The Warrior and the Farmer

#13 - 12.13.20

Brother -

Let me tell you a story. The background is that I was 24 years old, and I just moved from Intuit to Demandforce, a company that Intuit recently acquired. Demandforce was a small start-up that, upon acquisition, kept its own office, autonomy - and culture.

I loved the switch. It was like I finally got invited to the cool party. The leaders were high energy, accessible, and driven. They ignited a passion in the employees and myself.

One day I had a 1:1 with Rick, the CEO of the company. I asked him about the differences in culture between Demandforce and Intuit. How did he see this playing out over time?

He said, “Nate - let me tell you a story that I recently told Brad (the then CEO of Intuit) when he asked him about how to merge their cultures.”

“Brad - there are two types of people in this world. There are warriors and there are farmers. When I look at Intuit, I see a bunch of… farmers. You guys are tending to your crops, and you know what? You make some pretty damn good corn. 

But Brad, you see, at Demandforce... we are warriors. We go out and take what doesn’t belong to us and make it ours.”

As Rick finished the story, he knew he had me hooked. I was eating up every word like a little puppy begging for more wisdom. He then looked me dead in the eyes and said, 

“Nate, this is important, and you need to decide in your life. Do you want to be a Farmer? or do you want to be a Warrior?”

I’ve never forgotten that day. It’s was the best lesson anyone could’ve given me about if you want something - go out and get it. When I reflect on the things where I’ve punched above my weight class over the years, whether it was my career opportunities or my partner, it’s because of this mentality. The future belongs to the bold.

Let me leave you with a quote and a question.

“Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth.”

-Machiavelli

What do you truly want? 

Enjoy the dance,

Nate