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Mark Cohon speaks at BASF event

Former CFL boss shared his career experiences

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Three things former Canadian Football League commissioner Mark Cohon touched on as important pillars to his career development may also apply to farmers.

Speaking to approximately 200 farmers at the BASF Knowledge Harvest: Connections event in Guelph, Cohon outlined passion and pride, customer service and being a leader as three elements prevalent in his success.

Pride & Passion
Cohon discussed his time as the CFL commissioner and how, at times, he would have to remind others who worked alongside him that the league matters to millions of people around the country.

“What you do really matters,” he said. “You have the biggest job in the world. You’re fuelling Canadians from coast to coast and we’re all very appreciative of that.”

Customer Service
Cohon’s father, George Cohon, is the founder and senior chairman of McDonalds Canada and in Russia. While the younger Cohon doesn’t have a vast agricultural background, some dealings with his father have helped him, as a customer, understand the importance of farmers.

“You see the McDonalds billboards that show a Big Mac with no burger in the middle or a French fry box with no fries in it,” he said. “Without local farmers, the product wouldn’t be there for them.”

Cohon said interacting with customers face-to-face can help build relationships and encouraged farmers to also employ that strategy with their consumers.

When it comes to being a leader, Cohon’s perspective is rather simple.

“Lead or get the hell out of the way,” he said.

Cohon did find a way to merge farming and football, doing so with a value that’s important to farmers everywhere.

“My understanding is that over 90 percent of farms are family owned,” he said. “I think about when I’m in the locker room and the coaches mention families. People coming together and doing their job.”

If people and machinery on the farm were football players, what would they be?

  • The team on defence could be classified as the pests, weeds and other dangers to crops.
  • The offensive line may be looked at as the pesticides, herbicides and fungicides responsible for protecting the crops.
  • The machinery could be similar to the wide receivers as they’re needed to run specific routes.
  • The quarterback is obviously the farmer. He decides the roles of the personnel on the field.
  • The offensive coordinator may be related to the agronomist. The coordinator helps decide what plays to run on the field based on the defence’s tendencies and the agronomist helps farmers make decisions based on the field’s performance.

What other agriculture positions or pieces of equipment are similar to football positions?

Use hashtag #KnowledgeHarvest16 on social media to see photos and videos taken by people who attended the event.


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