Exploring Your Creative Genius: Episode 175
In this week’s show I shared examples of ‘Common Wealth’ from my new book, ‘Common Ground for US’. I shared two examples and mentioned there was a third. This is it, and probably one of my favorite stories to tell.
It’s about the Illinois corn farmer who won the Blue Ribbon for the Best Sweet Corn at his county fair five years in a row, an accomplishment that caught the attention of a local journalist who called to set up an interview with the farmer.
That journalist asked what the secret to his success was and the farmer, standing in front of his current crop, says “Well, when I harvest this year’s crop I save the very best of it to serve as seed corn for next year. And I take half of that seed corn and I share it with any farmer whose fields share a boundary with mine”.
The journalist was confused. “You’re saying you help the competition?”
The farmer replied “Son, you gotta understand. That when the breezes blow and the wind stirs, the pollen from the neighboring farms floats over to my fields and pollinates my corn. So the best way for me to improve my crop is to help others improve theirs.”
Amen.
“Exploring Your Creative Genius” takes an expansive view on what it means to be creative and entrepreneurial in an ongoing conversation led by Carl Nordgren — entrepreneur, novelist, and lifelong student with decades of experience growing his own creative capacity and assisting others to do the same in exciting new ways!
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