Lawn & Landscape kicked off its Top 100 event Monday with a keynote speech and welcome reception. Attendees are back at it Tuesday with the continuation of Top 100 and the start of the Technology Conference.
Overheard Monday
"If you don’t like change, you’re going to hate extinction.”
Keynote speaker Ross Shafer told Top 100 attendees what he believed would help businesses separate themselves from competitors in 2025 and beyond. Among those messages: generate endless ideas (and get them from outside the green industry) and consider the customer's painpoints.
“Sit down and listen to other industries’ ideas. It will shake you up," Shafer says. "What money is slipping through our fingers and we’re not getting? Are we really thinking about the herd or are we thinking about us?”
Overheard Tuesday
“I am very honest and transparent up front. You’d be surprised when you open up the conversation with a direct question…that most people are willing and wanting to be honest.”
Panelist Lori Johnson, the CEO of The Grounds Guys, told Top 100 attendees that soliciting honest feedback from employees can be a challenge as a leader. She joined Austin Ashmore (CEO, Sunrise Landscape), Harry Lamberton (President & CEO, Yellowstone Landscape) and Billy McEnery (CEO, Green Garden Group) as a group of leaders who came from outside of the industry.
Lamberton also recognized a trend that the higher you rise in an organization, the less honesty you receive from coworkers. Employees withhold feedback sometimes because they fear it'll affect their career. So, he agreed with Johnson that spending time with employees and being transparent with them will help them mirror that transparency.
"It’s spending time with them. It’s not just talking to them, it’s having conversations about what’s going on," he says. "Don’t just show up one time and now all of the sudden, everybody’s going to tell you what’s going on."
Keep checking lawnandlandscape.com for more coverage from our events.
