Control the Narrative, Own the Outcome: What Agribusiness Professionals Can Learn from Chuck Magro, David Friedberg and John Deere

Over the last month, I have listened to or read more than 40 agribusiness analysts calls and talked to almost two-dozen agribusiness founders and CEOs.

This has highlighted some examples of what great CEOs and businesses do better than others.

One stand out has been controlling the narrative.

Controlling the narrative of your business is crucial for any company or CEO.

For a CEO, maintaining control over the company story ensures that internal and external stakeholders perceive a clear and consistent direction, and doesn’t let others, such as media or competitors, steer your messaging off-course while also paving the way for clarity in seeing the organization vision— leading to buy-in, better decision making and execution.

Chuck Magro and Corteva

One example is Corteva CEO, Chuck Magro. His ability to control the narrative about Corteva, their strategy and the market on an analyst call is exceptional. This skillset has been observable since his time at Nutrien and I think he has done an even better job at Corteva given they have a new strategy to deliver on.

There are two specific things Chuck does well to control the narrative:

1. Frames how Corteva views the environment/concept etc. and sets the stage for the more detailed answer from his counterparts.

2. Reiterates key messages that tie back to their strategy.

When an analyst asks a question to the executive team, Chuck often steps in first with comments like these to favorably frame the question and answer (from Q1 2024 Earnings Call):

So let me start. I'll give you the backdrop and then Dave can help you with the bridging.

or

Let me give you the overall context for the Seed Strategy and then Tim can answer the question on the current dynamics, and what we're finding from an order book perspective.

Related to the second example, Chuck went on to emphasize examples in executing their strategy, such as the number of hybrids being launched, becoming a “net technology seller” (regarding licensing their traits) and their ability to obtain price premiums in the market— all of which reiterate their commitment to, and execution of, their strategy.

I would suspect Chuck’s approach on calls further benefits his colleagues, too— giving them more time to think through their specific answer, leading to a better answer delivered while also reinforcing important signals to the entire company, trickling down to everyone within Corteva, and outside when it comes to talent attraction.

Narrative ownership goes beyond publicly traded company benefits— it is valuable in startup founders and CEOs, too.

Ohalo and David Friedberg

I was recently on a call with Ohalo CEO David Friedberg. I asked a question surrounding his thoughts on the acceptance of their “boosted breeding” technology in regions like Europe.

Instead of answering the question with some variation of “we are confident there will not be an issue because of x” Dave’s response stood out. He started with:

Let’s take a step back and walk through what the European Union is concerned about.

Dave went on to concisely elaborate on EU concerns around GMOs, new occurrences in the EU openness to gene editing and articulated the differences between their concerns and Ohalo’s technology in a simple way and then went on to directly answer the question.

Dave reframed my question around ensuring an understanding of what the EU is against and what Ohalo’s technology is, delivering not only a better answer, but deeper insight into the technology and industry considerations.

Controlling a narrative can go beyond CEO competency, too.

John Deere

A company example that stands out is John Deere. They have cultivated a premium brand in a commoditized industry, and done so for the better part of two centuries— product quality and a focus on delivering value to the customer and dealership has driven much of this success. But I think it’s important to highlight their ability to shape a narrative among all stakeholders, which I think has contributed to their success as well.

Take this quote from their Q2 2024 earnings call: