Leadership Lessons: John Gibson

What have you been up to since you won the Leadership Award in 2006?
From a business standpoint, that was ’06, so the biggest thing I was starting on that year was our technology review at Swingle. And we actually went through something we called a S.U.M.M.I.T project – an acronym we used for Swingle Uniting to Measure and Map our Information Technology. We set off on this big process to evaluate how we were using technology within the business. We went and purchased a new software package and implemented a new CRM software as well as a new finance package, and are still on the journey. But, we’ve implemented handhelds in all of our crews in the field and are still working on a couple of final pieces of putting together our sales reps doing entry in the field.

That’s been a big process, going out and searching for a vendor and selecting a vendor and doing the conversion for a company our size.

What is your take on how the industry will recover from the economic troubles of the last couple of years?
Most businesses have learned to diversify their business portfolio. They may have been in one specific service line but they can’t afford to do that anymore. Based on the current economic conditions, we’re all trying to do different business lines and/or enhance different business lines to give us the best chance of survival. The lean management concepts that were becoming a key part of our business as early as ’06 and ’07, they are a part of everyday life today with people trying to stay as lean as they can with an uncertain future. I think that’s the challenge. People are getting used to having less profit.

What advice would you give another leader on how to diversify their business?
I think really understanding their financials is a key part of it. Understanding where they make money and how they make money. While the economy was rocking, I think people did well even though they were making a lot of mistakes. Today is a different world. Everything is a lot tighter, so you really have to pay attention to your financials and understand it down to a detailed level. In the past, you probably didn’t have to do that as much.

Where do you see the industry in 2020?
Our industry continues to get more professional. In this cycle of the recession, one thing I am seeing is, we always say we have a low cost of entry into our industry and so anybody and their brother can go get a pick up and go to work. What we are finding is there are many higher level executives or senior management people that have been let go in other industries that are now saying, “Hey, if I am going to make a career change, I’m going to get into an outdoor industry.” Maybe it’s the landscape industry and they are bringing a wealth of business knowledge that we haven’t seen in our industry before because they are part of a different kind of profession and they are bringing that now to the landscaping industry. So, that alone is going to improve the professionalism of our industry.

Depending on what happens in Congress, the environmental restrictions that are on our industry can continue to be more difficult. We’re already putting in different landscape and maintaining different landscapes today than we were 10 years ago. 

You said in your 2006 profile that the challenge in the next 25 years is delivering the right people and helping them realize they can have a great career and life. Do you still feel that way?
Absolutely. I see it today when we look at the programs of the four-year colleges and the two-year colleges for our industry. Some of those programs are shrinking and or disappearing. One of our largest issues going into the next 25 years is the people within our industry.

We don’t have jobs that can be outsourced, in most cases. People have to be on the property doing the work – so, developing great people, finding people who want to do this work. It’s amazing even at 8 or 9 or 10 percent unemployment across the country, how difficult it is to find people who really want to do this work.

Click here to read more from Gibson, including his 2008 Leadership profile.