The current edition of SFTW Convo is my conversation with Kurtis Charling of Lindsay Corporation. Kurtis Charling is the Vice President, Global AgTech Sales & Product Management at Lindsay. I have come to know Kurtis through some work projects, and by being on the same panel at World Agritech and other conferences.
His curiosity always comes through every conversation. Kurtis is a holistic thinker, is obsessed with customer satisfaction, and deeply understands the role of technology to create value for growers, and other stakeholders within the food and agriculture value chains. He pushes his teams to be innovative, is not afraid to take risks, and is holder of many patents.
I had the opportunity to connect with Kurtis a few weeks ago and discuss all things AgTech, innovation, product management, customer value, ecosystem collaboration, and his sports career in high school and college. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
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Summary of the Conversation
In this conversation, Kurtis shares his journey from being a high school quarterback to leading irrigation product management at Lindsay. He reflects on the lessons learned from his sports experience, particularly the importance of resilience and hard work. The discussion transitions to his role in agricultural innovation, focusing on water management solutions and the alignment of vision with Lindsay.
Kurtis emphasizes the significance of understanding customer needs and the challenges of product management in a global context, particularly in navigating diverse markets like South America. In this conversation, Kurtis discusses the complexities of product design in relation to global power discrepancies, emphasizing the need for alignment between dealer incentives and customer needs.
He highlights the importance of data in motivating dealers and ensuring ongoing support for products. The integration of hardware and software teams is presented as a crucial factor for innovation, alongside a strategic focus on acquisitions that align with the core business. Collaboration across the supply chain is explored, particularly in relation to sustainability and the evolving landscape of agriculture.
Kurtis concludes with insights on the future of farming, emphasizing automation and the importance of customer adoption in technological advancements.
Rhishi Pethe: Kurtis, thanks for joining. The goal of these conversations is to understand how you make decisions, what factors you consider, rather than focusing on the decisions themselves.
While prepping for this conversation, I found out you were a quarterback in school and even tried to get onto the University of Nebraska team. Now, since I went to Kansas State, I’ll admit, I’m not exactly thrilled about that part!
What did that experience teach you about life and about business? Are there lessons you took from that time that still show up in your day-to-day work today?
Kurtis: You’re taking me way back, that was 15 years ago now. I was a quarterback in high school. When I got to college, I tried out for the Nebraska Cornhuskers as a walk-on. They were looking at me more as a tight end or defensive end, even though I had played quarterback. I was an okay quarterback in high school, but honestly, I probably would’ve been a better tight end at the college level.
I didn’t get recruited heavily out of high school, so I chose to go to Nebraska and try to walk on. Plus, they had a strong ag engineering program, which was a big draw for me. I went through three tryouts before they finally invited me back to the team. That whole process tested me, it made me dig deep and show up over and over again. But it proved to me that I had that "never give up" mindset. I kept putting in the work.
Making the team felt like living a dream. I grew up in Nebraska, and back then, you dreamed about playing for the Cornhuskers, they were winning national championships all the time. Just being on the team was huge for me. I never got to play in a game, but I made the roster. I spent a summer and a season with the team before they eventually cut me.
And that’s still a tough thing for me to talk about, because it was one of the most defining moments of my life. Getting there, earning that spot, was incredible. But when I got cut, it hit hard. That was a tough time. I spent a lot of time reflecting. I hadn’t done anything wrong, I just wasn’t good enough. That was the plain truth.
But when I looked back, I realized I hadn’t done enough to make them keep me. I got content just being on the team, just realizing the dream. I didn’t keep pushing. I didn’t keep earning it. That was a turning point for me. From that moment on, I told myself, I’m never going to be outworked again. If I hit a goal, I need to keep going. I need to ask, “What’s next?”
That mindset has carried over into my work today. I make sure I’m putting in the time, and if I’m asking my team to do the same, I lead by example. I’m right there with them, doing the work.
But still, I didn’t feel like I did enough to honestly say I worked harder than everyone else to stay on the team, if that makes sense.
It was tough, tough, to sit there and watch that dream slip away. Getting cut was a devastating moment. And when it happens, your first instinct is to look for something else to blame. You want to say, “It was this,” or “It was that.” But at the end of the day, I had to point the thumb, not the finger. I had to take responsibility and admit, this was on me.
I guess the big lesson for me was this: I won’t let myself get outworked again. That moment shaped me. It’s driven a lot of the success I’ve had, and honestly, it’s helped me handle the failures too.
Rhishi Pethe: Let’s shift gears a bit, from your personal story to your work now. You lead the product management group at Lindsay.
A couple of years ago, you took part in an innovation contest. You made it to the semi-finals with your idea. What was that process like? And why did you feel Lindsay was the right place to take that innovation and scale it?