Comfortably Uncomfortable
By Kyle Fontenot
LSU Ag Leadership Class XVI
It is now 10:24 A.M. Bangkok time, January 30, 2020. I am on the plane flying to Tokyo which is out first leg of a 3 flight 25-hour travel time to home. Some may say that sounds miserable, terrible, or perhaps just slightly uncomfortable. Class XVI of the LSU Ag Leadership program is en route home. That signifies a couple of things. 1st , we have almost completed our international trip to Japan and Thailand. 2nd , and more importantly, we have completed our 2-year program and our class will graduate at the end of the month. That will be the last time we will all get together as a class.
Our international trip was better than expected, which is saying something, because I was really excited when I learned where we were going a little over a year ago. Visiting Japan and Southeast Asia has been on my bucket list for a while. I have always been intrigued by the culture and area. Some highlights for me include the Ota Wholesale Produce Market in Japan, which is the picture definition of organized chaos. This is where 3,000 tons of vegetables and 1,000 tons of fruit are shipped in, auctioned off and moved out each day. There are dozens and dozens of forklifts and small pallet trucks weaving in and out of 100s of buyers, rows and rows of produce, and multiple auctions going on. All the while, everything is pristine and seems to work seamlessly.
Next would be Loong Chow Cattle company in the central region of Thailand. This family operation had over 2,500 head of feeder cattle and about 500 head of registered American Brahman cattle. The operation was mainly being managed by 2 young men and their sister. Their father and grandfather had first imported American Brahman cattle 30 years ago to bring in better genetics to their operation. Now the 3rd generation was expanding on that investment in genetics and focusing on a feeding program to bring better quality beef to Thailand and other parts of southeast Asia and Japan. They have developed a unique farm to table market and are continuing to explore other opportunities to diversify and sell their high-quality beef. What really stood out to me and seemed uniquely Un-American was that instead of racing to expand their operation vertically and control all aspects from hoof to table, they chose to invest in their own feed mill so that they can improve and become better at feeding and producing consistent high-quality beef for his customers. One of the son’s quotes was, “I know I can’t be great at everything if I try to do everything, but I can be great at feeding cattle, so that’s what I will focus on and become the best at.”
Lastly, our final destination was the Thai Rung Textile cotton mill in Bangkok, Thailand. Working in the cotton industry for 16 years now, I have never seen this part of the process. This mill was Ring spinning high end 100% cotton and blended yarn for dress shirts and other high-quality items. The technology used inside the mill was incredible. The real highlight was hearing the owner and general manager praise how much they love U.S. Cotton for its high quality and consistency. It made me proud for the cotton growers in my class which there are 5 and the all the breeders and researchers that I work with everyday to produce the thing he was praising us for. Those were definitely not the only great experiences, but just a few to give you a glimpse of what we saw.
As our trip, and therefore our class program, was ending, I thought about our first day of our first seminar where we were asked what we wanted to get out of this program. I believe my response was something about building relationships and becoming a better leader by putting myself in uncomfortable situations. One thing I have learned over the years is that the only way to improve in anything is to challenge yourself, make yourself uncomfortable, maybe a little stressed, and then figuring out a way to learn from it and become comfortable in uncomfortable situations. This program will put everyone in uncomfortable situations. It will be different for each person. Things like being away from home and your business for 2-3 days or a week, rooming with a complete stranger, and public speaking. The International trip provided the ultimate test in uncomfortable situations for many. From 14 hour plane rides, going to a foreign country, figuring out what you can or will eat in a place where English is as rare as American beer. Or trying to figure out the Tokyo train system that is in Japanese so you can go explore the city (thank you Nathan Morrow for making sure we are not still riding around on that train.) Exploring the streets of Bangkok, playing Russian roulette with the street food and haggling with street vendors while dodging 1,000s of mopeds and Tuk Tuks. And even sampling through all of the brands of Thai beer until we found “the best” one…Singha! The most important aspect of this, is that you are going through it with a group of people who were, for the most part, strangers and are now life long friends. And you get to watch the growth of each one of them. I will miss getting to spend time exploring Louisiana and the Far East with my friends from “the back of the bus” and “the front of the bus.” I wish everyone a great 2020 and remember “DON’T STOP……
BELIEVING!”