IMG_6108A few weeks ago all of my cows got out of the pasture and two were hit by a truck.   One of my calves didn’t make it, the other (a heifer) seems to be doing fine.  I was already planning to fix my pasture fence, but this expedited the process significantly.  I was getting really tired of chasing cows every few days once they found a weak spot in the old fence.  There was plenty of grass and hay inside the pasture, but the cows were not content and thought the grass was greener on the other side.  My grandfather installed this fence back in the 1960’s, not as a prison for his cows, but as a perimeter to keep them safe and to keep them from wandering onto someone else’s property and eating their flowers (like mine did to my mom’s…sorry mom!).  Inside the fence, they have a lot of freedom, almost 20 acres worth.   The phrase “the grass is greener on the other side,” came to mind today as I was having a conversation with another business owner about millennials and how it seems like they are never content.  I am personally very optimistic about millennials and what they bring to the workplace, but we have to find ways to help them understand that the fences we build are not a prison, but a perimeter to keep them safe and help the business make money (after all that’s how we stay in business and employ people).  Millennials want freedom, but too much freedom can get them in trouble.  We as business owners have to find ways to provide freedom within the parameters of our business.  I call this freedom leading and there will be many more blogs about this in the future.  But just in case you were wondering, my cows are not Holsteins but they still want you to “Eat More Chicken!”

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