Why You Should Treat Your Employees Like Cattle

By: Hal Rosenbluth

Up-and-coming executives often ask me for business advice. I love the look on their faces when I say: Treat your employees like cattle, and run your business like a farm.

You may have cringed while reading that sentence. But as someone who’s been raising red-angus cattle every spring and summer since 1991—while serving as CEO of several companies—I can tell you this: I’ve learned as much about business leadership—if not more so—while handling hundreds of cows and scores of horses on my family ranch in North Dakota. In fact, the last two companies I built and later sold wouldn’t have been as successful without my training on the ranch.

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