"Serving with irrational people."

I just joined the board and found irrational people. I just joined the board of the North American Farmers Direct Marketing Association and found a board of irrational people. (Some would call it elected to the board, not joined, and be technically correct. I call it sneaking in the back door.)

Irrational: 1 not logical or reasonable. This is a group of people I've looked up to for years. Most of them run very successful business, are well-respected work in the government/extension field, or are meeting and planning professionals. They just successfully organized a huge conference complete with bus tours,  dozens of guest speakers, keynote speakers, specialty workshops, and the industry's #1 trade show. After that, they stayed after for an extra day to work through what could be made better, analyze feedback, address complaints, and begin planning the next event.

Why irrational? Out of all the board members, no more than two stood to garner financial gain from all that work. Every board member has, I'm sure, plenty and maybe even better things to do. Each left behind workers, fellow staff, and family - unsupervised. This just doesn't make sense. It's completely irrational.

When sharing conference experiences, we learned of attendees who had changed their businesses, improved their farms, grown attendance, brought in family members, preserved their farms by creating profitability where there once was little hope. There was this palpable sense of meaning, of purpose in the room. These were some of my long-time idols moved by the success stories, great and small, of other attendees.

In all of the chances for celebrating a big "win" of a conference an inordinate amount of time was spent figuring out how we could make first-time attendees feel more welcome. I've got to tell you, NAFDMA is one of the most welcoming groups I've ever known (and I get around), but it wasn't good enough for them, STILL we spent time brainstorming ideas to encourage new visitors to plug-in and get the most from the conference. Isn't this overkill? Diminishing returns? "We're the nicest, but how could we be nicer?"

Yes. It's completely irrational. The organization is lead by irrational people. For them it just couldn't possibly pay off financially with all the time and effort and brainpower expended. really, they should all go home and get back to work. It's completely irrational, unless you are measuring with a different ruler. I learned first hand on Friday that this irrational board measures with a different ruler.

They each seem to have received so many ideas, created so many new friends, shared so much information, and benefited from association with good-willed, like-minded people that they are willing to be irrationally committed to the membership. They are irrationally committed to creating a welcoming environment, a sharing environment in which new and long-time members can grow.

I looked around the table at those irrational people and couldn't believe my luck to be included. I've been irrational for most of my life, but it's never been more important for me to irrationally believe in what's possible when good people are dedicated to serving their fellow farmers and communities.

Are you irrational enough? Is there something in your life that you believe in so completely that you are willing to work irrationally on its behalf? Money, success and fame, all of which you could chase your whole life, can never replace true meaning and purpose; true self-sacrificing service to others. Pursuing your highest potential, your most meaningful purpose in life will bring you joy that cannot be purchased.

Maybe the irrational are the most reasonable among us.

Have an irrationally productive week.
-Hugh

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