Good leaders drive innovation

Jeff Eggers at Dairy Strong

Jeff Eggers headlines 2025 Dairy Strong conference as opening keynote 

Innovation happens when ideas from throughout an organization collide, Jeff Eggers, a senior advisor and partner at the McChrystal Group, said during the keynote address at the Dairy Strong convention. 

“A lot of insight comes from the bottom of the organization and it’s important for leaders to talk less and listen more,” he said. “Leaders need to create a culture of accountability and safety in their organizations.” 

Eggers retired from the U.S. Navy after serving more than 20 years as a combat veteran Navy SEAL in 2013 and served as a special assistant to the President for National Security Affairs for six years in both the George W. Bush and Barak Obama administrations. Eggers is also a co-author of “Leaders: Myth and Reality,” a Wall Street Journal best seller. 

“There’s lots of change going on in the workforce and it’s hard for the brain to keep up,” he said. 

When giving different groups the marshmallow challenge — build the highest structure with marshmallows — Eggers said kindergartners often do the best. “They get in there and get to work immediately and there’s a decentralized leadership,” he said. 

“Leaders need to talk less and listen more” to inspire innovation, Eggers continued. “You have that polarity of great leaders who not only have great confidence, but they also have humility.” 

While Eggers speaks and writes about leadership, he admitted to failing a lot at leadership himself. Instead, he learned a lot by studying and working with great leaders. He peppered his presentation with examples of leadership in action and effective teams, including Formula One Racing teams that change tires at a lightning-fast pace. 

“They are successful since everyone has a job and gets it done; there’s not a person standing there telling them what to do,” Eggers said. “When everyone knows their job and focuses on getting it done, that’s where the magic happens.” 

For example, while Albert Einstein put together his Theory of Relativity, he went out and shared his research with other people, who pointed out his mistakes, which made him work even harder at his research and made it even better, Eggers said. 

Eggers shared the story of another iconic innovation, Steve Jobs. He transformed himself into an innovative leader after initially being fired from Apple. When he returned to Apple, he said Jobs no longer thought he had all the ideas, but rather by hiring smart people “they can tell us what to do.” 

“Organizations need to be safe so people can speak up” when they have ideas and leaders should be accountable to those they oversee, Eggers said. 

When it comes to leading and creating innovation, Eggers offered these tips: 

• Don’t take yourself too seriously: Good leaders are humble. 

• Think like a kindergartner: Dive in and get started 

• Decentralize to a point where there’s discomfort: When Formula One crews quickly change tires, there’s no one person in charge. Everyone is focused on their individual role. 

• Be responsible to context: If what you’re doing is not working, respond to feedback and change your plan. 

• Leverage polarity: Remember you can be two things at the same time — you can be a leader and yet still be humble. 

• Lead like a gardener: Cultivate future leaders and ideas 

“Good leaders also ask a lot of questions. Asking questions helps you better understand what’s happening in your organization. That insight can help inspire innovation,” Eggers said. 

This year’s Dairy Strong conference brought over 400 attendees, representing over 150,000 cows, and industry professionals to Green Bay for the annual conference.