Profile —
Steve Barr: from farmer to CEO
by Constance Berneking, posted Dec. 17, 2008
Steve Barr is the founder and chief executive officer of Osborn & Barr Communications, which was founded in 1988. Osborn & Barr began with one client and now serves many companies nationwide. They have offices in St. Louis, Kansas City, Des Moines and Ontario. Barr is an agricultural journalism alumnus from MU. He visited MU classrooms Oct. 6 and 7 as part of the CAFNR Executive in Residence program.
Barr grew up on a farm near Marshall, Mo. Living and working on a farm formed his passion for the agriculture industry. He had always been involved in agriculture, so it was natural for him to attend a university with a successful agriculture division, he said. Barr’s favorite class at MU was an entry-level advertising course now called Principles of Strategic Communication 4200.
“It was a really good introduction to the field,” Barr said. Barr has worked at some of the most prestigious agriculture firms in the industry, such as Deere & Company and Monsanto. The work experience that Barr considers to be most important to him was a job that took him to Minneapolis. There he got to travel and see much of North America.
Barr said the best part of his job is the chance to interact with people and clients. As chairman and CEO, he manages client contacts, builds relationships and reviews contracts. Barr frequently works in the new business sector, the part of the company that prospects new clients.
“He is entrepreneurial and successful,” said Ken Schneeberger, interim director for MU’s McQuinn Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. “He started more than one company and has been in several other ventures.”
Barr said his biggest motivations to succeed were the chances to keep learning, meet people and create relationships, and the possibility to see other parts of the world such as Europe and South America.
He said that the most enjoyable part of being in the advertising industry is producing results with a company.
“With market research, you can see quantitative results of what you’ve done,” he said. “It’s very rewarding.”
Barr said that he feels that the agriculture advertising industry is much different than it was 20 years ago. The only media then were print, broadcast and some direct mail; now, digital media have greatly expanded the universe of communication.
Barr advises future agricultural journalists to learn as much as possible about the different forms of media. Barr said that in agricultural journalism you get to try out all aspects of journalism.
When hiring, Barr said he looks for key qualities in employees: “To be a self starter and also (to) be able to work with a team.”
He recommended that current students take advantage of foreign language courses, take time to travel and make use of internship opportunities.
