinner, evening conferences, social time, and an attempt to get all of my studies done before midnight.

You might have tougher schedules some days as state officers.

Well, I came to a point that year where I just broke. I missed several important meetings simply because I forgot. I felt terrible when I didn’t have the capacity to enjoy hanging out with a friend on his birthday, and I even missed studying for one test because I overlooked the fact that we had one! When I went to the office of my speech coach, Dr. George, for speech practice, I opened up about falling apart.

At the end of our conversation—which was more like therapy—my wise coach and mentor gave me one more thing to do. “Go back to your room and grab a Post-It note. Write ‘NO’ on the front side, and stick it to your wall,” he said. “Every time you say ‘No’ to something, write that thing down on the back of the Post-It note.”

Within two days, I had filled both sides of that Post-It.

I think my “Achiever” strength helped me along in filling out that

Post-It. Regardless of how it happened, learning to say “No” relieved so much pressure on me, and I am forever grateful for Dr. George’s advice.

SO WHY DO WE DO IT?

Past National FFA Officer and best-selling business author Scott McKain talks about how the word “No” might be the most powerful tool each of us can use on a daily basis. In a YouTube video published July 29, 2014, Scott admits why he found himself in a situation similar to mine.

Simply put, he wanted to be a “nice guy.”

Scott shared how some of the most successful companies built distinction simply by saying “No” to anything beyond their distinct mission. He gives examples: Steve Jobs turned down hundreds of offers to design and market new products through Apple, Nordstrom declined enlarging their clothing market, and Southwest still does not provide first-class seating and also says “No” to charging for your first checked bag.

Sure, Steve Jobs would have been “nice” by taking everyone’s ideas for products, but would we have the current MacBook Pro or iPhone 5S if he spent time designing clothing or coffee machines? Would Southwest remain distinct from all the other airlines if they had said “Yes” to first class and assigned seating or charging for all baggage?

LESS. BUT BETTER.Say No: How To Say No And Why It Might Garner Respect.

by Tyler Tenbarge

3

GETTING BEYOND NICE

As a national officer, my teammate and I spent part of a session at NLSCO begging state officers to stop being nice!

Really.

“Nice” sometimes means that “Nothing Inside Cares Enough.” Nothing inside cares enough for you to swallow

the difficult pill of being up front about your gifts, time, weaknesses and needs.

Likewise, we daily say “Yes” because we want to be a good person. I do it, too. But as we talked about in the previous article, we need to say “Yes” only to what we are 1) truly gifted at, 2) love doing, and 3) what is really needed.

If that’s not enough, think about this. If you say “Yes” to something you really don’t like doing, what happens? You will likely do it well. Maybe really, really well. The person who had asked now sees you as someone who is really good at doing that thing— something you really don’t like doing. This means they don’t see you accurately any more. But, because you are nice and they want more quality work, they ask again for a bigger project, and you habitually agree to do it again. Soon enough, you have little if any time for what really makes a difference in the world, what you love and what you are so gifted at doing.

NEW HABITS

Less, but better is a habit that is built one “No” at a time. Sometimes that “No” comes simply from breaking under the pressure of too many “Yes’s”. Sometimes it comes in new habits.

First, say “No” by saying, “Yes.” Turning down an offer by first acknowledging the good in it makes the “No” much easier to swallow for the person asking you. “You know, I would love to do something like that. It’s just unfortunate that I am unavailable that day. Please keep me in mind for the future.”

Second, offer someone better at it than you. “Wow. Thanks for asking! John Jansen would be way better at that than I would. Can I give you his contact information?”

Third, if you cannot seem to stomach a “No” in person, create space and time. “Yeah, I like that. I hope I’m free to do it. Can I check some things and get back with you via email this Monday?”

Saying “No” helps us keep our best interests in mind and put others’ best interests first, too.

Stay tuned: In our final article looking at less, but better, we will consider what we “choose” and what we just “do.”

photo credit forbes.comphoto credit harrywalker.com

Tyler Tenbarge is a former state and national FFA officer from Indiana and is currently studying for priesthood for the Diocese of Evansville at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology. After serving as a facilitator for the Washington Leadership Conference, he has remained involved in FFA by developing and facilitating various pieces of curriculum and content for state FFA officers. He also blogs at tylertenbarge.blogspot.com.

4Bright Ideas • Volume 13, Issue 3

No, you had to travel some to get to the place that moved me.

An hour’s drive down a dirt road and a steep climb up a rocky hill

led you to a place the locals called Ole Baldy. Despite the bland

name, when you stand on top of Ole Baldy, you can see forever.

Up there, the snowcapped Rocky Mountains surround you.

There are wildflowers and forests around you. At night the stars

are so bright it’s as though you need only reach out and pluck

them from the sky. Maybe you have seen a beautiful painting

that caused you to stop and take notice. Or, perhaps you have

seen a movie so wonderful it moved you to tears. However, the

only way I can describe the way you feel up there in the mountain

air is that Ole Baldy whispers you into reflection.

So far in our quest to learn to lead by doing, we’ve been challenged

to narrow our focus and to fully engage in experiences. It’s critical

that you do those first two. In order for this part to be worthwhile,

you should have something to reflect on, which is typically an

experience or set of experiences. If you have been trapped on

your couch recently and have not gone out to do anything then

stop reading right now! Go out and get some experience. Then,

you can read on.

Reflecting means thinking back on the events of your

life and considering them. It means not simply rushing

from activity to activity without giving pause. It means

evaluating yourself on lots of levels. The advantages

of reflecting are many, such as deeper insight, a better

memory and the ability to make sense of life’s complications.

The risk of not reflecting is shallow thinking; or worse, not thinking at all.

Consider the fact that some of our deepest thinkers and leaders

who made profound impacts on history came well before the

invention of “multi-tasking” and the need to constantly be busy.

We can become outstanding leaders who reflect intentionally

by practicing R3: remove, ruminate and reminisce.

Remove. Stop. Be still. Turn off. Unplug. Unwind. We live

in a hyper-connected society. We have access to knowledge,

information and streaming news 24/7. But what does it do to you

to have that much connectivity? That much noise? That hum in the

background? The mind, body and spirit of a leader were not meant

to constantly be on. You are built for rest. You are wired to pause

and reflect. Maybe it means setting a time in the evening when you

simply turn off all electronic devices. Instead, consider turning on

a meaningful conversation with a friend, writing in your journal or

strumming your guitar. Find time regularly to unplug completely.

Ruminate. I thought most of you would enjoy the agricultural-

related verb. This means reflecting regularly at a micro level. For

example, you can reflect with your teammate after presenting a

workshop. Many reflect nightly by journaling. If you are mentally

aware enough, you can even reflect to yourself about what is

happening while it’s happening. But every now and again, reflect

at a macro level. Take a look at a series of events you recently went

through. Pause half-way through your year as a state officer. Ask

yourself the deep, heavy questions that you know matter to you.

It’s difficult to be in their presence and not feel in awe. The Teton Mountains, just outside Jackson Hole, Wyo., are a common destination for many vacationers every summer. However, it wasn’t this popular destination that drew me during the summer I worked in that part of the world.

by Seth Heinert

LEARNING [TO LEAD] BY DOING

5

Of the two, finding time to do a macro reflection is tougher.

Plan around it. Go away to some place you can feel reflective.

Trust me, it’s worth it.

Reminisce. To help reflect, sometimes it’s helpful to ask yourself

some questions. The questions which are often used to process an

experience in a workshop apply here to. What? So what? Now what? What are the events that have recently been going on?

What do they mean? Did I do them well? What do they say about

me, my relationships, etc.? How do they make me feel? Based on

them, what can I do differently? What should I keep doing the

same? These questions, and many more like them, may help

guide a reflective time for you. Or, sometimes ask yourself nothing

at all. Sometimes, just sitting and being quiet is the best reflection

you can do. Simply allow the thoughts in your subconscious to

bubble up. Frankly, it’s often then that many find they have their

“eureka” moments. Find time to reminisce.

What will active reflection look like for you? Will you discipline

yourself to writing in a journal? Will you unpack life’s events with

a close friend? Will you tweet your thoughts on a private Twitter

account? It’s up to you. The point is, don’t simply rush through

life’s events without pausing regularly to reflect often.

In the words of The Zach Brown Band:

Quiet your mind.

At the end of the water, a red sun is risin’, and the stars are all

going away.

And if you’re too busy talkin’ you’re not busy listenin’ to hear

what the land has to say.

Quiet your mind.

Soak it all in, it’s a game you can’t win, just enjoy the ride.

What will you accomplish, who will you influence, and what will you change if you can just choose to reflect intentionally?

Seth Heinert is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Florida studying agricultural education. He served as a state FFA officer in Wyoming and National FFA Secretary. He taught agricultural education in Nebraska and Tanzania, Africa. Seth is married with a son and resides in Gainesville, Fla.

R E F L E C T

F O C U S

R E F L E C T

S I M P L I F YE X P E R I E N C E

6Bright Ideas • Volume 13, Issue 3

Workshops: Why do you show up to these things? What’s your

highest hope for your time with students? What are your standards

for success? Is it that they have fun? That they think you’re awesome?

That maybe they remember something from your workshop when

their advisor drills them later?

These are all great things, but as a facilitator you have a chance at

more than that. In past issues of Bright Ideas, we’ve taken a look

at how to create meaningful experiences and how to effectively

give directions to jumpstart those experiences. When you have

those things down, you are well on your way to creating moments

for students that lead to learning. Great workshop facilitators take

it a step further. Most often there is a gap between experiencing

something, making meaning out of it (learning) and then doing

something about what you’ve learned (AKA: application.) Our

job is to help students bridge that gap so they connect what just

happened in an activity with what that means for their life outside

of the workshop. Bridging the gap is what we call processing an

experience.

Many facilitators tend to get squirmy when they hear the word

“processing” (or debriefing.) It can feel like one of the most risky

moments in a workshop, because there is an element of the

unknown. Sometimes it’s hard to predict how students will answer

by Renee Durham

Processing Like A ProAND THIS

THIS

7

your questions, and as much as you want to be in control there isn’t

a perfect roadmap of questions that will lead exactly from point A to

point B. Can you relate?

It’s important that we conquer our uneasiness about processing

because it can make the difference between a workshop that is fun,

engaging and memorable and a workshop that is all those things

and also is meaningful, relatable and applicable. In other words,

effective processing can take your workshop from good to great.

Let’s take a look at processing and three simple questions we can

use to guide students’ learning.

The map for processing can look like a funnel. You start with the

big picture of everything they just experienced and through guided

questions help direct those thoughts into an “ah-ha!” learning

moment. The three basic questions that help you go from the big

picture to what you want to students to walk away with are: What?

So what? Now what? Here’s how they help you get where you want

to go.

The first thing we want students to reflect on is simply, what

happened? This question is a catch all — there is no “right answer”

we’re looking for, so it takes the pressure off of everyone. Here

we’re simply helping students verbally process their experience

while gaining insight into what the experience was like from

their point of view. Knowing what actually happened from their

perspective— not from our own assumptions — allows us to help

them make real connections.

All of these questions are helping everyone in the room verbalize

what happened? Simple enough start, right?

Next we take things a step further by helping them think through, so

what does that mean? Here we’re helping students think about the

conclusions we can take from what they observed and experienced.

This step is about creating connections between the activity and

what we can learn from it.

Asking these questions helps create meaning around what students

have just done. It helps us go from just engaged to learning.

Finally, we help students think about, now what do we do with this?

This step is about how what they’ve just learned can be applied to

their real lives outside of the workshop. It can be as simple as asking,

“Now what do we do with this?”

This final step of questions brings the experience full circle for

students. In providing application you also provide closure and set

yourself up for a smooth transition.

As you use these basic questions to process experiences, remember

that your goal is to get students from point A to point B, but there

is not one right way to get there. Your processing will likely look

different with each group of students, even when it’s the same

activity. That’s a good thing! It means that you’re entering into

students’ personal realities and helping them make meaning for

themselves – you’re getting real, not cookie cutter. Be familiar with

variations of these three questions, know where you want to go and

stay flexible and you’ll be on the right track to facilitating learning

that will go beyond the walls of your workshop!

What? what happened?

So what? so what does that mean?

Now what? now what do we do with this?

Processing Like A Pro

So what?

What?

Now what?

Ah Ha!

What was that like for you?What did you experience?

What did you see, hear and do?How did you feel?

What did you discover during your experience?What does this tell us about ____?

What can we conclude from this experience? What insight does this give us?

How does this apply to our lives?How do we use this principle to help us?

What can we do differently moving forward? In What other areas of life can we use this?

Renee Durham is a world- traveling developer of leaders. Her experiences as a state FFA officer and national FFA staff member ignited passions for people, travel and serving others. She now works for the missions program The World Race as a trainer and mentor for young leaders overseas. When she’s not hanging out in developing countries, she enjoys life in a north Georgia lake town and consumes all the coffee and Mexican food she can get.

8Bright Ideas • Volume 13, Issue 3

In the last issue of Bright Ideas we continued to discuss how personal growth begins with being intentional about our commitment to growth and continues when we are able to create the proper environmental conditions for that growth to happen. Certainly you are committed to personal growth and have created the proper environment but what’s next? The next step in the growth process is to realize that growth will seem rather easy sometimes but at other times will be challenging, tense and maybe even a bit painful. But the challenges, tension and pain are worth the end result of increased growth and influence as a leader. That should remain your focus.

In his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, John Maxwell suggests that leaders who are committed to personal growth should follow a series of stretches. In other words, stretch yourself to be better than you currently are now. He suggests that there is value in tension because few people want or have a desire to stretch themselves. Simply, it is easier to settle for the status quo, but ultimately that will lead to dissatisfaction. For you as an officer, it might be easier to wait until the night before to begin preparing for a chapter workshop and be able to pull off a status quo performance. But think about how much more effective and influential your workshop would be when you challenge yourself to commit more time to the preparation process. Oftentimes officers will fall into the trap of procrastination because they have a bag of tricks from which they always

pull ideas and activities. That’s not to say that workshop planning should become painful to plan, but when officers stop accepting status quo planning and delivery of something like a workshop, growth of the officer and members can increase.

Stretching always happens from the inside out. It begins with a conscious decision inside of you. And that stretching will require change. If you are not willing to change anything, do not expect great growth to happen. It simply will not. We all have experiences from our past that help to define who we are as people, but stretching allows us to grow into what we know we are capable of becoming. The more you practice the art of stretching yourself, the more habitual it will become and soon will be your way of life. And when you live a lifestyle of stretching, your chances of being an influential leader increase. Stretch does not have to happen alone, remember that. In the last article about growth the focus was on the environment, and having the proper support system to foster stretch is important.

Finally, set small goals along the way to maintain the stretch. Ask yourself where you are now and where you could be by continuously monitoring your goals. Write it down. Being able to visualize the process is equally as important as the process and allows you to own your personal growth more easily.

GROWING PAINSGROWING PAINS

Amy Nicol has been a career and technical educator for the past 18 years. She served as a state FFA officer and has worked with state officer programs through the National FFA Organization. Amy lives in Marysville, Ohio, and enjoys being active in her church and community through various service activities.

A YEAR OF GROWTHGrowing Painsby Amy Nicol

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GROWING PAINSGROWING PAINS

10Bright Ideas • Volume 13, Issue 3

Bright IdeasNational FFA Organization

6060 FFA DriveIndianapolis, IN 46268-0960

The State FFA Officer Programs are made possible through sponsorship from the following organizations as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.

Bright Ideas Magazine is sponsored by CSX as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.

©NATIONAL FFA ORGANIZATION 2015 The letters “FFA,” the FFA emblem, Future Farmers of America and Forever Blue are registered trademarks of the National FFA Organization and cannot be used without permission.

FFA MISSIONFFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.

THE AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION MISSIONAgricultural education prepares students for successful careers and a lifetime of informed choices in the global agriculture, food, fiber and natural resource systems.

The National FFA Organization is a resource and support organization that does not select, control, or supervise state association, local chapter or individual member activities. Educational materials are developed by FFA in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education as a service to state and local agricultural education agencies. The National FFA Organization affirms its belief in the value of all human beings and seeks diversity in its membership, leadership and staff as an equal opportunity employer.

Advocate on behalf of FFA, agricultural education, career technical education and the industry of agriculture for a chance to be invited to participate in an all-expenses paid experience in Washington, D.C. to learn from our industry’s top advocates on how they tell their stories.

But hurry! Visit FFA.org/tellyourstory now!

The challenge closes March 2, 2015. Will you be ready?