Episode 727 - Love in Leadership: Lessons from Pursell Farms

This Monday morning, Phil reflects on the exceptional environment of Pursell Farms, where the legacy of Jimmy Pursell continues to guide every interaction. Through the wisdom of Mr. Willie Wykoff, he has learned that the farm’s success isn’t about stunning facilities, but it’s about a culture grounded in love, humility, and sincere human connection. This episode offers a powerful reminder that the way we treat others defines not just our organizations, but the impact we leave on the world.

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Transcript

 Top performers in every field surround themselves with those who inspire them, who seek to build them up, and who push them to reach beyond their current limits. I'm Phil Buchanan, executive chairman of Cannon Financial Institute. To, I designed Monday Morning Mojo to provide you with a weekly spark, a push and motivational insight to live your best life. Thanks for joining.

Good Monday morning, Cannon Nation. Phil here with episode 727 of Monday Morning Mojo. Mr. Willie Wykoff had a 30 year career with the Alabama Power Company. It was a good career with a good company. It provided him with the necessary resources to raise a family and to live his life. Yet in hearing Mr. Willie talk, his life really elevated to an entirely different level after his retirement for Alabama Power, it was when he met Mr. Jimmy Pursell. Mr. Pursell was, uh, business owner. He had a fertilizer company, but he always seemed to have dreams of something more, a little bigger, a little bit more impactful perhaps.

As part of his fertilizer business, Mr. Pursell built a golf course near SGA, Alabama. Now, to put it bluntly, s Kaga is off the beaten path. It's not a place most people would come across by accident. The original purpose of the golf course was for client entertainment and to use as a testing ground for various fertilizers and turf grass applications.

But again, Mr. Pursell had a bigger vision. He wanted the course and the land surrounding it to be a place of reflection, spiritual and emotional rejuvenation, and to foster deeper, more meaningful relationships. When Mr. Willie met Mr. Pursell. He was drawn not only to Mr. Pursell, the man, but also to the vision Mr.

Pursell had for what today is known as Pursell Farms. Now Pursell Farms has become everything Mr. Pursell dreamed of and probably a lot more. The venue is beautiful. There's a lodge and separate housing for accommodations, and they are top quality as is the food, the spa, the sporting clay range, and the golf course.

But you know, there are dozens of places across the US that have equal or even better facilities. Yet what makes Pursell Farms the unique experience is that the ethos Mr. Pursell carried through his life, it carries on today, and Mr. Willy and all of the staff and all of the employees at Pursell Farms, I learned that Mr.

Willie arrives at Pursell Farms every morning, a little before 6:00 AM each morning that I was there, I sat. Drank coffee and chatted with Mr. Willie. On my last day there, he asked me if I had figured out what made the place so special. I quickly said, well, it's you and it's the other employees. It's how you engage them.

He smiled, thought for a second and said, it's deeper than that. It starts with love. If you love people, if you show love. It draws the right people, employees, guests, et cetera, and maybe teaches them to show love as well. That day I went on to watch several other employees interact with each other and with guests, and Mr.

Willy was absolutely right in his assessment. See, evidently, Mr. Pursell had interacted with all of his employees customers in his community at large from a perspective of love for his fellow man, and that was regardless of age or race or gender or financial status. And it was this perspective that drew people in and inculcated in them really at a deep, deep level, that same perspective, and that allows it to carry on Today, even years after Mr.

Pursell's passing, it certainly carries on in Mr. Willie. You know, corporations and businesses often tout their culture as being a differentiating factor. It's what separates their organization. For some groups, the concept of culture is often memorialized in vision and mission statements. But there is culture in every organization.

In some businesses like Pursell Farms, it is tremendously positive. Yet, in other organizations, it's, it's almost toxic. There are some cultures that lift people up, yet in others it instills fear. A positive culture is always rooted. And how one treats another. You know, if one feels the respect, appreciation, and love of their colleagues and their leadership team, it will be carried on in their actions and their beliefs and their conversations.

But the opposite is absolutely true when there's a toxic culture. Over the last three plus decades, I've traveled millions of miles. I've seen all 50 states. I've been to dozens of foreign countries, and as a result of that, I've often been asked on numerous occasions, quote unquote, how people are in this state or in in that country.

My answer is almost always great. They're outstanding. Why do you ask? And invariably the person will say something to the effect, well, I've heard this, or I've heard that about people from there. Meaning that they have an opinion or a belief that's based on hearsay. You know, I always try to share with them something that my dad told me when I was a, a young kid, and he said something to the effect of, people are more of a reflection of how you treat them.

Than anything else. That was true when I was a kid, and that's absolutely true. Today, Mr. Willie Wykoff gives and gets the very best in treatment from others because he gives the best in treatment to others. The love of others that he shows comes back to him tenfold, a hundred fold over and. I really believe that he and others like him serve as an example by the way he encounters, and by the way, he treats others The lesson in all of this, if we want the best in others, we always have to give them the very best of ourselves.

Monday Morning Mojo is production of Cannon Financial Institute, executive producer of Monday Morning. Mojo is Sarah Jones. Editing and mixing is done by Danny Brunner. Until next time, I'm Phil Buchanan reminding you to be a force for good. Have a great week and thanks for being part of the Mojo community.