During my years of studying leadership, one of the lessons I learned, especially from the book of Nehemiah, is that leaders sometimes need to take a journey that breaks their hearts.  I have practised this principle quite often in my life. Hope for a better future is often born in the despair of life’s valleys, when the conviction arises that things simply cannot continue like this.

Before returning to my office in January 2016 after my December holiday, I took such a journey. My son and  I drove 1 250km over two days through the drought-stricken Free State and North West to gain a firsthand understanding of what awaited me on my return as CEO of Grain  SA. It felt as though we were driving through a desert. The experience broke my heart.

South Africa’s first summer rain only arrived on 15 January that year. By December that year, there was no doubt that South Africa was enduring one of the most severe droughts in its history. I longed for a break, away from the stress of being the CEO of Grain SA and the pain  I had carried alongside the country’s grain producers  and their families. I sought the Lord’s guidance about how I should spend my December holiday. The answer came with remarkable clarity: Go and spend three days on a farm somewhere  in the Karoo.

Discovering  pain in drought

So, I took my family to a farm outside Graaff-Reinet. It was dry and blisteringly hot. It was not the kind of holiday I had imagined. There were no air conditioning and no cool sea breeze to offer relief. As we arrived, we were greeted by the sight of a huge kudu bull hanging lifeless on a fence near the farmhouse. It had simply been too weak to clear the fence. Everywhere we looked, the drought had left its scars.

In my briefcase I had packed my Bible and a new book: Leadership Pain: The Classroom for Growth by Dr Samuel Chand. As I began reading, I realised that its message was exactly what I needed for the difficult months ahead – months that would involve facing producers, communities, and the media during a crippling drought that put pressure on supplies and food prices.

The central message of Dr Chand’s book was this: “Do you want to become a better leader? Raise the threshold of

your pain. Reluctance to face pain is your greatest limitation. There is no growth without change, no change without loss, and no loss without pain. If you are not hurting, you’re not leading.”

This is what leaders do. Pain is not a reason to quit. If avoiding pain had been the greatest priority, Jesus would never have died on the cross for our salvation. This message became clear to me as I stared through the farmhouse window at the heat rising from the Karoo landscape. Charles Kingsley captured this truth well when he wrote, “Pain is no evil, unless it conquers us”.

I returned to my office that year, not with less pain than when I had  left,  but with  a deeper understanding of what leadership requires: making things better for others.

Prospering amid drought

As I write this, weather forecasts indicate that South Africa may once again face a severe drought during the 2026/27  summer season. Those of us who love and work in agriculture may again be confronted with circumstances similar to those of 2016. Our sector may once more be challenged to pass the financial stress test and cope with the fact that government  rarely, if ever, provides support. Yet I am  convinced that we will persevere, especially the people who have learned to raise their pain threshold and their faith in a faithful God who provides, even under the most difficult circumstances.

A telephonic survey conducted by the Crop Estimates Committee at the end of December 2015 indicated that only 500 000ha of maize had been planted by that stage of the season. Yet by 27 January 2016, producers had planted just short of two million hectares. In other words, 1,5 million hectares were planted, or roughly 2,3 million maize seed kernels every minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This demonstrates  the resilience of our sector and our reaction to the pain that accompanies drought.

Another lasting lesson from that drought came from within Grain SA itself. Staff members who worked directly with producers, whether by telephone, during farm visits, or at meetings, received training in trauma counselling.  We needed to up our game and skills when dealing with people in times of stress and pain.

These reflections represent only a small part of what the last major drought taught me. Perhaps these lessons will encourage you if you once again have to face the impact of drought on your farm or in your personal life.