SUN VALLEY, IDAHO — The many dimensions of effective leadership were the focus of remarks at the annual meeting of the North American Millers’ Association by Daniel P. Dye, who recently retired as chief executive officer of Ardent Mills LLC. Dye spoke during a Sept. 13 dinner and awards ceremony after he was elected an honorary member of NAMA. The event was held at the Sun Valley Resort in Sun Valley.  A past chair of NAMA, Dye was presented the award by incoming NAMA chair Tedd Kruse, president of ADM Milling & Baking Solutions. He was introduced by L. Joshua Sosland, editor of Milling & Baking News. Dye’s remarks follow:

Thanks to Josh for those kind words and to Jane (DeMarchi, NAMA president) and the NAMA staff for their outstanding leadership — and to NAMA overall — this is a tremendous honor and very humbling.  

I feel that I have benefited so much from being part of this great industry — from the very first day when I moved from grain trading and handling over to flour milling I knew I was in the right place — such an amazing industry doing so many great things to help so many people —and we all get to be a part of it.

I look across this room and there are so many good friends and colleagues and I wish I could thank each of you personally but I do want to give a special thanks to Tom Kice — Tom and Jo welcomed me warmly at my very first NAMA meeting about 15 years ago in Washington, DC — and we have enjoyed the friendship and the connections so much.   And also to Rick Schwein — Rick is such a champion for NAMA and one who welcomes people in and truly embraces this organization and this industry.  So many others who have been so great to work with and a pleasure to get to know.   There is a uniqueness about NAMA and the collaborative spirit and commitment to work together toward a better industry is very special.   

What industry can say that their primary product is called out in the Lord’s prayer — “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Don’t ever take for granted the importance of the work that you do.

One of the leadership axioms I use often is that “people want to be led” and the follow up to that is that we have a responsibility as leaders to lead well, and we need to take that very seriously — in our individual companies and at NAMA as an organization. You have significant influence and impact — our industry wants us to lead well and how we lead matters. We need to preserve what is important and continue to look at challenges and opportunities that we face through a collective industry lens, not just through the lens of our own companies. It is an important and high calling to lead well — to do what is good and right for our industry. We need to take a long-term perspective, not a short-term view. We need to look beyond what will help us and our company situations and do what is right for the industry, the customer, the consumer. We need to look at what is best for the greater good, the broader lens. We need to have that NAMA lens knowing that in the end, what is best for the industry overall will be what is best for our companies. So a reminder that people want to be led and we are here collectively as part of NAMA to lead this industry well. You are not just here because you are a great leader in your company, but because we need you to help lead the industry. The milling industry deserves it, our customers deserve it, consumers deserve it.

I want to share 9 L’s for the flour milling industry going forward — if we lead with these 9 L’s in mind, I believe we will continue to have breakthroughs and serve others well.

Leaning into headwinds — There will be challenges and difficult stretches — we have been through much before and have pressed through those times by leaning into the headwinds we have faced. Whether it was Atkins in 2001 or the gluten-free movement featuring books like “Grain Brain,” “Wheat Belly,” and “Bread is the Devil” (that all were on The New York Times bestseller list at one point) — and the ongoing misinformation about carbs and our products. Not to mention a global pandemic, geopolitical unrest, and economic uncertainty. In the end the flour milling industry will prevail and find ways to not just survive but to thrive, but it will require leaning into the headwinds and working together through NAMA to help chart the path forward.  If we don’t lean in, we will get blown over.

Lifting others up — While many of us compete with one another, there is much common ground and we all do best when we lift others up.  There are so many areas of joint interest and value — like food safety, workplace safety and many ways that we can do the right thing to lift up the industry. It is when we focus on the positive, not the negative; on the possible, not the worst case; on the opportunity, not the problem — that is when we lift others up and lift this industry up so that we can keep doing the important work of feeding others and helping others with our great products. If we don’t lift up, we will push down.

Lighting the way through darkness and difficulty — There are clouds, storms, roadblocks that can create uncertainty, doubt, and darkness — we have an amazing opportunity as NAMA to bring light to the darkness — to bring hope when things seem hopeless. Look at what happened in COVID — there was darkness everywhere, but products made with the flour and other ingredients that NAMA members produced brought light — people were comforted, families came together, we brought light to a dark time. Keep the light shining bright by doing the right things the right way to serve and help others. If we don’t bring light, we settle for darkness.

Listening to others — It is so important as a trade association and an industry to listen well, to be in tune with different perspectives, and just to pay close attention to what is going on. We can fall into the trap of thinking we are owners of the truth and miss the opportunity to listen — there is a lot of wisdom, experience, and knowledge around us and when we listen there is great benefit. If we don’t listen, we don’t learn.

Learning from challenges and experiences — How we respond and react to the difficulties we face is key to success — and when we learn from the setbacks we need to lean into and from the experiences that stretch us and enrich us, we benefit greatly. Learning is a lifelong journey and as an industry we have an incredible opportunity to learn from other sectors of our broader industry and even from other industries. That is the value of the sessions and the speakers we have at these industry meetings and the ongoing learning mindset that we all benefit from. If we don’t learn, we miss opportunities.

Leveraging strengths and momentum — There are many strengths of our industry and our products, and it is up to us to leverage those effectively. I always like to think of the five key strengths of the products made with our ingredients — Versatile, Affordable, Safe, Nutritious, and critically important in the food industry — Delicious — how can we better leverage those amazing strengths and the momentum we have from broad acceptance — household penetration of bread is in the high 90th percentile — we have a great foundation to leverage and build upon and a great story to tell. If we don’t leverage, we don’t optimize.

Living with passion and energy — How we show up makes all the difference and when we bring a passion and care and energy — it fuels optimism and positive momentum. We have so much to be appreciative of and so many reasons to bring our best effort and performance and to be excited about this industry and the great things we do every day. We need NAMA to be active and proactive, pushing and engaging. If we don’t live, we stagnate.

Leading with purpose and clarity — Leadership brings with it great responsibility and as an industry association and leaders in the industry we need to lead with purpose — it is what brings meaning and significance. We are impacting peoples’ lives ever day across North America in a positive way — every day the organizations represented by the people in this room feed North America — we must do it well. And we need to do it with clarity and direction — embracing a clear strategy and a straightforward approach. If we don’t lead, we flounder.

Loving from the heart — Finally, and really tying everything together, is a willingness to love genuinely from the heart. Love for the amazing people that work around the clock to produce the incredible products that people enjoy, love for this great industry that literally feeds North America every day, love for the customers and consumers that utilize our products, love for the opportunity we have to be part of something very special. Love and care for all of our people leads to better engagement, better safety, better customer service and just a better world overall. If we don’t love, we isolate.

So to every wheat miller, oat miller, corn miller, associate member, industry partner, NAMA staff member, and guest representing the NAMA community here, I leave you with this challenge:

Lean in forcefully.

Lift up graciously.

Bring light brightly.

Listen attentively.

Learn thoughtfully.

Leverage strengths meaningfully.

Live passionately.

Lead purposely.

Love wholeheartedly.

If we all do those things and bring that attitude NAMA and the milling industry will continue to have breakthroughs and continue to make a positive difference in people’s lives every day.

Thanks for the opportunity to serve together with you as part of this great organization and I look forward to staying in touch with you in the future.