Cattle Yards, Boardrooms, Floods, Mentors, Leadership and Life with Ben Dwyer

I was fortunate to meet and spend some time getting to know Ben Dwyer, while filming our This Is Aussie Ag - Harvest Road episode. 

From the moment I met Ben, I knew there was a lot I could and wanted to learn from his experience, fortunately, he was more than happy to share.

When it comes to spending time with people like Ben, there are so many questions I could ask. An accomplished executive, who for more than 30 years has built an enviable career in Australian agriculture, from his early days as a Jackaroo, overseer, General Manager, CEO and today as Chief Operating Officer of Agribusiness at Harvest Road.

As I sat down to record this podcast, several months after we first met, I really wanted to understand more about his journey, the different motivators behind decisions his made and his lessons and learnings along the way.

Growing up in a rural town in New South Wales, Ben's love for animals began at a young age. Calling himself an introvert, he found it easier to hang out with cattle, sheep, and horses than with people.

So how does an introvert become a CEO?

Well, that’s a good question.

“I had some very good mentors at that stage in my life, that sort of worked out that the strong silent type was pretty good if you're the only one in the room.”

It was Ben’s competitive nature that took him from growing his skillset in stock camps to learning more and investing in people management. Along the way he learnt to have more input into the direction of the operations or companies that he was involved in, that would naturally take him away from the paddock.

Over his career, Ben has invested heavily in understanding himself, and that in turn has supported him to get the most out of his team and drive them towards success. 

He emphasised that leadership was not just about being the best in the room, but also about understanding how to motivate and inspire others to achieve their best, and often this required him meeting his team where they are at, even if that means a trip across Australia in a horse truck! 

“To understand people, for me, I've got to understand me, if I have an in-depth understanding of who I am…

then it allows me to pick different traits and skillsets and personalities and people that I need to get around me.”

His journey to leading companies, wasn’t quite the pathway that Ben envisioned out of school, it has been the people that he has surrounded himself with along the way and the love of what he does, that has driven him forward.

"I think if you're doing what you love and having fun with it, you're going to be pretty good at it."

And it seems to have been a pretty good recipe for Ben so far, check out this chat via the link below or wherever you get your podcasts and remember….

“If you do everything right all the time, you don't really learn anything”