New Mexico Ag. Leadership

To start off this blog, I must first ask a few questions... What is leadership?  Who is a leader?  Are the qualities of a leader learned or is a person born with them?  How does one effectively and efficiently lead a group of people?  These questions (and many others) were posed to us "Artichoke Fellows" during our first meeting in January.  Ten strangers, each with different backgrounds, education, and careers started a journey to learn about and define leadership through the New Mexico Agricultural Leadership Program. In our short time together, we learned a little more about ourselves from professionals who are experts in their fields. We learned about our behavior, our personality, and our style of communication.  We discussed ways to effectively communicate with others who don't match our personality or communicate the way we do.  We also learned or were reminded that as "leaders" we need to be open minded, inclusive and equal to a diverse workforce...and i