Core Insight
We had an interview on the farm this week with Dr. Tim Hsu. These interviews are special to me. Each one is a chance to build a new relationship or nurture an old one, and that part of the work matters as much as anything we say on camera.
It was an unusually hot day, and we got a later start than we planned. We moved as quickly as we could so the interview would not look like it was filmed in a sauna. I spent a fair amount of time wiping my forehead with a paper towel. Will is going to have an interesting time editing those moments out. 😊
When on the farm, I like drawing analogies of how nature informs how we interact with others and informs how we lead. I try not to overemphasize this, but I usually leave room for at least one question that opens that door. Dr. Hsu pondered my question and responded with a clarity that stayed with me. He pointed out that behavioral health care takes time, just like growing vegetables on the farm. As a pastor’s son, he put it simply: it happens on God’s time.
When Dr. Hsu said this, it reminded me of Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, where he discusses the Law of the Harvest. You reap what you sow, and you reap it in season. Seeds do not become a harvest because we want them to sooner. They become a harvest because we planted well, tended consistently, and waited long enough for the work to mature. I see that in the soil at Iron Mountain Organics. I also see it in relationships, in leadership, and in the slow work of building something that lasts at ThreeWill.
Three Concrete Details to Notice
1. Relationships require nurturing
The interview with Dr. Hsu was not only content to capture. It was time spent with a person. Every farm interview asks me to show up for someone, whether we are just getting to know each other or continuing a relationship that already has history. That kind of investment rarely shows its value in the same hour. It tends to show up later, the way a well-tended row does.
2. Urgency does not change the timeline
We felt the pressure of an unusually hot day and a later start. We hurried so the setting would still work. Even then, the deeper point of the conversation was about patience. Dr. Hsu’s reminder that things take time, and that some timing belongs to God rather than to our calendar, stayed with me through the sweat and the paper towels. Urgency can help us get started, but it cannot force a harvest.
3. Practice the Law of the Harvest at work
In leadership, it is easy to want results on our preferred schedule. The Law of the Harvest pushes back on that impulse. We still have to plant carefully, tend the work with consistency, and then give it enough time to become what it can be. Whether we are developing people, building trust with a client, or strengthening a system, the return comes from what we sowed and how faithfully we tended it, not from how badly we wanted it on our timeline.
Simple Closing Thought
This week reminded me that a good conversation, like a good crop, is shaped by care and by time. I am grateful for Dr. Hsu’s words, for the chance to sit together on the farm, and for the simple truth underneath the Law of the Harvest. We gather what we planted, and we gather it when it is ready.
Keep growing. Keep learning.
Farmer Tommy
This post first appeared on September 4, 2026 in Sowing Success, my weekly LinkedIn newsletter on leadership and organic farming. Read the original on LinkedIn.
