We are excited to welcome you to Leading Voices — a new AMSGazette series where CEO Jim O’Farrell sits down with local leaders to discuss their approaches to leadership and what drives them forward.
For our first-ever installment of this series, Jim spoke with Pam Hess, the Executive Director of Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture (where AMSGers have enjoyed visiting and volunteering!). Hess has led Arcadia Farms for 13 years, working to build strong, holistic regional food systems that are accessible to everyone.
She came to Arcadia Farms from a 20-year run as a journalist, primarily covering national security. There, she says, she had a front-row seat to leadership at the highest levels, witnessing both strong, principled decision-making and less positive leadership traits.
Even then, when it came to leading a nonprofit, Hess said it wasn’t initially intuitive.
“Leadership and management have been a challenge for me because I spent 20 years as a reporter. And as a reporter, you’re like a submarine. You are independent … And so the kind of management that I personally like to have is pretty hands-off because that’s how I grew up in the world.”
She said that independence shaped her early leadership style — sometimes to a fault. It took time to realize that not everyone thrives in the same environment.
“People want active leadership, and management, and clarity, and that was a real struggle for me … I remember one really great staff member, Catherine, our farmer, once said to me, ‘It’s ok to tell us what to do.’ And that kind of blew my mind. I realized, ‘Oh, right! That’s what people are looking for.’”
Today, Hess sees leadership as a constant balancing act: knowing when to step back and trust her team’s expertise, and when to step in and provide direction, especially when day-to-day work intersects with broader organizational priorities, like revenue and long-term strategy, on her radar.
“I’m constantly trying to rein in that instinct [to tell people what to do] because the folks who are closest to the work, I believe, know best what to do,” she said.
Over time, she’s also learned what doesn’t work.
“The other thing that I’ve learned about leadership is that when I have tried to throw my weight around — just be like, ‘I am the boss, just do what I say’ — it never works.”
“I think many of us think that to be a boss means to tell people what to do,” she continued. “And what I have learned is that to be a boss is to have everyone doing their best work and what they’re supposed to be doing. And if you’re telling people what to do, you’re getting in the way of that.”
For Hess, being a good leader isn’t about forcing output through intimidation. Instead, she says, rather than acting on impulse, she prioritizes motivating her staff in the long run.
“If my whole purpose is to be effective at my work — which it is — then I need to use the tools that make me effective, not the tools that momentarily feed my ego or assuage my anger or let out frustration.”
Her leadership superpower? Fearlessness. Hess describes herself as someone who has never been easily intimidated — a trait that allows her to take big swings.
“I’m not afraid of anything,” she said. “Maybe it’s courage. Maybe it’s dauntlessness. Maybe it’s a deeply rooted belief in my own capability. Which is not to say that I think I can do anything. I fail plenty. But I never question whether I’m good enough and equal to the task.”
During its 16 years, Arcadia Farms has become a fruitful space for community members to access and learn to cultivate healthful foods. And for most of that time, it’s been Hess who made sure that the team making the organization thrive was not just walking, but running, alongside her.
—Written by Shani Laskin
Keep an eye on future AMSGazette issues for more stories like this!