What are the career lessons you wish you knew soon? The true advice that would have made a lasting impact on your early career growth. The skills you could have used to navigate tough conversations, networking opportunities and transition periods.
Brooke Clay Taylor, Chase DeCoite, Emily Peters and Amanda Martin were all asked that same question. They spent their college years engaging in AFA experiences and took what they learned along the way to grow their careers. On the latest Cultivating Leaders Webinar, these four leaders shared what they have learned to this point in their careers. They have changed careers, built businesses and inspired change in the industry.
Three lessons kept rising to the top.
1. Don’t just build a network. Build relationships.
Networking is vitally important in the agriculture industry. Each panelist expressed that it is not about how many LinkedIn friends you have, but how many people you can truly call on when needed.
Emily shared that some people she met through AFA more than 15 years ago are still trusted resources today. Brooke summed it up another way: “To have a village, you have to be a villager.”
Put it into practice:
Check in with people as careers change
Ask good questions and genuinely learn about people
Look for ways to be useful to your network, not just ways your network can help you
Those small investments add up. Your former classmate, coworker or conference connection may become a customer, mentor, teammate or trusted sounding board years later.
2. Good communication starts with the other person
Having something important to say does not automatically mean people will hear it.
Chase emphasized the importance of tailoring communication to the audience: understanding what matters to them, how they receive information and what context they need. Brooke added that even the best story does little good if the person receiving it cannot understand or connect with it.
Leadership is not just communicating clearly. It is communicating in a way that helps someone else move forward.
3. Give yourself permission to take the side quest
Several panelists admitted they once thought career growth would look pretty straightforward: work hard, move up, repeat.
Reality had other plans.
Amanda reflected on her careers, moving between academia, industry and nonprofit leadership. The panel agreed that leadership itself is bigger than a title; you can lead a project, an idea, a team or an industry conversation from almost any seat.
So:
Stay curious about opportunities you did not plan for.
Know what energizes you and where your strengths show up best.
Give yourself permission to change directions.
Focus less on climbing the perfect ladder and more on doing meaningful work where you are.
The best career path may not look anything like the one you drew up in college. And that might be the point.
Where will you grow?
Strong careers are rarely built through one big decision. They are built through relationships you keep investing in, conversations you learn to navigate and the willingness to take the next opportunity.
Brooke, Chase, Amanda and Emily have been there. They have taken what they learned as AFA students to grow into a career built on leadership, relationships and strategic thinking.
Catch the full conversation
In the latest Cultivating Leaders Webinar with Amanda Martin (President and CEO, Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation), Brooke Clay Taylor (Chief Operating Officer, Empire Ag and Founder, Rural Gone Urban), Chase DeCoite (Senior Vice President of Food Industry Relations, Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy) and Emily Peters (Director of Marketing and Sales, Union Pacific Railroad). Together, they explore the experiences, decisions and relationships that helped shape their path to upper-level leadership. Using their AFA experiences and connections as part of their broader career journeys, these leaders know what it takes to continue growing throughout a career.