The Link
The Sherpa mentality — providing opportunity.
November 19, 2024
The concept of the Sherpa has been a popular theme in business books recently. Sherpas are an ethnic group from Tibet known for their mountaineering skills. They are an essential part of nearly every team that has reached the summit of Mount Everest.
They are the unheralded heroes of many of these expeditions. Their expertise at high altitudes is extraordinary.
The one thing that struck me, as these books talk about the contributions of the Sherpa, is that the typical Sherpa cannot tell you how many times they summitted Everest. Rather, they count how many people they have helped reach the summit. They are essentially in the business of creating opportunities for others.
They have lived their entire lives in the Tibetan mountains, but they don’t consider themselves to be owners of this unique lifestyle; rather, they consider themselves stewards of it. They don’t see themselves as having rights, but instead having responsibilities.
I guess this analogy has resonated with me, because I think you could replace the Sherpa mentality with the cattleman’s mentality. Cattlemen don’t tend to see themselves as owners of the land and of their cattle; rather, they see themselves as stewards. Perhaps most importantly, they don’t measure success in their own accolades as much as they measure it by the success of others.
The Sherpa is focused on the climbers, and cattlemen are focused on the customer, whether that is the cattle feeder, the packer, retailer or the ultimate consumer.
AngusLinkSM was created to help good producers differentiate their product and reward them for the contribution they were making. Admittedly, we talk about record enrollments and record premiums. Cattlemen tend to take pride in the premiums they earn or the carcass results their cattle post. Seedstock producers pay attention to bull sale averages and how they compare to others, as well. Yet these metrics are not the goal; they are simply a way of measuring how many people they are helping reach their own goals or summit.
The Sherpa is focused on the climbers, and cattlemen are focused on the customer, whether that is the cattle feeder, the packer, retailer or the ultimate consumer. We measure outcomes in terms of dollars and cents; after all, profits represent the metric that determines our sustainability.
Profits matter and, ultimately, that is driven by the value we create. We take pride in what we do, and we are a competitive group of people. We would like to know how good of a job we are doing relative to our neighbors and other producers around the country, but that is always built on the foundation of doing what is right for the customer, for the land and for the cattle.
AngusLink does very little on the value creation side of things. Cattlemen do that through their genetics and their management. We do some on the value-capturing side of the equation through helping with differentiation, but that is done mainly through the efforts of groups like Certified Angus Beef (CAB). What we focus on is helping to quantify that value so cattle can be marketed and priced accordingly.
Profits are the engine. They keep the industry and individual operations moving forward. But, doing what is right, taking care of our customers, the land, the cattle and our families — they are what determines our direction.
The AngusLink team is very proud to play a role in helping make that happen. It’s a big deal for us, to help provide the tools that help commercial cattlemen succeed and get rewarded for the investment they make in superior Angus genetics. Your success is truly how we measure our success.
Editor’s note: Troy Marshall is director of commercial industry relations for the American Angus Association. For more about AngusLink, visit https://www.angus.org/anguslink.
Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA, Vol. 16, No. 11-B
Topics: Genetics , Marketing , Success Stories
Publication: Angus Beef Bulletin
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