HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-10-15, Page 7Lifelong Brussels resident NeilHemingway recently completed the
first leg of the province-wide
Advanced Agricultural Leadership
Program (AALP), a course for thirty
select pupils that will take place over
the next year and a half.
Hemingway is a former pork
producer and current employee of
BroadGrain Commodities in
Seaforth and Toronto.
The leadership course, which is
offered through The Centre for Rural
Leadership (TCRL), is in its 25th
year and Hemingway is part of its
13th class. The course is not new to
him, however. He has known about
the course and its benefits for the 25
years it has been in existence. He
even knows several people who have
taken the course throughout the
years.
The first seminar, in late
September, was held in Guelph, but
the remaining seven seminars will
take place all across the province,
spanning from Sarnia to Ottawa,
stopping at many places in between.
The first class dealt with a lot of
ice-breaking exercises and aimed to
polish the business and inter-
personal skills of the students, as
well as illustrating the finer skills of
business etiquette.
Hemingway says that the 13th
class is an eclectic bunch, with
people from agribusiness,
government and primary agriculture.
He says he can see the benefits of
this course for someone of any age,
because it deals with not only
executive business development but
interpersonal skills, which everyone
needs in some aspect of their life.
The course has been called a
“program for men and women who
want to help shape the future of
Ontario agriculture,” but
Hemingway says it’s so much more
than that, teaching skills to better
people in their three major aspects of
life: family, work and community.
The course description says it
aims to build the knowledge, skills,
courage and confidence of its
students. Personally knowing some
of the alumni, Hemingway says the
program certainly meets all
expectations.
Upon completion of the course
including several self directed
learning assignments, which is
spread over eight meetings across 19
months, Hemingway will have
earned a working MBA with
accreditation to the University of
Guelph.
Hemingway was notified of the
call for applicants by the Ontario
Federation of Agriculture and he
hopes to be graduating in March
2011 in London after the long haul
the course provides.
In addition to the seminars, there
will be two study tours. One of the
tours will be a North American tour
and the other will be international.
As of right now, he says, no one has
been notified as to where the
international study tour will take
them, which is common for the
program. Typically, he said, organizers waituntil closer to the date to avoid anygeographical road blocks, forinstance, that travelling to Mexico
during the outbreak of the H1N1
virus would have created.
The first seminar dealt with
leadership: theory and application.
The second seminar, which takes
place in November, deals with
personality, self-understanding anddevelopment, which is a portion ofthe program where students’significant others will be invited toround out the experience.
Further seminars will deal with
decision making, responsibility,
political process, urban society,
media, dealing with the issues,
federal government, globalization,
trade, modeling leadership and
wrapping up with a look ahead.In order to be accepted into theprogram, Hemingway said, you needto be an active member of theagricultural community, which he is.
Hemingway has spent time
working with the 4-H clubs of Huron
County, the local fair boards and
several commodity groups over the
years. In addition to those public
forums, Hemingway has also been a
regular participant in the MultipleSclerosis bike rides and hisemployer is involved with the 2010Habitat for Humanity project inSeaforth.
Hemingway believes firmly that
this program is an excellent
opportunity for personal and
business development that will prove
to be important for decades to
come.
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2009. PAGE 7.Brussels man takes leadership courseBy Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen