PR ES I DEN T’S COLUM N
MARIE MCCONNELL Lake County Nursery
VALUE November is here and I now have 11 articles under my belt – granted this one was submitted a little late – but only because I have so much to share and was having a hard time wrapping my head around it all. That said, I officially have one more article left to write before I hand the reins over to next year’s president in January. I will say, that for as hesitant as I was to take on the writing portion of my duties as president, I have learned so much about myself and what we – as a company, an association, and personally – mean to the communities we serve. Many of you may not know this, but over the course of this year I’ve been honored with the opportunity to teach a class on Garden Center and Nursery Management for the Plant Science Technology Department at Tri-C. When offered the position, all I could think was WOW! Now that the class is well on its way, my thoughts are more “holy cannoli,” because the college, and our industry, is counting on me to give value to these potential employees. The word “value” can mean so many different things. As a noun, the definition is: the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. As a verb, the definition is: to consider (someone or something) to be important or beneficial; have a high
opinion of or to be given monetary worth. But value is perceived by everyone very differently. It turns out, value is solely in the eye of the beholder. As either a noun, or a verb, it helps to have a standard when assigning value. The standard I’ve assigned to my value, as it applies to the students in my class, is how well I fulfill the expectation of providing information that enables them to earn a better living. As it applies to the industry – a profession that is struggling to attract quality employees – I’ve also assigned myself a value based on whether or not those I teach possess the knowledge necessary to contribute. Talk about pressure, right? continued on page 6 The Growing Concern |
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