Episode 10:
Anita Janssen is a transformational leader and serial entrepreneur who has straddled the fence between the corporate world and agribusiness. She has worked with Fortune 1000 C-level clients, as well as having founded and managed several businesses, including the launch of an agri-venture that went from $0 to $100 million in just 24 months. Anita is the managing partner of Equi-Tek LLC and the President and COO of BioMatrix International. She is a true visionary leader and a role model for women in business. Her passion, drive and unconquerable attitude have taken her far in agribusiness, a male-dominated industry with relatively few women leaders.
What You Will Learn:
- Anita shares how she grew up on a dairy farm and has been adjacent to agriculture for her entire life. She shares her career journey and explains how she went into the corporate world and then moved to agriculture to follow her passion.
- She explains the challenges she has faced, like many women in business working in the world of agriculture, and she shares how she has learned to operate in the space and prove her credibility.
- Anita discusses living purposefully and looking for the lessons to be learned when things haven’t gone the way she wanted or expected. She discusses how she came to run BioMatrix International, and she shares how she manages her time effectively between her leadership roles at her businesses. She discusses how she has overcome the stigma of recognizing and discussing her anxiety.
- Anita shares her struggle with anxiety throughout her life, and she shares the importance of learning to say no in order to find balance.
- Anita discusses joining BioMatrix as an interim leader and the difficulty of transitioning the company after the beloved owner passed away. She shares how being an employee has changed her mindset and work behaviors, and the challenge of going from being an owner to being an employee.
Resources:
Intentional Greatness In Agribusiness
You’re here because you know that learning never ends. You’re the kind of entrepreneur, business owner or leader who realizes that the pursuit of a perfect life, while a worthy goal, is also an impossible one. You know there is no end to the race, and you’re ready to power through anyway. You know that the climb to the top is endless, and you’re going to make the climb anyway. In short, you’re ready to become an unf♥<kwithable leader.
I recently spoke with my friend Anita Janssen for an episode of the Intentional Greatness podcast. Anita is a truly remarkable woman leader who has managed to transition a successful career in the corporate world into working within the heavily male-dominated agriculture business world. Anita is a serial entrepreneur, a transformational leader, and a visionary who knows what it takes to grow a business from nothing to success. One of Anita’s agricultural ventures went from zero to $100 million in just two short years. That’s the kind of leadership expertise I think all women in business can learn from.
In this episode, Anita and I discuss how she has managed to thrive and build credibility in such a heavily male industry, and we talk about the key skills and the confidence Anita has built over the course of her remarkable career as a woman in business leadership. Anita also shares her deeply personal battle with clinical anxiety and how she has learned to see the silver lining in the cloud. Anita Janssen is a true role model for any leader, but especially for women leaders in primarily male industries and for entrepreneurs who have to balance their leadership roles with personal mental health challenges like anxiety.
A Passion for Agribusiness
Anita grew up on a dairy farm, and as such she developed a love and passion for agriculture and its vital role in our society. In spite of her success in the corporate world working for Fortune 1000 clients, Anita recognized that it was time for her to leave her career and start over by doing something she truly loved, so she sought out opportunities to enter that field.
After finding success as an entrepreneur, Anita was given the opportunity to step into a transitional leadership position with BioMatrix International. However, the untimely passing of the owner put Anita in the awkward position of running a company as an employee for someone else, while being the “outsider” on the team. However, Anita’s optimism and remarkable ability to find the positives in every situation means that she was able to transition yet again. Her experiences as an executive employee for someone else rather than working for herself have taught her valuable lessons on leadership and given her a new perspective that she shares with all women in business.
Dealing With Anxiety
One of the most remarkable things about Anita Janssen is her willingness to publicly speak about her battle with clinical anxiety. Anxiety can often be an overused word, but Anita’s anxiety isn’t mere nerves. It has been an ongoing battle she has had to wage, all while being a highly productive and empowered woman leader, wife and mother.
Anita has shown a remarkable level of courage in her openness about her anxiety. Many leaders in the business world see it as a moment of weakness when someone admits that they are human. On the contrary, Anita shows us that recognizing and addressing your obstacles in an honest way is a sign of strength. She truly demonstrates what the Intentional Greatness podcast is all about; she has faced every situation with determination and fearlessness. Women in business often have to dig a little deeper and work a little harder than their male counterparts, and Anita Janssen shows us that the hard work can truly be worth it.
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