FarmedHere is a Chicago based company which does vertical farming. This means that they have a huge production hall where they use aquaponic indoor growing in order to grow their goods like basil more efficient and the most local as possible.
Due to his background in architecture Paul Hardej had the abilities to construct and design the whole production line which was needed for the aquaponic farming. In addition to that he also designed the special lightning technology that is use by FarmedHere.
Unfortunately we only had a few minutes to talk to Paul, but even this short space of time gave me the chance to get a little insight in his style of leadership and running a business. From the beginning on he tries to get our point of view by asking us several questions e.g. if we like the farm or if we can imagine that such a business model will be successful in Germany as well. This behavior shows that he wants to get insights from outside, which makes him kind of a participative leader. A participative leader always tries to connect with his employees or other stakeholders in order to improve the business.
In case of characteristics it gets harder to describe a person just by talking to him about 5 minutes. But what comes to my mind if i try to answers this question is that Paul really seems modest even he built up a great company and has been successful in architecture before as well. This is something that really impressed me because in my opinion you can only be successful if you stay hungry. And staying hungry can only be achieved if you are modest and always aiming for a higher goal. Another point that impresses me was his good overview about the whole business. Besides of questions concerning the construction of the production line or architecture he was also able to answer financial questions without any problem.
This point is something really important that i connect with a good leader. Because in my opinion a good leader needs to be like a lighthouse. A high point that sets the direction for the whole group. I think this can only be reached if you really know what you are doing and why you are doing this. Because if e.g. an employee gets the impression that you are not convinced of the project you're working on he or she will be feared because if the leader himself don't believe in the success who else should believe this.
In the end I can't say that Paul Hardej is kind of a leader that inspires me. There are several other leaders that really inspire me and help me finding my own style of leadership. But meeting Paul was a really great experience that gave me new insights in a totally new business.
Sources: http://vfua.org/speaker/paul-hardej-chief-technology-officer-vertical-farming/, http://farmedhere.com/
Niklas, I love your analogy of a leader as a lighthouse. That's brilliant and articulates in an insightful way the leadership style I aspire to also. This is why I try to be #allin on all the projects I lead.
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