Trust, Trash and Faith: A Few Things I Learned from Darrell Anderson
I still don’t know why he chose me. But one thing I’ve learned about Darrell Anderson is he’s not afraid to take risks and go with his gut. He could see things that others couldn’t always see at first. An Iowa-born-and-raised horse girl, I thought an internship with the National Swine Registry would be a great way to expand my swine knowledge to become a better livestock judge. I never thought it would lead to my first job.
During the summer of 1998, I served as the intern for NSR's magazine, Seedstock Edge, and helped organize a junior show *after* work hours with Daryl Real, the field staff intern. We were both far from home, so we had no lives outside of work. We spent our evenings organizing the first National Junior Summer Spectacular. I’m pretty sure neither of us regret those unpaid hours that would ultimately pay off in so many ways – both in our career path and most importantly, in our families.
The success of that show sparked a desire in NSR's CEO Darrell Anderson to turn that junior pig show into something bigger. A year and a half later, during my senior year at K-State, Darrell called me up and offered me a position with a title I could hardly understand. He wanted me to organize a junior swine association and he needed to give the Executive Board more “reason” to hire me so he tacked on managing NSR’s website, too. I’ll be honest that as much as I was intrigued, it seemed like a stretch to combine all of that into one job. Despite my hesitations about it not being what I “went to college to go do,” I said yes. My goal was to make it two years.
I made it those two years plus nearly eight more! I consider it a privilege I was able to help organize the National Junior Swine Association from the ground up. NJSA grew from a summer pig show with 200 kids into a thriving organization of over 12,000 members and multiple shows, leadership conferences, scholarships and more thanks to many people who invested time, money, energy, ideas and passion into making it succeed. But the reality is none of it would be possible without Darrell Anderson – who had the vision and belief in his staff to carry out the dream.
And let’s be real, it wasn’t all fun. There were a few tears shed in Darrell’s office because in a lot of ways, what we were doing was going against the grain of what many thought NSR should focus on. I appreciate that Darrell didn’t sugarcoat anything about that hard truth, but he always supported me even when it would have been easier to tell me no.
From day one, we shared a focus on kids first. Sure, the purebred swine industry needed this additional avenue of selling elite purebred pigs, but we knew if we took our eyes off keeping kids first, it wouldn’t work. In many ways, NJSA revolutionized the function of NSR, increasing youth involvement exponentially, providing a big influx of income and work for NSR, increasing marketing avenues for breeders and spreading demand throughout the year.
I don’t know if NJSA saved NSR...but I know NJSA breathed new life into it and created a pathway that has helped the organization thrive and continue to survive during some challenging times in the hog industry.
But perhaps even bigger than that, NJSA created opportunities for young people to find a place in the swine industry. When I started my job as editor of Farm Journal’s PORK, I went to a swine health conference and watched three former NJSA members speak and represent the veterinary profession, swine nutrition and technology. They are making an impact in the swine industry today because of NJSA – spurred by a passion for showing pigs.
I wanted to neatly wrap up all the things Darrell taught me, but I don’t think that’s possible because the roots he gave me run deep into all parts of my life. But here are a few that stand out to me now.
He taught me to trust people.
The worst thing that can happen is people will let you down. But the possibilities of what they could accomplish are far greater. Darrell did this with everyone he hired....he trusted us to do our job and let us go. He never micromanaged. He made us believe we could do anything because he believed in us.
He taught me you never stand taller than when you’re stooping down to pick up trash.
OK, maybe the saying doesn’t go quite like that. But I can’t tell you the number of times we literally almost bumped into each other on Saturday morning of the national junior show picking up trash. I learned from him that those details matter – that I’ll never be too good to do the yucky jobs. And it’s often those less-than-glamorous jobs that show a person’s true colors. He always said he was doing his job when others were shining in theirs.
He taught me to be patient.
“This too, shall pass.” Oh, how this used to fire me up – it was the last thing I wanted to hear when 20-something me wanted to “take action” when problems struck. He taught me how to stop and listen before I speak. That even if I was right, it was more important to hear what people had to say. There was always something I could learn from every situation if I was patient enough to receive it.
He taught me how to love Jesus more.
At the end of the day, that’s what I’m most grateful for, He and his wife, Merlene, opened up their home to me and gave me a glimpse of what happens when you live out a life of faithfulness, dedication, selflessness, sacrifice. They taught me to pray for people who persecute me and ask God to change my heart in the process. They showed me how to look up when I couldn’t figure out which direction to go. Their example set my heart on fire for helping people find Jesus and allowing me to do that in my job.
Congratulations, Darrell Anderson, on being inducted into the Saddle and Sirloin Portrait Gallery. You deserve it.
More from Jennifer Shike:
Why You Should Prioritize People
When You're A Little Uncomfortable
