Leadership session with Syngenta Global Crop Protection President

Leadership session with Syngenta Global Crop Protection President


Trainees attend the leadership session with Syngenta Global via zoom

Group 48 Trainees have only been seconded since September and are already showing huge leadership ability.  

This month, a number of MDS Trainees attended an exclusive leadership session with Syngenta Crop Protection President, Jonathan Parr all thanks to group 48 Trainee Matthew Welton. 

Matthew is currently seconded at Syngenta Basel as the Global Marketing Trainee for Biologicals. He decided to organise the meeting to inspire Trainees and provide an important networking opportunity.  

The proactive MDS Trainee noted I have always been encouraged to network. By talking to experts and role-models about their experiences, we can develop and learn, especially from people like Jonathan Parr, who has had a very interesting and successful career. Hence why I decided to ask for his details through my line-manager. 

Matthew extended the invitation to also provide an important educational opportunity to Syngenta employeesThe majority of attendees were MDS Trainees seconded with Syngenta as well as some Basel employees from their internal graduate scheme. 

The session was highly interactive to ensure Trainees could take advantage of the networking opportunity, We started the session by introducing ourselves and our roles within the company We were then able to ask Jon questions about his role at Syngentahis career path,  best leadership practice and his ideas on the future of Syngenta as a company. 

Want what you get, not get what you want

Matt highlighted that the most interesting piece of advice Jonathan provided was to Want what you get and not get what you want. 

  • I like to interpret this in terms of our MDS careers as Trainees, its going to bring you a lot more happiness and success to embrace the opportunities you get, as these opportunities will offer the most in terms of development, he explained. 
  • The other MDS attendees and I have felt inspired by Jons advice, but we can also apply it in a practical sense to both our secondments and our level 5 management apprenticeship. Jon even offered to take part in another session in the future. 
  • It is very valuable to enhance the strong relationship with MDSSyngenta and Jon together. Jon is an excellent inspirational model for our apprenticeship course; he is a great example to look to for our future development and what we want to model our development aroundOverall, it was a great experience, and he is a fascinating figure with a very interesting career background.” 

Matthew concluded, “Many people can be afraid to reach out but donbe; Jon was very happy for me to organise the session. He highlighted that it is a good thing in life to be curious. It was great to meet him and find out more about the company that I am loving working for at the minute. Dont be afraid to push the boat out and seek new networking and development opportunities from people within the industry, the worst they can say is no.” 

Matthew’s enthusiastic, can-do attitude was recognised at the #MeetTheTrainees awards ceremony this month where he was presented with the Special Recognition Award for Support and Leadership.