Joe Elliott’s President's Speech

One year ago almost to the day I was setting in Freedom Hall watching the Angus Female Show here at the North American and visiting with a very wise sage from Missouri. His name was not Tom. His name was Doc, as in Doc Smith. Doc and I had been talking and watching about 30 minutes when a lovely lady that was born and raised in the state of Arkansas joined us. That lady, Julie McMahon French, told us of a proverb from France who I had never heard before, but I have thought about it a lot since. Julie said “Nothing is so dangerous as an idea, if it’s the only one you have.”

As this statement rolled around in my head I was reminded of a story that the motivational speaker Zig Ziglar told. The story had to do with his wife cooking a ham shortly after they were married. Mr. Ziglar was watching his new bride prepare a ham for cooking. She cut the end off of the ham and then put the ham minus the end into a pot. He inquired as to why she had removed the end of the ham. She answered “I don’t know why it is just the way my mother always cooked a ham.” Zig suggested that they ask her mother why she cut the end off of the ham. They did and her reply was “My mother always did it that way.” Zig said “We need to ask your mother why.” The grand mother of his new bride had the very same answer, “I don’t know why other than my mother always cooked hams that way.” As luck would have it the new Mrs. Ziglar’s great grand mother was still alive and in good health. You guessed it they went and put the question to her. “Why do you always cut off the end of the ham before you put it into the pot to cook?” they asked. The matriarch look surprised and said “I cut off the end of the ham because my pot is not big enough.”

How many times do we humans do things a certain way because that is the way that they have always been done? Why don’t we think? Could there be a better way? Do I need a bigger pot? Do I already have a pot that is big enough?

“Nothing is so dangerous as an idea, if it is the only one you have.”

For over twenty years I, like many of you in this room, have journeyed to our annual meeting. We have heard many speakers, both from this podium and from the body of delegates, make statements putting forth ideas. Some of wisdom uttered in the past I have never understood. Some of the statements were true at the time they were made but they have been passed by a changing world. Others are just as true today as they were when they were conceived.

I went back in my notes and pulled out some of the past statements made here at our annual meeting over the past twenty-plus years. As a history of where we have been and perhaps where we might be headed, I am going to read a few of these statements. My notes were not exact so these should be considered as paraphrases.

n The strength of the Angus breed is the Angus cow.

n Our enemy is chicken.

n We do not need anymore cowboys on our board, what we need are professional people who have been successful in other businesses on our board.

n The strength of the Angus breed is the people involved.

n We need to give more money to universities for research.

n We have met the enemy and he is us.

n Let us face it, our cattle are not big enough.

Some I do not understand.
Some have been made obsolete by a changing world.
Some hold just as much water today as they did the day they were first put forth.

I want to dwell for just a minute on four ideas that were recently put forth at this annual meeting. Two are statements of fact and two are visionary. I feel that these ideas will be just as true ten, fifteen even fifty years from now as they are today.

Bud Smith from KY said “BS might get you to the top but it will not keep you there.”

Leroy Baldwin from FL stated “We in agriculture are producing food for consumers that do not understand what it takes for us to feed them. Yet they set the rules and make the laws that govern how we must operate. We must educate our urban brethren.”

Howard Hillman from S.D. stated that “A ship in port is a safe ship but, it will never take you anywhere if it stays in port.”

Steve Brooks from N.D. just last year said “There will be more changes in our industry in the next five years than there have been in the past twenty.”

I ran across a quote from a man by the name of A. L. Rogers. I do not know much about Mr. Rogers other than he was an educator. In closing I would like to share this quote with you.

“During times of change the learners will inherit the earth and the learned will find themselves beautifully prepared for a world that no longer exists.

Let me say that again. “During times of change the learners will inherit the earth and the learned will find themselves beautifully prepared for a world that no longer exists.”

Ladies and gentlemen since the beginning of time man has lived in a time of change. As you go forth from this place I challenge each of you as Angus enthusiasts, agricultural producers, professionals, and humans to be learners because “Nothing is so dangerous as an idea, if it’s the only one you have.”

Thank you