090: It’s Not About Inspiring, It’s About Building Trust

Terry Baker is the Deputy Forest Supervisor for the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland in Colorado. This is Terry’s second guest appearance on the podcast and he is the first guest to kick off season five of Leadership Nature. Today’s topic dives into people of color working in forestry, what the industry needs to do to better attract a diverse set of people, and so much more!

 

Key Takeaways:

[:55] A message from Leadership Nature.

[1:40] A quick intro about Terry’s background.

[3:15] How did Terry get into forestry?

[13:15] Terry is so glad that forestry found him. He had no idea that this was — and could be — a career path.

[14:30] Terry shares his thoughts on why there is a small representation of people of color in the forestry industry.

[16:15] People of color still have a very negative stigma about doing work outside and ‘in the fields.’

[21:40] What has Terry’s experience been like as a forester, a leader, of color?

[35:00] Unfortunately, many people in the forestry profession do not notice or are aware of how much a person of color has to constantly prove themselves.

[40:10] So many assumptions get thrown around on what’s the ‘right way’ to act towards a person of color, but in the end, we are just people!

[43:25] In order to truly achieve diversification in an agency, we have to be willing to have a dialogue and talk through what’s appropriate and what’s not.

[52:00] What does Terry see the future of forestry going?

[57:50] Terry offers his thoughts on what it means to build a legacy.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

FS.USDA.gov

Terry on Leadership Nature S3 E10

Terry on LinkedIn