While vacationing in California, I was able to take a really nice tour of a fruit producer’s farm. It was absolutely incredible because the farm is what’s called Bio Dynamic. This takes farming to a whole new level — or actually, an old one. The way they did it when there weren’t chemicals. And, this is well above organic.
They use nature to completely take care of their crops. They have cows for fertilizer and sheep for weed eating and fertilizer. They have hawks and bats to keep out the wrong animals and bugs. They even keep out fruit-eating birds. But the coolest thing for me was the insectory. Yep, they actually have a ton of plants in one area that attract all of the right bugs they need around their plants. Not only that, but they have set up a “highway” for the bugs to go from the insectory out to the fields. It’s crazy, I tell ya!
You would be blown away to see how this process absolutely produces a much better fruit. In fact, because they use ZERO chemicals, there isn’t the stress on the fruit to have to adapt. I know it sounds crazy, but the fruit is able to grow….relaxed. It’s a difference you can taste when you try it.
Ok, I said the insectory was the coolest thing. Truth is, the coolest thing was something we learned from the owner of the farm. For almost 30 years they have farmed as a family. In fact, they consider all of the workers part of that family. They used to sit down every day together and have lunch that the mom cooked. In that “family” was a man from Mexico named Joaquin, the head grower.
About a decade or so ago, Joaquin started having some serious health issues. Come to find out, his liver was bad. Don’t know why. He wasn’t a drinker. But all of a sudden, he was in trouble. There was no possible way he could continue working the farm. He had to have a transplant, and all of his family was back in Mexico.
Instead of sending Joaquin packing back to Mexico, the family paid to fly down to where Joaquin’s family lived, paid to test his family members to find out if anyone was a match and then paid for the surgery. Who does that?! Well, people who believe you should treat your team members like family. The good news is that the surgery worked…for over a decade. Unfortunately, he needs another transplant. Guess who’s right by his side?
A lot of people would have felt really bad, but they would have told Joaquin they couldn’t do anything to help. In our business, that’s just not an option. Many times, we’ve shelled out a lot of money to take care of our team members. You take care of your people! Why? Because isn’t that how you would want your son to be treated? Isn’t that how you would want your daughter to be taken care of?
When teaching EntreLeadership, I always ask the attendees this question: “Is it your business, or is it God’s? If it’s yours, go ahead and do it your way. If it’s His, do what He would want you to do.” As a parent, what would you want?
Question: Have you ever experienced companies going above and beyond to take care of their team members? If so, click on comment to let us know about it.
This Friday, be sure to check out my quest post on Michael Hyatt’s blog!
