Growing Crops and Innovative Ideas with Magan Lewis of Corteva Agriscience

Speaker A: Welcome to Untold Stories of Innovation, where we amplify untold stories of insight, impact and innovation powered by untold content. I'm your host, Katie Trout Taylor. Our guest today is Megan Lewis. She is global technology adoption lead at Corteva agriscience. She's won some pretty impressive innovation awards, including Des moines business records, 40 under 40, the women of Iowa Iowa Confidence Award, and the Dow agrisciences Neon Great Start Award. Megan, I'm so excited to talk with you about the future of agriculture.

Speaker B: Well, thank you for having me today. I am super excited just to storytell, talk about innovation and dive in and inspire the audience.

Speaker A: I love it. So, okay, tell us first of all, what motivates you to wake up in the morning and get to work in the innovation world?

Speaker B: That's a great question. And honestly, it's the people I really set forward. One of my key missions is to activate the best version of individuals and igniting the spark of others. And innovation is a great space to make that happen. Brilliant minds coming together, building together, and always being green and growing. Technology is very dynamic, but even the way that we do things is different and dynamic. So I would have to say the people.

Speaker A: I love that as a technologist, a scientist, and someone who leads teams of innovators in that space. Tell me about storytelling. I have a million questions for you about where storytelling shows up within your innovation teams, how it contributes to the motivation of the innovation teams themselves. But tell us a little bit more about where you hear it showing up throughout the innovation process.

Speaker B: Absolutely. Storytelling is critical. I always start all of my speeches out with I'm a mom, a wife, a leader, a scientist to show that you don't have to just be one thing and you can do it if you put your mind to it. And so storytelling starts from when I pour my first cup of coffee and I look at my children and my daughters and I say, be awesome, be great, be kind, be. And. And I point right at them and I say, be you. And that's where my storytelling begins all the way to the end of my day. Wrapping up a zoom call with colleagues over in China or the APAC region and just really making sure that we're in it together and that we're on the same page and that we're ready to bring impact to the agriculture space. And so when I think of storytelling, I mentor 30 plus individuals around the globe. And this is one area that is so near and dear to my heart, is saying that it is a journey and we need to Inspire and bring others on that journey. This amazing journey of agriculture and technology and just telling the customer focus, the farmers around the world. And I'm just honored to be a part of that journey. And so storytelling for me looks quite differently throughout the day. And also it varies every single day. My storytelling could be pitching a story to our key stakeholders or investors of why they should invest in a specific technology to my next storytelling being in front of a group of scientists and really showing them the power we have. If we dive into this research together, collect the data, validate the technology, and deploy, what impact are we going to bring worldwide? And then I also trickle in my passion for STEM outreach and I teach storytelling to middle, middle schoolers and high schoolers and even younger ages 5 to, uh, 85. I say usually, uh, but no, it is really about getting that spark activated. And that spark activation looks so different throughout my day. And I just embrace it and I make every interaction count.

Speaker A: It is beautiful. And first of all, I just want to say your enthusiasm is contagious and your energy is contagious, and that is something that we actually don't speak enough about. I think on the podcast that it's not always about the, you know, the perfect data point or evidence point in your story. Obviously, that all of that matters deeply to the effectiveness of an innovation story. But people can read emotion and enthusiasm or fear so easily. And so, you know, uh, being able to spark and energize a team and use storytelling to motivate people to action is also a really important function inside of the innovation process because so much of it is about how can we keep our heads up and keep striving, even if we're hitting a lot of challenges.

Speaker B: Absolutely. I just want to comment really quick there. It is about your tone. It is about your delivery. It is about your passion. I do a lot of coaching, even on resume and CV building, and I just read bullet points. And it is even how you write something. I am just like, okay, that is great, but tell me what you do. I want to be on the journey with you or update your LinkedIn profile. I want to know your backstory. I want to hear, you know, your version, what drives you, what inspires you, and so tone plays a pivotal role. I can give failure examples and success examples, and those success examples have always stemmed from having a positive, go get it attitude, but also just being myself and, um, being OK with being myself and knowing that I add, knowing I added different stuff, spark in every room I enter. And if you've met me you probably know Megan Lewis. Uh, but that is the unique sauce. That is the secret sauce, the special sparkle. Uh, recently somebody said, I want to bottle the Megan Sparkle. So I challenge all the listeners to find your sparkle and get it bottled and advocate for yourself. You got this.

Speaker A: Oh, my gosh, I love it.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker A: Uh, and I gotta say, as a woman, you know, woman to woman here, the innovation space can sometimes feel rather male dominated and extraordinarily serious. And so that kind of, you know, I've been trained over the years, you know, speak in a deeper register, Katie, and you'll be more serious if you do that. You'll be more credible if you do that and be less yourself. And it's funny, I know all of us, no matter our identity, no matter our gender, race, the way we talk, we do probably code switch between work and home to some degree. You know, we know how to adapt to different environments. But there's really something to be said for shaking up a space and also knowing when to kind of challenge it. If the tone is always extraordinary seriousness or. Um. Do you kind of hear what I'm saying?

Speaker B: I totally understand, Katie. You know, recently in one of my events, I was told to be more robotic. Now, okay, I could have done that, but I did not do that because I need to be the best role model for my girls and also for children worldwide. And I'm telling them to be themselves. So I need to be myself. That Megan Sparkle. But no, I definitely hear you. I've. I've had many comments like that and I've had many situations that have pushed me to even want to be myself even more. So I'm going to share a personal story story with you and the viewers today. Because innovation success is not all rainbows and sprinkles and sparkle and glitter. It involves failures. It involves picking yourself up and leveraging those key learning opportunities. And I will be the first one to share my failure. And I hope that others are inspired to share theirs too, because that is how we build together and learn from each other. But I have a Bachelor's, Master's and PhD in Plant Breeding, genetics and molecular genetics. And just really in the agriculture space, what most don't know about me, and I'd actually think this is probably the first time I'm going live with this. So here you go, Katie. Um, is for my master's again. I have a master's degree, but my first defense, I failed. I actually had the journal article ready submitted. I had the thesis done, I had all the coursework done and I walked into that room for the two hour, just check the box defense. And they said, I am sorry, Megan, you do not pass. So imagine this situation. I am sitting there excited to conquer the world, moving on to my PhD. I already signed a lease for my next apartment in Fargo, North Dakota. And I was just told that I didn't pass my master's. At the time, I didn't realize they were going to have me come back in just seven days to redo it. Um, but it is what it is. I could have just walked away in that moment, but I didn't. I pulled myself up and I said, ok, I will come back in seven days, even stronger, uh, ready to go. I activated my drive, my perseverance, and I pushed myself to walk in that room and give that group of professors no reason why they shouldn't stamp that. But here's the power of storytelling, and this is where I'm going to tell you, is that when I share that story individually with mentees that I have around the world, because I want them to know that failing is ok. It is what you do with that, uh, learning. What matters is I tell them that the day that I failed, many don't know, I had to walk across the graduation stage with all of my family in attendance and friends ready to take me out to celebrate, knowing that I failed. And I had to get up and walk across that stage and, and collect an empty diploma.

Speaker A: Oh, uh, my goodness.

Speaker B: With a smile on my face, with enjoying a wonderful meal with friends and family. And I remember the day it was cloudy, it has a little bit of drizzle coming down about 70 degrees. And it is stuff like that that I just remember. But I also remember me taking a pause and a beat, a mental health break, and saying, you know what? You got this. I not knowing the reason of why I didn't pass, but you got this. Just dive in and go at it again. And I came out stronger. I finished my master's in a year and a half, which again, is super fast, which could have been part of the reason, but I'll never know that. What I do know is that I, that I didn't back down. And I said, I deserve to be here. I deserve to have this place and I deserve to go seek my passion and my dreams. And so when you talk about storytelling, when I tell everybody that I talk with or my mentors and mentees, because I believe in the full circle, they all teach me something too. Is that details, details, details bring the audience with you. You know, I could say Yeah, I didn't, I didn't pass. But what I told you is that it was cloudy with drizzle, 70 degrees. I was told that, Megan, you failed. You do not pass. You do not advance. And so just adding by those details, you bring the audience with you. And that's what we have to do in the agriculture space too, is that when I give storytelling to the next element of whatever my audience is, I have so many amazing customer stories, so many amazing customer interactions around the globe. My family and I, we've had six company relocations, one that took us over to Europe, uh, near Budapest, Hungary. And so I have met amazing individuals. And it is about details. It is about when I share my first customer interaction at age 12, working on science fair projects that I thought were going to. Gonna change the world at that time. Absolutely. I did science fair. I developed natural fungicides for farmers who wouldn't want a Megan product on sugar beets and potatoes. Um, you know, but I remember the very first interaction is that I was so excited. I had this tiny test picture plot in this multi acreage, you know, area. And I brought the farmer over and I said, look at this. You know, again, really tiny. He's like, look what my product did, you know, grapeseed extract did on, um, the growth of the potatoes and the. And I remember vividly, it was, it was a sunny day. The farmer had dirt on his face, just ready to go. And he just smiled, he had that little smirk and he said, megan, you were made to help feed the growing population. And that is one of those moments. And how he worded it, just about feeding the growing population, is what sparked me at age 12 and sparks me still today. So I hope that, I hope that inspires you, Katie, and some others too, that storytelling is so critical that it does inspire and ignite the spark of others to be themselves and go get it. Yes.

Speaker A: I love that. Uh, thank you so much, by the way, for sharing that story of failure. Failure stories are some of my favorites, and they're so. Oh, they're just so difficult to finally arrive at. I'm sure you couldn't have told us that story the week that it happened in the same way, but you can tell it now. Um, and what I love about both stories is that moment where the farmer looked at you and said, do call yourself an agriculturalist at that age. And that when you face that failure at the end of that story, you looked at yourself and you said, no, Megan, do call yourself worthy of being here.

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: There's something about, like, Self naming and owning the innovative side of your identity. It's so critical to really being confident enough to get back at the table even when we fail.

Speaker B: Absolutely. And that one first story was at age 12 and the masters was what, 23, 20? No, probably 25 years old. You know, so it doesn't matter what stage you are in life. It's about really, I would say, I always tell. This is a fun trick of mine, Katie, you can use, but I have a Megan journal and it is pretty funny. It says, you know, boss on it. It's kind of fun. And so on the, on the journal I write down if I. If I remember something that happened or I think that could inspect inspire somebody else, I take a note. In that journal I may jot down 10 words or five words to activate my memory. But I do that because I build a storytelling kit that I can bring with me and I can just pull out whatever puzzle piece I want to pull out at a given time, just. And that's where it goes to be an advanced communication. You know, that's where you mentioned earlier, it's about reading your room, reading the audience and being able to adapt your style to best fit that audience, but never losing the core foundation of who you are and how you want to deliver that. Just tweaking it a little bit to get the highest impact.

Speaker A: Tell us more about some of your systems. So it sounds like a journal is one way to keep track of some of the many, many stories. But this is actually a research inquiry that we've got it untold right now. We just actually presented, um, the state of the field report on innovation storytelling. And one of the research questions that we had going into, uh, initiative was what are the systems and processes and rituals that are in place inside organizations to help them solicit stories, but also collect and remember and share innovation stories? So you mentioned your journal. Um, we're just at the beginning of trying to understand what processes and systems are in place. Could you share any insight into how that works for you and your teams?

Speaker B: Yes, I would love to. Actually, I get asked quite a bit, what is the Megan's secret sauce? And Megan, do you ever sleep? That is the two most common questions I get. M. So when I think about process, I want to share this because I stumbled on this about five years ago and it has been really effective. And so I make checklists, I have my journal and that journal comes with me anywhere I go, vacation work. Because I just, I love capturing the moment and I also capture information via photos. I love Photography. And I love telling stories with a photo. So I may take a photo and add that photo to my journal as well. But the biggest thing I do is color coding. You're going to laugh. This is where my OCD comes into life. But I color code. I love pinks, purples, blues, greens. And each color in my mind serves a different area. So if I have an idea comes in that said, wow, this is an inspiring storytelling that I can utilize for the farmer community in central Iowa. I will color it. Color it green. Um, if I have something come in for STEM outreach, like, this is an amazing way to interact with middle school students around the world. I'll color code that blue. And I do that. And that helps me bucket in my mind. Just because scientists analytical, you probably get it. Um, I bucket with different colors that it sparks my memory even more so. And then it helps me prioritize. And later on when I take that checklist, I bring it over to the computer and I start typing and I start just writing down and jotting down stories. Um, when I get a free space, you know, outside of work hours, on the weekend or it helps me decompress. I am that nerd, Katie. Yes, I am. My decompression is not. Well, I do. I do enjoy strolling around Target. That is my hobbies have changed. But no, this is one of my hobbies is I could sit down. And then I also read. I read and read and read. There's amazing authors out there about leadership and about innovation and storytelling and how to keep. How to level up my game. And. And I do that. And I incorporate that into my stories as I'm typing. And so my process is checklist. I color code it. I used to do sticky notes, but then my desk honestly looked like the post it company threw up all over it. And I said, this is not healthy, Megan. Um, so, yeah, no, I use color coding instead. And it's been really effective. Now I do other items too. So the first one I would say is color coding. Um, I also take photos. And when I take photos, I try to capture the moment or tell a story. And then I will post that on Instagram as a memory. So I use Instagram as some of my memory, saying, yeah, this happened in the STEM space. Innovation space. Here we go. And then it also keeps me fresh, ready to go. And then share some of Megan's thoughts with the world as well. My other area that I do, and this is probably what a ton of people do, but I started meditation about M. M.M. four or five years ago. And I incorporate it every day I actually have on my calendar. And I'm going to inspire you to do so too, Katie, because it is so powerful. And you caught me after one of my meditation sessions, so you can about imagine how energetic I am today. But what I do, it is only 15 minutes. I block off my calendar every single day. I call it me time. And what I do is I just sit back, no technology, no screens, I close my eyes, I have the nice call me music, whatever really fits into making you relax. And I turn this on and I get 15 minutes of quiet and clarity seeking. And that is where some of the biggest innovation ideas, the storytelling memories that pop up, the connectivities of how I can bring stories together, intertwine them, integrate them. But that is the session, those 15 minutes that I have every day for myself and for being a better influential speaker and leader and agriculture scientist and pillar of the community, I would say that's probably my biggest secret sauce I could share today.

Speaker A: Okay, I have a question for you, Megan. We are building, we're about to launch an innovation storytelling toolkit online next month. And we've created about 33 tools. They're like story patterns that come up inside of different parts of the innovation process and their story frameworks that are tried and true and tested over time, like the hero's journey and the Pixar story arc and those kinds of things. And then there are lots of techniques. So, you know, here's how you can use story mapping, here's how you can try to use, uh, canvassing and Persona evidence mapping and all these different heuristics. Would you mind if we added a 15 minute innovation story meditation tool to the toolkit?

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: No, seriously, we will credit you and, uh, make sure that it links to your LinkedIn. Everyone knows who came up with it. And so if you could break it down into steps, Is it, do you follow sort of the traditional meditation guidance or is there something special that helps you use that 15 minutes of meditation for story crafting? Truly.

Speaker B: Yeah, I know I'm chuckling because you use the word traditional and Megan in the same sentence, so.

Speaker A: Uh, no, no, but that's a great question.

Speaker B: And so what I do, I will break it down. I do have a process and I would be happy to share it today because it's something that's evolved and I've changed and now it works for me. And what I'm saying, it won't work for everybody, but it works for me. And I'm hoping could be the foundation for Others as they figure out what works for them. I mean, that is the biggest disclaimer. But what I do is first, in this world of zoom and the world of 100 plus emails a day, etcetera, you have to step back and just disconnect. And so, honestly, honestly, the first five minutes is just me closing my eyes. And you might chuckle a little bit, but I really love agriculture and crops. And so I look for two syllable words and I just say that over and over in my head. So I say, because I worked on my PhD, barley, barley. And so barley is near and dear to my heart, North Dakota proud. So I say barley over until I can get myself into a calm state. And so then I can start envisioning a field of agriculture. Because that is what's calming for me is seeing things grow. Uh, you know, seeing the root structure to seeing the stems and the leaves and the branches. And that, to me, is super calming. You need to find calming for you and find that word that you can say over and over to get into the right frame of mind. I'm not an expert. Another disclaimer. This just works for me. And I had to, uh, find something that works for me. So my next step is, then, is just when you enter that piece of calmness for me, it's like little bubbles, because I'm a very creative, extrovert surprise. And, uh, what I do is I see little bubbles pop up, but I see bubbles of understanding of, ooh, I worked on a drone project today. Ooh, I worked on a robot project today. Oh, my goodness. I had an amazing presentation at middle school, and just given that space and that freedom to sit there, and it may be two or three things I focus on for each session, and I try to find three diverse areas. So you heard me mention drones, robots, stem, they're connected, but they're not exactly the same thing. And so what I do is, how can I get those connected? So then I spend the next five minutes, you know, diving into potential connectivity and interconnectivity and how to build together. And then the final thing is about myself is, what do I need today? And listening to my inner self of, uh, some days, honestly, I may just need a breakaway. You know, where I tell myself, megan, you're an hour 16 of Zoom. That is insane. You know, break away from the computer or step away, and. And that's how I do it. So first five minutes is trying to find what calms you some is an ocean. Mine's a field of agriculture, which shouldn't surprise all the listeners. But it's about being with the farmers and growing crops. And that's my first five minutes. The next five, I focus on the three core bubbles. I want to think about that day. And I try to pick diverse bubbles. You know, it varies every day. You could about imagine my mind, what it comes up with. And then the final five is tying it together, leaving with impact, and then, you know, making sure I'm listening to myself. You know, what do I need, you know, from me? How do I become a better leader, a better mom, a better wife, a better citizen, a better community member? How do I become a better colleague and employee? I look at all avenues to make sure I'm the best version of myself. And when I close out, I give myself a little bit of kudos. Now, this is the secret sauce. Here's the secret sauce, the caramel sauce on top of a sundae. Because I love caramel and sprinkles. Uh, that's a fun fact. But the caramel sauce is honestly, I put myself up and you're all going to laugh. So I put myself up saying, you know, I say megan, green and growing. Or I say megan, you got this. Or, you know, say megan, be you. And I do that at the end to give myself the energy. And then if you want to make it epic like we do at the household here, I run up to Alexa, I have her play some kids, bop kids with my kids, and we, we jam out to timber or some other song and we just let the good vibes roll and we do one quick dance party. So you meditate for 15, you spend two minutes doing a dance party and you're ready to conquer the world. I know it sounds probably a little, uh, different listening to it, but try it, try it, try it. Because it is so relaxing for me and it is probably what drives me and is a huge energy booster that I really, I do it on workdays and non work days too.

Speaker A: I love it. I love that so much. Thank you. Yeah, we will definitely. I'll talk to my team and if you don't mind, truly, we will include that in the innovation storytelling toolkit. I love it. Thank you so much for sharing that. So tell us. You know, uh, obviously we've gotten to talk a lot about you and your innovation journey and um, I just love every technique and recommendation that you've shared so far. Tell us the kind of projects you're working on, like what is the future of agriculture and what should, uh, for those in your same, uh, you know, there are probably listeners who are in your same vertical and those who are not. So share with us, you know, where you're finding interesting intersections with emergent technologies and the future of ag.

Speaker B: Absolutely. Uh, this is one of those areas I get really excited about. It gets me to jump out of bed and not hit the snooze button for sure. So if you look at the team that I work on at Corteva is really focusing on the identification, the development, the validation, the beta testing and the, and the deployment of technology. And so what's the so what for what my team focuses on? Well we really strive to enhance the efficiency, the safety, the data quality of the field scientist at Corteva. So the research sector hoping eventually that one of our quick wins or tech could uh, sink into the commercial and the farming network as well. But it's really about increasing the efficiency of data collection and data quality and safety of those research scientists in the field. And again we do this through development, validation, global deployment of those high impact digital tools. Now my team is spread across the world and for that I uh, just so exciting. I learned so much and they teach me more than probably I've ever taught them. And what I can say is that we work on things from drone technology. You know, when you look at drone technology in this space, it is evolving and it's going fast and it's moving quickly. Not just imaging, but also application. And so that's one area that we make sure that we keep an eye on. You know, exploring ground robotics. There's a lot of amazing startups out there that are just knocking it out of the park. It's fun connecting with those external vendors to see what they have, but also working with the internal teams of what could be and what we could do in the ground robotics area, whether it's through imaging or again application for spray application, there's a lot of exciting intersections. Um, also field sensors and cameras. You know, one thing you have to think about is that scientists spend a lot of time in the field or driving to fields or how can we look at that differently? Could we incorporate technology to make their jobs easier so they can focus on more of the science stuff we say instead of the driving stuff and then how can that technology translate over to the farmer and the customer? And so we are, our portfolios are really broad. Uh, currently we're working on streamlining those and getting those a little bit more specific and focused. But the team just rolls up their sleeves, they dive in and we find ways to tell the stories about crop growth differently. But also Better. And when I say better, you know, looking at a field and not just saying, huh, huh, yeah, it's brown, something's going on in there. But no, let's create a chapter book instead of a children's book, let's create a chapter book of understanding why is it brown, what's the soil type in that area, what kind of weather do we have. You know, looking at images, can we start diving into what disease is present or what pest or insect species do we see on the crop? Creating that chapter book is the future. And we have all the technology available, um, or not all of it, but a good chunk of it available today, that if we were to integrate and bring all those together for an overall one solution, it would be powerful. And so the biggest thing in agriculture that I get excited, excited about is that every situation is different. The customer's needs are different than our field scientists needs. And that changes at every region. And so I have the luxury in this current position of not just looking at corn and soybean, but looking at rice and bananas and different crops and understanding the different pivot points, uh, those pinch points that our customers have today. That's really, really exciting. And so if I had to summarize the agriculture technology space, I would say one area that really excites me is innovation, design thinking. It's incorporating the root cause analysis, problem solving technique. It's saying, hey, let's not incorporate this awesome new drone because it's fun, it's shiny, it's flashy, um, but instead, instead saying, what problem are we trying to solve? And then finding the right tool to help solve that problem. That is the future. That is where the focus should go. We have tools out there that we could incorporate. Awesome companies, companies are doing amazing things. There's uh, a lot of awesome stuff internally too. So how do we bring that together and switch our mindset to problem solvers instead of new tech incorporators? And I would, I would say that that's one of my pitch lines, is start solving problems and then using it like a puzzle piece, finding those right pieces of technology to incorporate at the right time. And so I tell my team, the best that we can do is we bring the right people and at the right time, at the right place. So let's be problem solvers. And that's the exciting thing about agriculture is rolling up our sleeves and start solving problems for the farmers, for the customers, for the consumers, but also the scientists, our stakeholders. And our audience is way more diverse than what I think some individuals think. When you think agriculture, you immediately think farmers. But there's so many hands that touch that kernel of corn, whether it's from the farmer, from, you know, going from the farm to table or table to farm. Thinking about all of the key stakeholder groups are really critical, and this is where it feeds into. One of my passions as being a mom is how can I maybe help other moms who aren't agriculture specialists or, you know, who maybe aren't as knowledgeable in some of these areas, or they want to learn more? How can I make this space fun for them so they can learn about biotechnology, so they can learn about, oh, cool. That's what a drone can do for us. Oh, that's really awesome. That's why Amazon's exploring it. Oh, cool. You know, I want to tell that story because we're in it together. And that's where the power of storytelling and the power of building together comes from, is that we are solving problems.

Speaker A: Such a good reminder in innovation storytelling that if you're sort of in a rut or in a pattern of always sort of describing, here's the latest tech, here's the latest tech, what are we going to do with it? What are we going to do with it? That, that it can, it can create, disconnect, and a little bit of, you know, it can miss the credibility factor of, do you have our users and their problems at the forefront of everything? Not that it's wrong for innovation teams to think, how do we find a technology in search of a problem or a solution in search of a problem? Because that happens, too, and we should exercise our minds in that way, too. But more often than not, innovation teams or R and D, the pain that I hear on this podcast and with our clients at Untold so often is why aren't we resonating with marketing or comms or leadership when we go and tell them about all the future tech trends? And if you're not relating that back to the consumer and the user and the people who will use it and the problem that it will solve and the impact that it can make, then it can much more easily be turned away or thought, well, that's not part of who we are at, uh, this organization and what we're striving to do together, always building that connection and that alignment with the organization mission and keeping the user as the hero at the heart of every innovation effort.

Speaker B: Oh, you said that beautifully, Katie.

Speaker A: Oh, thank you.

Speaker B: It's so true. This is a good analogy I had. So, uh, recently we took our daughters to an arcade and water park. And at the arcade you play these fun games, you get these amazing tickets. So you think, and then you get the hard decision. You take those tickets up to the calendar, ready to pick out your prize, the winning prize to take home and remember your trip by. It's almost paralyzing. We sat there, there's five different cases of just different, just random trinkets. I called them trinkets. And my daughter just sat there and I didn't blame her. I said, whoa, that is overload. You know, trying to make a decision, not having all the background. And I, and I, and I relate that to what we're talking about today is, yeah, we could get paralyzed by looking at, oh, all these amazing startups and look at this technology and these new robots and drones, et cetera. But if we're not focused on the customer, in my case, if we're not focused on the farmer, the, uh, hands where the technology is really critical, we are doing agriculture disservice. And so it's really about understanding who are our stakeholders, who are our customers and what problem are we trying to solve.

Speaker A: And the startups that want so badly to work with enterprise organizations like Corteva, they need to keep that in mind. Whenever you have an opportunity to pitch, lead with, uh, the deepest understanding that you can possibly have of that organization's customers and be wary of making yourself the hero. A lot of traditional startup stories we're used to hearing about the garage guru who persevered and toiled in their parents garage and finally came up with this genius solution that just worked suddenly and instead really taking yourself out of that hero lens and remembering that at the end of the day, it's about your customer's customer. It's a thing to keep in mind. So I love that vision too of your daughter being stuck trying to decide on this terrible point.

Speaker B: I, I feel like that most days, you know, you sit there with all the ding, ding, ding, ding, the blinking lights and all the colors shining at you and uh, you have five minutes to make a decision. You know, that's where we meet amazing startups, amazing CEOs, and you're trying to find the best decision. And so when I did the mindset change to problem solving, it made that decision so much easier because now I have the stakeholders and the customers best interests at heart and now I can deliver solution that will be impacted in the field. So, yeah, that's something that just came to me. Aha. See Megan's journal, the boss journal. I wrote down arcade ticket selection Process. Any parent listening will understand when I say it's fun until you get to the table to pick a prize.

Speaker A: Yeah. And then it's like, okay, honey, do you want to, you know, have something that's going to last a little longer that you're going to have to put effort towards, like a little bit journal there, or do you want to just immediate gratification and get that lollipop and walk away? Yeah. Well, Megan, this has been amazing. I'm so grateful to have met you. I know all of our listeners will just be energized at the end of this episode. Maybe more than any episode we've had on this podcast. So where can we find you on LinkedIn and Instagram? I know. Is it Megan Lewis, right?

Speaker B: Yep. So Instagram, I really keep it focused on work and it's at Dr. Megan, so at Dr. M M A G A N. And it's really about my STEM postings or I love photography, so I take tons of photos and I love to share it with the world and maybe teach a little sprinkle of science in there. I may ask my, my followers to say, hey, do you know this genius species? If you don't, you should. Let's learn something new every day. So I will be amping that up a little bit now because I thought of a creative way to give back, uh, just to the followers that have an Instagram, but also LinkedIn. LinkedIn. I try to keep it updated. And the world of zoom. I thought that I would have more time to keep it updated, but I will do my best to keep it up to date, but really it is about building together. I actually started teaching LinkedIn profiles to graduate students and undergrad students across the United States. And it's been a fun journey. And if you're ever interested, I would enjoy walking you and the team through it because I take a different approach to it. Where I really listened to this is, uh, your about statement, viewers. So if you're, if you're listening, there's an about statement on LinkedIn where I really focus on it because I want to hear about the drive, what drove you to come to agriculture or science or innovation. And I, maybe I'm the only one, but I really focus on that about statement and that paragraph because it tells a story. So for the listeners out there, one thing you can do today without, before you do anything is work on you, be your strongest advocate, go to your about section, start filling it out, and tell Dr. Megan your story. Tell me why you do what you do. Maybe Sprinkle in some of those key experiences and exposures instead of coursework. Don't tell me coursework. Uh, tell me those critical life skills or experiences that have formed you to who you are today and pitch me that same story. You know, one area that I just worked on last week with one of my mentees is that she was a first generation PhD. I mean, that's powerful. You start with that and then you talk about the passion and rice breeding, etc. That's where the magic sauce is, is you have it. So I am telling all the listeners is to start dumping out that bottle and sharing that with the world, because you got it. And I'm excited to read it and start building together and creating that inter connectivity and connectivity with all of you.

Speaker A: I love it. Okay, so if you're listening and you update your about section, definitely comment to us on LinkedIn or Instagram, to Dr. Megan and to Untold Content or me, Katie Trout Taylor, and we can start up a conversation. We can take a look at each other's about statements and continue to be our best selves. Megan, I'm so grateful that I got to meet you and interact with you on this podcast. It's been such a pleasure.

Speaker B: It was awesome today. One of my energy boosters for sure. So we need to do this again. And also on, um, LinkedIn. Send me a private message. If you want me to help you become the best version of yourself, I am happy to do it. I do it for over 15 or 20 individuals a day and it's one way that I feel I can give back. So if you're listening, you want me to take a peek at your about statement or just help make your LinkedIn profile pop? I'm not an expert, but I would be happy to be your support board and your listening board and we could start building together. But Katie, this was awesome.

Speaker A: So thank you. Awesome. Definitely talk to Dr. Megan and we will talk to you again really, really soon. Thank you so much for being here.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Speaker A: Thanks for listening to this week's episode. Be sure to follow us on social media and your voice to the conversation. You can find us at, uh, Untold Content.