Stop 10: Studio

Winthrop immediately began purchasing land atop the broad plateau of Petit Jean Mountain – nearly 1000 acres – and set about building his farm. He envisioned a model cattle farm atop Petit Jean where innovative practices and a first-class breeding operation could support cattle farming in the South (photo 1a). He would realize his dream in the creation of Winrock Farms (photo 1B).

However, his neighbors, welcoming though they may have been, told him that it couldn’t be done. There was no way to grow pasture for feeding cattle… the soil was too rocky and there was no water on the mountain. But as Winthrop says,

“Boundaries of all kinds have always frustrated me, and these became only a part of the challenge…not only to me, as a new citizen, but to my new neighbors as themselves. I waded in and began to find the satisfaction I had once found before as a roustabout in the Texas oil fields.”

When you have an idea that seems impossible people will often tell you it can’t be done and they’ll be sure to give you reasons why. Winthrop resolved to find a way to pipe water almost 200 feet to the top of Petit Jean Mountain (photo 2).

We’ve now come to our fourth R of leadership – Resolve, which is about asking “why not” and thinking creatively about our greatest challenges so that we can indeed do what others thought couldn’t be done. In fact, one of the responses Winthrop had to the naysayers about Winrock Farms was that, “the problems ahead are obscured by my dream.” Winthrop was an entrepreneurial thinker. Because he dreamed big, he thought most problems were solvable.

The Institute as a convener sparks entrepreneurial thinking by engaging subject matter experts who can help others see the possibilities for change and by helping groups do their best thinking through meeting design and facilitation, so that the wisdom and creativity of the group strengthen the RESOLVE to find solutions to complex problems.