Brene’ Brown, tells us, “Joy is the most vulnerable emotion.” I had heard her mention it a while ago, but I never fully understood it from a business perspective until recently. Our company has a funny year-end, which allows us to plan for crop years from an agricultural input perspective. As a result, our fiscal year 2022 ended this past week at the end of July. In short, we had an absolutely incredible year. In the midst of all the chaos surrounding the agricultural markets, supply chain disruptions, product allocations, fertilizer tariffs, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, not to mention the ongoing challenges involving COVID, our new company hit it out of the park.
The point of this post is not to boast or brag but to talk about joy and why so many of us struggle to let ourselves experience it. As our year-end approached and I began to think about my weekly message to the team, I found myself incredibly nervous. Indeed, I am nervous to even mention the concept of success on this platform. Many of us on LinkedIn enjoy reading about tough times, as it lets us know we’re not alone in our struggles. I call it LinkedIn Disaster Porn. The worse your story, the more likes you get. I can feel a small bead of sweat form on my temple as I write this. Am I bragging? Being too proud? Tempting fate? Am I forgetting our many shortfalls and glossing over issues? Are we simply courting disaster by acknowledging and celebrating an incredible year?
As I thought about my physical and psychological reaction to even mentioning the very thing so many at GreenPoint worked so hard to achieve, I thought back to Brene’ Brown’s words and challenged myself to acknowledge the moment and pause for even a few seconds to celebrate it.
For a long time, I thought I was just being humble. Good leaders stay humble and hungry. Never rest, never satisfied. Damn straight. I also figured I was also being real. With so many out there struggling, bragging to the world just seemed like piling on. We all get more than our share of not matching up from Facebook and Instagram.
But after going back and re-reading Brene’ Brown’s words from her great book, Dare to Lead, I began to realize that I may be scared of success, of experiencing even a brief moment of professional joy. And as I spoke to others within the company about acknowledging the moment and getting pushback from so many leaders, I realized that I am not alone.
Brown explains further, “When we feel joy, it is a place of incredible vulnerability – its beauty and fragility and deep gratitude and impermanence all wrapped up in one experience. When we can’t tolerate that level of vulnerability, joy actually becomes foreboding, and we immediately move to self-protection.”
Brown says there are two main reasons we’re stuck with what she terms, “foreboding joy.” The first is that by celebrating, we think we’re courting disaster. This is likely why the moment I think about success, I involuntarily hunch my shoulders and duck my head. The second is that we fear success won’t last.
The danger with foreboding joy is that we don’t take the time to celebrate and be grateful for what we have. We are also hesitant to thank the many people who helped make it possible. And if you never celebrate the ups, the whole ride can start to feel like a down. I am confident that acknowledging our success is not going to make me overconfident or cocky – the more I do this job, the more humbling it is. The more I learn, the more I learn I have to learn. But there is danger in not practicing gratitude, not acknowledging success, and celebrating the moment. Of course, the world will change. Tough times will come. It will be nearly impossible to repeat our performance this year and, in many respects, dangerous to even try, as trying to take more than the market will give requires extreme risk. But instead of being a reason to not celebrate, the very impermanence of success is the very reason to take a bit of time to soak in the joy and to be grateful for the people who helped make it possible.
So I will put aside my fear, risk the wrath of LinkedIn, to take a moment to celebrate the team, and our fortuitous results, and say thanks. Thank you to all our customers – our co-ops, and our farmers – for their faith in GreenPoint as an idea and for sticking with us. One of my favorite things about the farmer-owned model is that our money is your money. The money we don’t invest in our people or capital goes back to you. Thank you to our board for allowing us to do this differently and for allowing me to lead. Most of all, Thank You to our 1000+ teammates. Thank you for trusting GreenPoint, our leadership team, and one another. Thank you for pushing through all the changes, adapting to the massive supply chain disruptions, market moves, and process shifts, and keeping focused on our growers and one another. Thank you for working hard, staying late, making the extra call, driving the extra mile, and helping our growers and coops be in a position to finish their years strong as well. Like every company out there, we have countless ways to improve. But we have a great team and we just pulled off an absolutely amazing year.
For a few moments, I’m going to put aside my fear and celebrate the fleeting moment. And I hope that when you find yourself in a great spot or having a great thing happen, you’ll take a few moments to do the same. Then we can all move….
Onward!
Jeff
