Succession planning, marketing, breeding and genetics and getting into the right mindset were just a few of the topics discussed at the annual GenAngus Future Leaders program held at Glenelg last week.
Two South Australians Natalia Harris, Lucindale and Tom Taheny, Naracoorte, were among the 12 participants from around Australia at the four-day workshop put on in conjunction with specialist agricultural insurer Achmea Australia.
Angus Australia extension manager Jake Phillips says the intensive course is open to Angus Australia members from 18 to 40 years of age and is aimed at those going into business for the first time or involved in multi-generational businesses they want to grow.
Those selected for the course are equipped with knowledge and tools to succeed in business now and into the future.
"The goal is to get the very best industry speakers and the very best applicants in a room at the same time and then the magic happens," Mr Phillips said.
"We are very conscious of having a cross section of the industry from large scale commercial enterprises to feedlots and seedstock producers because we know they will learn just as much from each other as we can teach them."
He says this year's cohort had a very different working experience than the previous few years groups.
"They have lived through disruptive times but have come out the other side, they wanted to learn how to be resilient in themselves and also how to build that resilience within their businesses," he said.
Mr Taheny, who is managing Goolagong Angus stud for the Tiller family, said it was a "fantastic course".
"One of the highlights that I took out of it was the people and the networks I developed while I was there from CEOs of some of the biggest Australian agribusinesses to market analysts to insurance brokers and the other stud and commercial breeders throughout Australia," he said.
"It has also given me the tools and resources to be able to develop personally and also from a business sense to be more profitable, more positive and more efficient."
Dr Harris - who moved back to Lucindale a couple of years ago to work in the family's Sterita Park Angus stud and commercial beef and lamb operation - said she took a lot away from the course.
She said she particularly enjoyed the business and marketing sessions, which she had limited knowledge of. Her early career was as a veterinarian in mixed practice and live export.
"One of the biggest things for me was the session around mindset first up where there were some great one liners that have stayed with me such as achieving the one per cent goals and achieving smaller consistent goals," she said.
