To assess whether one’s work culture is right, add the following to your checklist. • Are roles and responsibilities clear? • I s there wasted time and constant miscommunication? •A re there too many people involved in decisions. •A re the effective workers and family members hiding within the business or culture (a common problem for many farms and ranch businesses)? • Are meetings too frequent or too long? •D o organizational meetings produce results and motivate employees? I once consulted for a business whose culture was more representative of a television soap opera than an operation. The employees continued to come back to work, but only to see the next scene, not to be productive. Finally, the experience at Disney spurred introspection and great thought about what it means to be a successful leader. Observing
and examining a completely foreign industry, these 100 agriculturalists were able to see the business practices that really matter, regardless of the industry or business.
• Take care of yourself. This is why Disney believes in both training and in development. Whether it is work-life balance, exercise or personal education, Disney provides consistent support for each of these attributes for the development of their people.
In closing, let’s look at a few other great concepts generated from the experience. •G reat leaders understand that to get to one’s brain one must go through the heart. • E veryone is in character, building the people brand by their actions. Be a good role model. • E very day you are on stage. Whether working with fellow employees, lenders, suppliers or customers and producers, take care with the little things. • T he tough things are easy to steal. The easy things are tough to steal. Companies spend millions to protect their software, which can still be hacked and stolen. But the Disney smile and customer engagement is very difficult to take.
• T urn off the technology periodically. None of the Disney characters were observed texting or checking their mobile devices. Instead, they were fully engaged with people, making relations more important than technology. While this provides a brief snapshot of our experience at the Disney Park, the 100 producers and agribusiness professionals included in the event were most impressed. Of course, the warm temperatures and sunshine were a welcome change for most, but the culture and character of the Disney Park was even more refreshing. In fact, the Disney experience was just the lift these producers and professionals needed to take their operations to the next level. ■
i THE IMPORTANCE OF PATCHING There is one thing every user can do to greatly improve their security posture, and this one thing is often overlooked or skipped all together – patching. There are all sorts of reasons why people do not patch their computer, it interrupts work, it takes too long, and a favorite is the patch will do more harm than good. Patching your computer is like maintaining your car. It will still run without maintenance, but driving often becomes more dangerous the longer you go on without a checkup. According to Hewlett Packard’s 2015 Cyber Risk report, 44 percent of breaches could be attributed to
patched vulnerabilities that were between two and four years old. Patching your PC and the software installed on it is a must, and it is simple to do – just apply (install) all available updates for the application. Here are a few tips to help minimize down-time and interruptions while keeping your software up-to-date. • For Windows Operating System you should be enabling “automatic updates.” Using automatic updates feature will keep Windows patched. • For third-party applications installed on your computer, such as Adobe Flash Player, Java and Adobe
Reader, download the updates directly from the vendor’s website; some of them even have an option to enable automatic updates. There is also an application, called Patch My PC, that can help simplify keeping those third-party applications updated. It is also important to keep your mobile phone and other Internet connected smart devices continuously patched to help keep you and your information protected. Patch My PC https://patchmypc.net/overview Microsoft Security Update Guide https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-us/ ■
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Partners — Summer 2018
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