Finding Your Voice in the Central Coast

There is something disarming about San Luis Obispo. Maybe it’s the rolling hills still green from winter rains, or the way Cal Poly sits at the edge of the city like it belongs to the land as much as the land belongs to it. Whatever the reason, it has a way of lowering your guard, which, as it turns out, is exactly the right condition for the kind of learning Class 55 was about to walk into. 

We arrived at Session 8 chasing a deceptively simple question: how do we tell the story of agriculture in a way that actually moves people? 

Day One: Planting the Seeds of Persuasion 

We were welcomed to Cal Poly with the kind of energy only students can generate. Dr. Ann De Lay, CAFES Associate Dean, and Macy Lloyd, CAFES Ambassadors President, opened the session with genuine curiosity. Their questions about what CALF is and what our experience has meant reminded us why we do this work. The future of agriculture walked into that room and looked us in the eye, and it was bright. 

Dr. Dane White, our Director of Education, introduced us to a concept he called Movie Magic, and it reframed the way I think about leadership communication entirely. Great filmmakers don’t just share information. They suspend your disbelief. They earn emotional buy-in before they ever make a logical argument. They choose their shots deliberately. 

As agricultural leaders, Dr. White challenged us to do the same. It got me thinking of someone like my dad, the soft-spoken, simple, yet powerful farmer who walks into a Board of Supervisors meeting at 7pm and says, “I never come to these meetings, but tonight is different.” The room quiets. The elected officials lean in. It’s no longer the NIMBY who shows up to every meeting shouting about her loud neighbors. It’s my dad, who says: “I risked it all to farm this land, and tonight you are voting on something that doesn’t just affect me. It affects my kids, my grandkids, my neighbors, my employees, and this very room. This is not about dollars and cents. This is about a way of life, a purpose, dare I say, a calling. Have you ever worked a job where year after year the bank tells you they’re going to take everything, but still, every morning, you start the truck and drive out to the fields you love? Because that’s what God designed you to do. Selling farmland to developers is a quick fix to a much bigger problem. This is all we have, and we show up for it even when it’s hard, even when it’s a holiday, even when everyone else thinks we shouldn’t. Today you aren’t just voting on a land use decision. You are voting on what this valley looks like 100 years from now. Is that the legacy you want to leave? You better vote no on this, or both you and I will hear from my wife. And if you think I’m scary, wait till she’s up here.” The room burst into laughter and cheers. Nobody was thinking about the vote anymore. They were somewhere else, on that land, understanding something they couldn’t have understood five minutes ago. That is Movie Magic. And it doesn’t happen by accident. 

Dr. Erin Gorter, Core Faculty, led us through a deep unpacking of The Alchemist, asking us to sit with questions that are easy to avoid: When have you felt most alive? What problems do you find yourself drawn to again and again? What do people consistently come to you for? After months together in the trenches, we could actually answer those questions about each other. It was quietly profound to be seen so clearly by people you’ve grown to trust. 

That foundation launched us directly into the seminar’s signature challenge: Shark Tank. 

Cara Crye Wright (39) is the kind of facilitator who earns your trust before she teaches you a thing about trust. Through a blindfolded dance exercise, she demonstrated firsthand why credibility must come before persuasion. No shortcuts. Then she walked us through five practical persuasive techniques and sent us off in groups to build arguments on topics without easy answers, questions like “Are younger generations more equipped to lead in today’s world?” and “Is work-life balance more important than productivity?” Class 55 is always up for healthy competition, so it was game on. 

Day Two: From the Classroom to the Course 

The second day opened with Dr. James Bingaman of Cal Poly’s Agricultural Education and Communication Department delivering what might have been the most laugh-out-loud session of the seminar, and one of the most clarifying. A proud Australian by origin, Dr. Bingaman has a gift for exposing how easily language loses the room. He walked us through the minefield of agricultural jargon with dry wit that makes you wince and grin at the same time. Think terms like “hybrid cultivar,” “checkoff programs,” and my personal favorite: try explaining what “AI” means on a cattle ranch to a room full of people who think you’re talking about ChatGPT. 

Then he flipped it on us entirely, dropping everyday Australian expressions that stopped us cold. When a saying means something completely different than you thought, communication doesn’t just break down, it disappears. And we do that to our audiences in agriculture every single day without realizing it. Good luck creating Movie Magic when your audience can’t understand what’s being said. 

Do you know what a technicolor yawn is? What about someone who is Fair Dinkum? Or maybe you’re so flat out like a lizard drinking that you won’t scroll to the end of this post to find the answers. 

His challenge to us: explain things as if you’re talking to a five-year-old. Not because people are dumb, but because patience with your listener is a form of respect. As Nelson Mandela put it: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” 

Dr. Hannah Parker brought us into a conversation about what actually motivates people, and more importantly, what motivates us. Through the Self-Determination Continuum and our M-Code motivation assessments, she boiled it down to three core needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. We played a classroom version of the Game of Life and found that even when each of us was running on a different motivational engine, we still got to the finish line together. We just took different roads. 

The Moment Everything Clicked 

Then we went to Camp San Luis Obispo, and the classroom came to life. Lieutenant Colonel Mark Swiney and Sergeant First Class Federico Lara led us through the Leadership Reaction Course, four physical obstacles that required creativity, trust, and real-time communication under pressure. No lecture. No whiteboard. Just you, your cohort, a timer, and a problem that doesn’t care how smart you are. 

No single obstacle was the revelation. The effect was cumulative. By the third challenge, something had shifted. We stopped assigning roles and started reading each other. We knew who needed encouragement and who needed space, who would take the physical lead and who would quietly architect the solution from the side. We built micro-teams within the team, almost without talking about it. 

Our Army guides debriefed us with the same directness they applied to the course, and one thing stayed with me: the journey is just as important as the task. How you overcome challenges is what builds a successful team, not whether you crossed the obstacle in the fastest time. 

The Leadership Reaction Course didn’t just teach us about teamwork. It held up a mirror. Many of us come into CALF as high achievers, and we learn through this process that what got us here is not likely to get us much further. We have to know ourselves, grow, and adapt in order to lead at the next level. 

An Evening Worth Remembering 

After the dust and sweat of Camp SLO, we made our way to Talley Vineyards in Arroyo Grande for the Region 7 Information Session and BBQ, hosted by Brian Talley (30), Rosemary Talley (19), Elizabeth Talley, Chris Darway (25), Dan Sutton (40), Erin Amaral (46), and Paul Crout (48). 

The barrel room, the smell of Santa Maria-style BBQ, and the company of past graduates and prospective applicants felt like a perfect moment of catharsis after a day that had been both mentally and physically demanding. Brian Talley challenged us to test our new public speaking skills on the spot, and in true CALF fashion, we rose to it. What struck me most was how much we’d grown in our ability to do exactly what Dr. Bingaman had challenged us on: say something real, in plain language, from the heart. 

“At Talley Vineyards, through the practice of introducing someone other than ourselves, it became clear that Ag Leadership cultivates meaningful and lifelong connections that truly stand apart.” — Jordon Navarrot (55) 

The Final Morning: Lights, Camera, Advocate 

We headed back to Cal Poly for our final session with Professors Richard Gearhart and Patti Piburn of the Journalism Department, who put us in front of a camera and did what good media trainers do: pushed us until we were uncomfortable, then helped us find steady ground on the other side. Patti dug until she stumped us, then dug a little more, showing just how quickly an interview can go off the rails and how important it is to redirect, stay on message, and choose your words carefully. 

The message they left us with was clear: if you don’t tell the story of agriculture, someone else will. We are the most qualified people in the room to have that conversation. The question is whether we show up for it. 

We wrapped with our Shark Tank presentations, judged by Cara Crye Wright (39) and Dr. Robert Flores. All eight groups made their case using Movie Magic, persuasive framing, and technical clarity. Some took big risks, knowing they might not win over the whole room, but the payoff was real. We were moved. We disagreed. We changed our minds. And we left with a stronger sense of what it means to truly advocate for something you believe in. 

What We Carry Home 

San Luis Obispo gave us new tools, new language, and new ways of seeing ourselves and each other. But what I’m still carrying is something simpler than any framework or technique. 

It’s the memory of standing at the base of an obstacle at Camp SLO, not sure it was possible, and watching my classmates figure out how to make it possible anyway. Not because they had the right answer. Because they had each other. 

This was our last seminar together until September, and we could feel it, this urgency to soak up every moment, knowing we are rounding the corner into our final sessions. A sense of responsibility to what has come before us and what will come after us. Did we do enough? Are we doing all we can? Will we make an impact that lasts? 

That’s the story of agriculture, too. It always has been. 

Ryan Scott (55) captured it better than I could: 

“As we finished up our SLO seminar and head back into the fields where the growing season is in full swing, I’m left with immense feelings of hope and possibility. Much like watching a dormant vine push its first new growth, not yet knowing what the season will bring, but trusting in what it could become. What I’m taking with me is a renewed understanding that our job as leaders is much the same: to nurture a vision of what’s possible so vividly that others can see themselves in it. Because when we make that vision personal and real, we don’t just inspire belief, we ready people to act.” — Ryan Scott (55) 

With gratitude,

Lisa Howard and Class 55

Class 55 extends heartfelt thanks to Dr. Ann De Lay and the CAFES Ambassadors at Cal Poly; Dr. Dane White; Judy Sparacino; Erin Gorter; Cara Crye Wright; Dr. James Bingaman; Dr. Hannah Parker; Lieutenant Colonel Mark Swiney and Sergeant First Class Federico Lara of the Cal Poly Department of Military Science and Leadership; Brian Talley, Rosemary Talley, Elizabeth Talley, Chris Darway, Dan Sutton, Erin Amaral, and Paul Crout for hosting us at Talley Vineyards; and Professors Richard Gearhart and Patti Piburn for making sure we’re ready for our close-up. We are also deeply grateful to the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation’s sponsors, board of directors, staff, Education Team, and advisory council for making this fellowship possible. 

Answer Key: Technicolor Yawn: to vomit. Fair Dinkum: true/genuine. Flat out like a lizard drinking: extremely busy.