Anne Runkel and her team of scientists and engineers are dedicated to developing science-based biological solutions for agriculture. Runkel received her Ph.D. in plant biology at the University of California, Berkeley, contributing to the field of plant cell and molecular biology. She has a long history of conducting research in the field of plant and microbial biology.
Q: How would you describe your leadership style?
A: I provide clear direction and the big picture, but my team is really self-directed. Especially in innovation, it’s important to have space to be creative and solve problems on their own. That’s usually where you find the best solution.
Q: From a leadership standpoint, what have you learned in your position?
A: You start with a great idea but what really what ends up differentiating it into something that makes it to market or solves a real problem is working with different people and collaborating. The execution brings the solution to success.
Q: What strategies do you employ to help bring your team together?
A: People become close as a team when they work on something hard together, so it helps to find opportunities for them to have ownership and solve things together. That’s where I made some of the best connections with my team members. You find the areas where you’re strong and where others can fill the gaps.
Q: What are two of your favorite business tools?
A: My team is from Spain to Florida to North Carolina, and then we partner with the global Mosaic business, so India and China. The ability to speak to one another on video chat is important. But then the other tools I really like are organizing systems that don’t require you necessarily to always have a conversation. You can go and check the status of a project, or update it so that everyone in the business or group that’s working on something is contributing to it.
Q: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
A: I had a mentor who said, “Never say yes — but.” You have to be open-minded to opportunities that might not initially seem exciting or might seem problematic in some way. It’s important to pause and think about it first. The other piece of advice I’ve gotten is to be ruthless with your time management. Especially in a leadership position, you’re going to have many different directions and opportunities to do lots of things. You need to focus that time or none of it gets finished.
Q: What advice would you give to someone just getting started in an ag career?
A: One of the things that was very impactful for me was to be out in the field. Find opportunities to shadow, to help out, to volunteer, wherever you’ll meet people who are actually in the space and spend time in the field. For innovation, the biggest breakthroughs are going to be where you’re really solving a problem a grower has or retailer has, and it’s very difficult to see that if you’re not there.
Your Next Read — Leaders in Ag: Rena Striegel Shares Her Thoughts on Leading With Intention
