# 77 - People ’wrangling’ and all things leadership

Managing people, both family and in farming business, can undoubtedly be one of our greatest challenges.

Not only do we have to navigate delicate working relationships with our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, mothers and fathers – grandmothers and grandfathers for some too! But, equally, we have casual, full-time, part-time, contractor, client and supplier relationships to ‘wrangle’, navigate, manage, influence and inspire.

With this in mind in this podcast, I ask Sam Johnsson, the new General Manager here at Farm Owners Academy (FOA), to share his experience and insight into all things leadership.

Sam is a cracking bloke – calm, composed, thoughtful, measured, pragmatic, collaborative yet decisive. He joins FOA after ten highly successful years in management with the leading Australasian advisory & building engineering firm, Aurecon.

Over the past three years, Sam progressed to becoming one of the youngest Directors at Aurecon, responsible for the results and performance of over 65 professionals within his region.

Quite simply put, he has been responsible for managing a diverse range of personalities and individuals, from 18 to 60 years of age, from varied cultural backgrounds, and spanning all abilities.

In this podcast, I ask Sam to share his experiences as a leader of people and performance at Aurecon, speak with me on the subject of people leadership and explore how to:

• manage diverse personalities;
• have straight-up conversations;
• deal with under-performers;
• hold people accountable;
• handle conflict and tension;
• attract good talent;
• off-load the wrong people;
• challenge constructively;
• inspire positive change;
• handle career progression;
• uplift individual performance;
• and so much more!

I highly respect all that Sam has achieved in his professional career to date. I appreciate his authentic approach to dealing with people, managing teams and leading growth in businesses.

For me, this interview emphasises the importance of giving the people management component of our business real time, energy, thought, care and attention.

His quiet passion for business and teams speaks for itself, and I am delighted to welcome Sam into our business as General Manager. We are in safe hands, and our future is bright.

Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you Sam Johnsson.

Keep on leading! Jeremy PS: Heard me speak about DISC Personality Profiling in this episode and want to learn more about individual Personality Type and Behavioural Traits? Click here to listen to Episode 67!

PPS: Did you enjoy this topic? I encourage you to listen to Episode 57 with James Kelly on Aligning Elite Teams – click here! PPPS: We’d love your ideas and introductions for future Podcast interviews - share your suggestions with us by clicking here! PPPPS: Please share this with others in our industry and give us a review on Facebook or Google… and thank you for helping us share stories like these more broadly.