1. A clear and relatable mission, vision and values statement that connects the company’s purpose to employee engagement and give all employees something to believe in and work toward.
2. A well-defined path for career growth. If you want employees to produce results for your company, they have to have a way to create their own future, not just do a job. This is especially important for younger generations who are free agents, jumping from job to job for 25 cents an hour more to see what they like. If you only give them a job and they do not see a future, be prepared for them to go somewhere else.
3. A recruiting strategy. Top companies hire for cultural fit and create value-aligned teams. People generally like being around people with similar values, just like successful people like being around other successful people. When employees and teams have good chemistry, cooperate, share and work well together, productivity not only improves at the project level, but it’s a key driver of profitability and customer satisfaction.
4. A plan to recover from bad hiring decisions. When companies hire people that don’t share the same values and the relationship can’t be salvaged, they need to learn what went wrong to avoid repeating the situation, cut their losses quickly and eliminate employees that do not fit rather than allow the problem to fester.
5. A walk-the-talk commitment to reinforce positive behavior and lead by example. Behavior affects reputation, relationships and the bottom line. Successful companies that focus on behaviors that complement a forward-thinking culture deliver better financial results.

Four behaviors that are essential to competing in the digital age

1. Sense of urgency. The speed at which a company solves problems is extremely important in a hyper-competitive service environment. No longer do big companies have the edge over small companies. Amazon has created a “fast beats slow” expectation for fulfillment and customers no longer want to wait. If they want an answer to a question, they Google it. This is especially true in residential work where the company that responds first, gets the job.
2. Sense of purpose. People who have purpose at work are more productive. When companies do a good job making employees feel connected to the bigger picture, it results in higher engagement and better outcomes. Employees must understand and believe in what they are doing and how they are contributing to the greater good and the role they play in driving success. If companies don’t help their employees find purpose in the job they do, they will leave for a company that will. A sense of purpose overcomes problems and prevents burnout. Purpose goes hand-in-hand with a sense of urgency.
3. Promote from within. Providing opportunities for employees to grow will help companies attract and retain talent and keep top performers from leaving. When combined with colleague-to-colleague mentoring, a “train your replacement” mindset and upskilling, internal mobility empowers employees to take ownership of their careers. Workforce agility is an essential part of a culture of continuous learning, which is necessary for a company to improve its competitiveness in the marketplace.
4. Continuous learning. Peter Senge, author of the Fifth Discipline, wrote that “learning faster than the competition is the only lasting competitive advantage.” If implemented correctly, a continuous learning culture can develop internal future leaders and inspire innovation. When employees at every level are committed to relentless improvement, it’s the most powerful way for employees across every generation to increase the effectiveness of the entire organization and produce a sustainable flow of value.

The post Win The Future appeared first on Bruce Wilson & Company.

If you see yourself in this data, your race to the future just found its first hurdle.

In an evolve-or-get-left-behind business environment, winning will only be possible when CEOs are freed up to lead vision and improve the speed and quality of results. CEOs who excel in delegating generate 33% higher revenue, and they achieve more in less time.

When people ask me what my secret to success is, the key to success in every area of my life has been the result of choosing highly capable people I can delegate to and then get out of their way.

Three things make this approach work. I play the long game with a team of people I trust. I believe that progress is more important than perfection, so room for nimble maneuvering is built-in. And because time will always be my most valuable resource, knowing how to delegate effectively gives me more of it.

Here are six letting-go actions you can use to get more done:

1. Trust and empower.

Build a culture where people do best without being micro-managed. Give employees the resources they need to do their job, guide them to think critically and ask the right questions, and step back into a mentoring role. Pushing day-to-day decisions closer to where they impact operations will give you more time to focus on your business.

2. Save time.

Declare war on endless meetings and emails. If it takes more than three emails to solve a problem, pick up the phone. Collaboration software can fall into the same trap. Limit extended group chats by creating communication protocols, and well-prepared briefing points up front to speed up the rhythm of decision making.

3. Eliminate ambiguity.

Improve time management by reducing confusion, increasing cohesion and morale, and giving your team the tools to perform at a higher level. Practice consistent protocols, be clear on goals, expectations and responsibilities. Identify who has a voice and who has a vote; who’s on point for executing; who is accountable for the outcome, and how the outcome will be measured.

4. Give your employees room to make small-scale mistakes.

Build risk mitigation into the process to give your teams room to make course corrections that don’t involve damage control. This is not only how people learn, but it also allows everyone to move forward and embrace a mindset where progress is more important than standing still.

5. Do not let blame creep into your culture.

Establish expectations for transparency and accountability so that blame is not assigned for decisions gone wrong. Conduct a knowledge-gained review to discuss what went well and what could have gone better. Capture and document the lessons learned to improve future projects and not repeat mistakes.

6. Crawl behind the eyes of your customer.

You can never stay too close to your customers (or your employees, for that matter). Putting the needs of the people you work with at the center of your business is the single biggest step in making customer centricity as much of a strategy as it is a core value and a culture. Empower your employees to think and act from the perspective of your customers. Ask, how will this decision benefit our customer, how will this improve their experience, impact our community, our business, and our ability to remain competitive? Turn your employees into customer advocates with the ability to take tangible action, and you will give yourself a gift of time that can be spent catapulting your business to new heights.

Reprinted with permission. GIE Media. Lawn & Landscape April 2023 (c)

The post Let Go and Go Farther appeared first on Bruce Wilson & Company.

It certainly is an unsettled economy, but so far, business has remained strong for most landscape companies. Inflation is a definite factor, as are rising interest rates. As of this writing, the labor market has eased up a bit, probably due to seasonality rather than other factors that might be longer lasting.

As I look toward next year, I do so somewhat cautiously in how aggressively I budget. It does seem like the supply chain will continue to improve, making it easier to get equipment. But there are signs customer renewals might be at risk if you are expecting large price increases. I would say that is my biggest concern right now.

The relationship between renewals and value is becoming increasingly more complex. With customers demanding higher-quality services, we need to strategically rethink what quality and consistency means and the role excellence plays in keeping customers renewed, happy and loyal for the long term.

But what is ‘excellence’ exactly? Excellence can mean very different things, depending on whether you’re delivering it or experiencing it. If your company is concerned about renewals or growing retention, excellence is a strategic necessity, requiring every employee to work together to deliver the best possible value for customers in the best possible manner.

Steps for achieving excellence

Slippage. Commit to continuous improvement. Evaluate internal processes, bad habits that block performance, and structure. Take a critical look at what needs tightening up, what needs automating, and where workflow can be improved. Many companies reporting rapid growth over the last few years also experienced some service slippage due to being short on labor and a lower quality work force.

Delivery. Strengthen consistency. Unpack each step in the customer’s journey in terms of actions and missteps. Review operations and production from spring start-up through fall, and take an honest look at what went well and where you might have had issues. Assess what can be done between now and next spring to make sure you get off to a good start.

Culture. Identify gaps in morale and knowledge, and make learning, training and workforce development part of the external and internal recruiting process. Make sure that every employee understands their role in driving revenue and can see how value flows from what they do to how the customer experiences it.

Elevate and engage your workforce. Explain why excellence is everyone’s business, what the rewards are for achieving it, and why and how everyone succeeds if the company succeeds.

• Communicate and reinforce the concept of operational excellence and continuous improvement to all employees
• Create organizational standards for performance, processes and procedures
• Empower employees to collaborate, make changes and improvements where they see opportunity, and give them responsibility for results
• Develop a training and career growth program, and roadmap for advancement
• Establish a promote-from-within culture to improve morale and attract, develop and retain high-performing employees
• Recruit all the time, not just for openings
• Turn passionate employees into recruiters to refer people that are a cultural fit
• Establish a ‘train your replacement’ program so everyone can move up
• Coach and mentor for performance improvement on a daily basis
• Recognize and reward excellence, and celebrate incremental wins

Rising costs and the speed of business make operational excellence, workforce development and customer retention strategies more important than ever. A culture of excellence, strengthened and supported through learning and training, will give your company a team of employees empowered to make your company a leaner, more flexible, and more customer-centered organization ready to outpace rivals and leapfrog the competition when the economy rebounds.

The post The wow factor: A leader’s guide to excellence appeared first on Bruce Wilson & Company.

Based on client performance data, the landscape segment of the economy is ending the year better than expected. The job market is strong, unemployment is stable, the labor market is easing and layoffs are mild, balancing the supply and demand for workers. But while supply chain challenges and inflation show no signs of cooling off, a recession remains top of mind.

Customers, like the rest of us, are frustrated with mixed signals. While there is no exact formula, it’s important to sift through the data and make decisions about growth in a flexible way.

Caution and risk assessment should drive 2023 planning. As long as the market holds up, I would remain aggressive. Differentiate between strategic and nonstrategic spending and consider extending yourself by taking on strategic debt, as debt will keep getting more expensive. If it does sink us into a recession, that could be expensive.

If you want to act more aggressively, keep an eye on market conditions. If there’s an opportunity to take on leverage at a low cost without jeopardizing long-term performance, you can use the cash to invest in expanding your business or improving the structural and operational aspects of your organization to improve productivity.

As you prepare for 2023, there are five ways to invest in activities that will deliver greater resilience and help you build a more scalable growth platform:

1. Accumulate talent by hiring college and trade school graduates to deepen your bench. When it’s a buyers’ market, talent gets expensive and companies will find that hiring experienced people could become harder. Going the trade school and college grad and intern route might be more fruitful. I am also a proponent of companies promoting careers, not filling job openings. Make your company a career destination of choice.

2. Master new technologies and equipment. Many of them, like electric vehicles, robotics and renewables are emerging in response to climate regulations and customer demand.

California has already mandated the end of small gas engine equipment in the next few years. It’s not too early to begin incorporating emerging technologies of the future into your operations and learn how to make it successful for your customers’ bottom line.

3. Although it may go against your instincts, don’t cut back on marketing.

Instead, zero in on proactive, customer-first approaches. Show economic solidarity. Ask, “how can we help?” And make sure the value you offer is clear. Customers want to hear from you about solutions that will help them stay on mission during good times and bad.

4. Invest in building a customer-centric strategy and use your customers’ goals to guide planning and innovation.

Invest in surveys to gain feedback that will improve and personalize your services. Get to know your customers, both as individuals and as a whole, and revisit their websites to identify ways you can help them make strategic spending decisions about how they scale, plan and use their outdoors. Customer-centricity is not only good for customers; it’s a business model that will deliver increased profitability and competitive advantage.

5. If you’re thinking of expanding but put it on the back burner, think again.

New services, products or brands that are launched during periods when others are cutting back have higher long-term survival and sales because there is less competition.

Inflation and concerns for recession are real, but these cycles are not new. Turbulent times should not stop companies from being a “first mover” and pursuing their full potential. Play both defense and offense to learn faster and out-maneuver less proactive competitors and emerge on top, long after the volatility of this cycle ends.

Reprinted with permission. GIE Media. Lawn & Landscape October 2022 (c)

The post Inflation Playbook For CEOs appeared first on Bruce Wilson & Company.

Inflation is different this time. Manufacturing, supply and production chain issues haven’t caught up to pre-COVID levels. Overhead is high and morale is low. And global developments have had impacts that will take years to figure out. CEOs are stressed. Consumers are stressed. Everyone has an opinion on what to do.

This inflation/recession cycle is not my first. And while the causes may vary, strategies that have gotten me and my companies through every cycle successfully still hold the road.

In a surprise to no one, economists are concerned that we’ll slip into a recession in 2022 or 2023. The Fed has raised interest rates to slow the rate of inflation, which will cause a slowdown in the economy, weakening demand and resulting in a recession.

Although data varies from week to week, there are 15 things you can do now as market policy continues to evolve.

• Operate on two tracks. Be tactical about short-term priorities and strategic about long-term growth.
• Don’t expect a silver lining. Strengthen your balance sheet, reduce debt and build up cash.
• Understand the numbers. Stay on top of receivables. History tells us that clients will start to stretch out payments to conserve their cash. You need to be the squeaky wheel or they will take advantage of you.
• Stay close to your customers. Keep your eye on the real estate industry and watch for signs that residential/commercial customers are struggling, and adjust your services accordingly.
• Communicate. Make sure your employees receive regular communication on how conditions are affecting your business and what they need to do to help you deal with recessionary issues.
• Cut expenses. Trim costs without losing value. Can you change suppliers without sacrificing quality? Are there perks you could reduce? Not moving fast enough ends up with having to make deeper cuts later. Many regretted not moving proactively enough during the Great Recession of 2008.
• Watch for slow-down indicators. Since landscape is the last trade on construction jobs, you may still have a backlog but new projects are not starting. Landscape architects see a slowdown first.
• Manage inventory. Be very careful adding overhead. Better to work a little harder and to do without new inventory, or rent/lease equipment until the future is more certain.
• Hold off on increases. Resist giving pay increases until you can determine if you are going to be able to increase prices. The last couple of years, customers were approving price increases 10% to 15%, which has never happened before. Do not count on price increases to continue. When recessions happen, everyone tightens their belt.
• Eliminate waste. Wasted labor time through over-servicing jobs is one of the biggest cost-saving opportunities. Stop doing tasks that do not need to be done.
• Focus on ROI. During a recession, enhancement sales slow or drop off. Make sure your account management teams are proposing value, understand the math on enhancement ROI and are being sensitive to clients’ budgetary needs and their own downturn concerns.
• Expand your customer base. A business that has greater market diversity reduces risk.
• Diversify your marketing. Expand your corporate communications to draw fresh interest, include PR and promote your company as a win-win partner, not a service vendor. Focus on being relatable and authentic, address pain points and how your company can help.
• Establish a growth mindset. Engage your employees in brainstorming to foster innovation and ways to do things differently. Lead by example so your employees believe in your mission and the company’s future.
• Invest in technology. Technology is not overhead. It’s mission critical to improve systems and functions that hold costs down, increase agility, capacity and delivery and be competitive.

Our industry is bigger and better today despite decades of economic cycles and transformative events. With the advances in technology, manufacturing and innovation, we will continue to grow. The companies that are strong when the economy rebounds will have a leap frog advantage and can pick up market share while others struggle to get back up to speed.

Reprinted with permission. GIE Media. Lawn & Landscape September 2022 (c)

The post Your Inflation Survival Kit appeared first on Bruce Wilson & Company.

Blocking out the constant stream of noise isn’t the same as putting your head in the sand. A firewall strategy means having the discipline to filter out the distractions that can keep our business  from winning. There’s a reason why there is silence in golf and why ‘quiet please’ is part of the tennis Grand Slam, and it’s not just etiquette. Top players, like top CEOs, need to concentrate on taking their best shot. 

I learned the importance of this in the early days of my career, working with ValleyCrest founder Burt Sperber. When recessions, inflation, or other economic events were taking their toll, Burt always said, “do not read the papers”.  Easier said than done when the news was not a constant digital feed in our phones. But the point he made then is even more relevant now: too much information is stressing us out and it’s taking us off our game.

I’m not sure what the employees thought about Burt’s advice, but company management got the message… we do not run our business by listening to others. If we believe that times are tough, we will have a tough times.  If we focus on success, we will be successful. And we were.

Being a positive leader is something you work at. It requires maintaining perspective and remembering that everything is temporary. So my advice to CEOs is, be a role model for positive leadership, stay focused on what matters most, and rally your troops to tune out negativity and believe they can win the day.

The post What is a Negativity Firewall and Why Do I Need One?  appeared first on Bruce Wilson & Company.

Take this year for example. Inflation started taking off in spring 2021. We reacted by increasing our prices for 2022 contracts. We had already been increasing prices because labor costs rose in the preceding 3-4 years. In addition, owners are also spending more to attract qualified candidates for open positions. But inflation was something else entirely.

We now know that the consumer price index has risen 7.5 as of January 2022. For 2021, the Producer Price index rose 9.7. Many economists say the Producer Price index is a better metric for contracts because it reflects the selling prices received for services and products produced by the seller.

Here is the problem with raising prices, especially with respect to maintenance contracts. Say for 2022, you raise prices somewhere between 7.5-9.7%. You raised your price to what it was costing you last year, if those percentages truly reflect your actual cost increases. I know labor probably went up more than that. You should be tracking your average hourly wage weekly to see what is really happening. Fuel is a significant cost to your company directly for vehicles and equipment. It also hits you indirectly in materials because they all are shipped to you from somewhere.

With enhancements and construction, you can raise prices as you bid the work because it will be performed soon thereafter. If you are bidding larger construction jobs that are prone to getting pushed out due to delays which you have no control of, it is important to have price protection language in any contract you sign.

In less inflationary times, adjusting bidding prices for materials and plants once or twice a year has been within reason. However, with supply chain disruptions causing problems across the board, materials pricing needs to be adjusted more frequently to offset reduced inventories.

Now we all know that we do not receive all of the price increases we ask for. So, your actual price increases across your book of business is most likely a little lower. This is why you cannot keep up on price increases only. You must simultaneously decrease cost or wring greater efficiencies from your organization and tighten up overhead.

Before raising prices again, consider other ways to offset the impact of inflation.

The worst part of the current inflation numbers is that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates. Forecasts now predict likely recession in 2023. If that happens, and inflation does not come down quickly, you might end up having inflationary pressures and a stagnant economy. This all suggests belt tightening and maintaining good cash position.

Good companies ride out these times by being disciplined, intensely managing their finances, keeping losses at a minimum and focusing on keeping customers and revenue, despite price increases and short staffing.

As much as owners can apply strategies to keep business operations running smoothly, customers are also coping with financial pressures of inflation. To adjust, owners need to find ways to deliver greater value or double down on performance. It’s important to stay vigilant and keep a close eye on buying behavior in order to be prepared and respond to customers cutting back, deferring projects or other negative shifts in spending.

Now more than ever, a focus on value-driven relationships, coupled with prudent financial management, is a winning combination. When things stabilize, owners that lead with this approach will be in a stronger position to restart, while the companies weakened by inflation-related events will be less able to capitalize when the situation improves.

Reprinted with permission. GIE Media. Lawn & Landscape April 2022 (c)

The post Inflation Strategies appeared first on Bruce Wilson & Company.

To say I was humbled by the honor and caught by surprise made the moment all the more meaningful because my family had flown in, a logistical and secretive undertaking of impressive precision.

Since returning from Louisville, I’ve been thinking about this thing called achievement and how leaders get to a place where a lifetime of work matters, and it’s simple. We never get there alone.

The NALP video made my career look like a straight line. But, like so many of you, my journey also had its ups and downs. Several people asked, what kept me going when the going got tough. The answer is, mentors. And generations of great and inspiring people in this industry, who taught me resilience, and how to play the long game.

My first lesson was from my first mentor, Palmer Starner, owner of Starner Tree Service in New York and a passionate tree guy. I was just a kid thinking about what to do with my life and he lit the fire in me to become a contractor. He taught me that passion is the #1 thing that makes work worthwhile.

Joe Marsh, a retired geologist and landscape entrepreneur, taught be to be a businessman and how to connect the dots between doing what I loved and making it profitable. It was 1971 when I interviewed with Joe for an entry-level job at Green Valley Landscaping in San Jose. Joining Green Valley was life changing. Green Valley sold to Valley Crest and became its maintenance division and my subsequent career home for 30 years.

I started as a spray tech and Joe’s daily mentoring helped me grow strategically instead of just tactically. I learned to arrive early and stay late. I learned the importance of learning and reading the Wall Street Journal, and staying on top of trends that would affect our customers and our market. At first, this was tedious, but once I realized the power of information, it was full speed ahead — a commitment to data that fuels my passion for benchmarking and competitive analysis to this day.

When I became a manager, I met Dr. Joe Trickett, Dean of the Graduate School of Business at Santa Clara University. He asked me if I liked to be managed. My answer was: no, not really. So, he suggested that if I wanted to achieve better outcomes with people who probably didn’t like being managed any more than me, I needed to change my approach from telling people what to do to enable people to do better. Empowering people improved engagement, inspired innovation and created better relationships. It was the beginning of my commitment to look at a dialogue as a way to find the “win-win,” the single most important skill of effective leaders.

My favorite motivation quote comes from Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization: “The only sustainable competitive advantage is an organization’s ability to learn faster than the competition.”

I read this book when it came out in the 90s and it still guides the way I grow business.

As a lifelong learner, there have always been ah-ha moments. And that’s the thing. If there is a secret to success, it’s the superpower of the butterfly effect, where one good deed can inspire many more.

Always remember that what’s given to you — life lessons, leadership advice, acts of kindness or generosity, even awards — always have greater meaning when in turn you can share them with others.

Reprinted with permission. GIE Media. Lawn & Landscape December 2021 (c)

The post All About Achievement appeared first on Bruce Wilson & Company.

Verne Harnish, world-renown entrepreneur, founder EO, and author of Scaling Up, led an executive education session for Wilson’s Next Level Peer Group at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. The event was the 11th consecutive university for the group and brought together five CEOs and senior teams to focus on agile leadership. Featured L-R: Elias Godinez, Pacific Landscape Management, Oregon; Loren McIrvin, Allied Landscapes, San Francisco; Steve Seeley, Stay Green Inc., Los Angeles; Brad Cox, LMC Houston; Verne Harnish, front center; John Munie, Focal Pointe Outdoor Solutions, and St. Louis event host; Randy Ferrari, LMC Houston; Bruce Wilson, Bruce Wilson & Co.; Bob Grover, Pacific Landscape Management, Oregon and president, NALP board of directors; and Joe Kujawa, Bruce Wilson & Co.

Making an intentional decision to continuously invest in performance improvement seems like a simple thing to achieve. But ask any CEO who’s tried and the answer is, not as simple as it seems.

If the only real sustainable advantage is in learning faster than your competition, how do we do that at speed? And how do we get everyone on board?  

Here’s How: Learning Together Works

Because performance-based learning is based on incremental change, input from your entire company matters. That’s why our peer group program includes opportunities for CEOs to mobilize their teams to learn together. 

At our peer group conferences and meetings, employees and decision-makers at all levels are often included in the conversation. Because if employees need to take an ownership role in, and be accountable to, their company’s future, they need to know what the future entails.  

This is why we believe communication regarding the future of work, the skills needed to manage change, and the importance of agility and scalability make our peer group and its education program a solid investment that will deliver measurable return on your investment training dollars, and define and improve your organization’s way forward. 

A recent peer group university scored impressive gains doing just that. The university brought together company owners and senior executives from the peer group’s five member companies who learned how to improve the way they recharge their teams, inspire their customers, and continuously improve the way they create and deliver value.

The big story for Bruce Wilson & Company peer groups is the scale and scope of deliverables and benefits.

Let’s take a look:

• 2022 is our 17^th year leading improvement initiatives, our 20th year consulting, coaching and advising, and for our founder and Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Bruce Wilson, 50 years of cumulative knowledge and C-suite expertise leading multiple companies to improved profitability.

• With the exception of 2020, we’ve facilitated 4 big conferences per year, 32 group meetings per year, featuring multiple program tracks and customized content, such as benchmarking and KPI analysis, compensation studies, customer surveys, productivity improvement, and market trend impacts. 

• An estimated 400-750 professionals are trained in new ways to improve leadership performance. In other words, our program, from its inception, has inspired and influenced a generation of more than 5,000 leaders and emerging leaders from every sector and discipline in the landscape industry.

• Our clients and their teams have benefitted from more than 100 cumulative days of learning, including immersive two-and-a-half day events, custom content workshops, webinars, and have received access to proprietary world-class entrepreneurial networks and resources, such as Scaling Up.

• Our education events qualify for NALP and SIMA CEUs.

• To ensure personal attention, we keep the ratio of participant companies-to facilitator, speaker, thought leader at 6: or 7:1 

• Our groups average 6 companies each, because we believe small group discussions benefit critical thinking, problem solving and deeper learning.

• In 2021, our consulting and peer group team has advised a growing client portfolio of landscape companies representing $1billion in aggregate total revenue.  Of those…

• • We’ve helped position more than 25 companies to successfully exit or transition their business
  • Helped new leaders, start-ups and entrepreneurs establish their organizations and exceed growth targets
  • Placed dozens of specialized professionals in jobs across the country
  • Coached, mentored and consulted with clients in long-standing private engagements in business planning, marketing and training
  • Helped organizations in role as fractional CFO to transform financial strategy and system needs
  • Analyzed thousands of key performance indicators to provide comparative benchmarking data 
  • Won major leadership and project awards for our client companies and/or their CEOs 
  • Generated favorable publicity and market positioning for company owners
  • Facilitated strategic plans, financial plans, marketing plans, and technology and organizational development plans
  • Secured speaking opportunities for CEO clients at conferences, and on webinars, panels, and podcasts
  • Helped companies implement advanced technology and migrate to enterprise systems and digital platforms
  • Produced and analyzed thousands of customer surveys
  • Have authored columns in landscape and snow industry trade magazines on topics ranging from best practices to sustainability to technology and thought leadership
  • Served on national and regional and state association boards and foundations
  • Have solid relationships across the greater green industry
  • Hosted networking events with recreational amenities, activities, and spouse programs to build friendship and rapport before getting down to business

Giving Life to Big Ideas

Delivery systems for reporting and analysis, and how we communicate and work with customers may be based on the latest algorithm, but the best-managed organizations and the most promising opportunities for growth and innovation will always come from people who think big. 

To find a CEO peer group that helps you remain competitive and give life to your big idea, contact Joe Kujawa at (414) 349-3382, or joe.kujawa@brucewilsoncompany.com

Bruce Wilson & Company – December 2021

The post At Wilson Peer Group Meetings, Fast Beats Slow appeared first on Bruce Wilson & Company.

“Ironically, my father made me quit mowing lawns and get a job because he thought that it would be good for me to know what it’s like to work for somebody and have to go to work at a certain time and everything,” Wilson says.

He did keep one account who let him care for his greenhouses in the winter. When Wilson graduated from high school, he didn’t know it, but his client had put him in for a scholarship with New York Garden Club. He attended Farmingdale State College and that cemented his career in the landscape industry.

Some of Wilson’s major influences as he came up through the industry include Joe Marsh, founder of Green Valley Landscaping, and Dr. Joe Trickett, head of Santa Clara University’s Business School.

Wilson says Marsh was a true professional and after Wilson got all the crews out in the morning, they’d sit down and discuss how current events affected their business.

“Joe was a real mentor to me,” Wilson says. “He taught me how to think like a business person, and taught me some of the principles of running a professional business and business etiquette.”

Wilson met Trickett when he came to visit the company because a student was writing his thesis on the businsess. They hit it off immediately.

“He taught me really how to think about people, and how to lead people by helping them,” Wilson says. “He told me to think of yourself as an enabler. If you enable other people to improve their lives and be better, that’s the key to really having motivated people. Because they will want to work for you because you’re helping them.”

Eventually, Marsh sold his company to ValleyCrest and it became the maintenance division known as Environmental Care. When Marsh retired, Wilson was surprised when they announced he would take Marsh’s place. He was the youngest kid on the block at the time.

Wilson stayed with ValleyCrest for 30 years, becoming president of ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance and vice president of its parent corporation ValleyCrest Companies. Because they were the biggest company in the industry for a while, he says they were always having to blaze their own trail. Wilson says one of the reasons they were successful was because they figured out how to develop people into managers.

“We always tried to find people that had an entrepreneurial streak to them, because basically, we were setting them up to compete as a business, against other entrepreneurs,” Wilson says.

After retiring from ValleyCrest, Wilson started his consulting business, Bruce Wilson and Company. He says the key to helping smaller companies grow into larger businesses is to have an owner who wants to do the work.

“As their business gets bigger, the nature of what they do has to change,” Wilson says. “They have to become a leader. They have to become good at selecting personnel, developing personnel, managing finances and some of the owners just never get out of that ‘I want to be a landscaper’ mode.”

Wilson says over his years in the industry technology has been one of the biggest changes he’s seen. When he started Conserve LandCare in 2011, his vision was to only hire tech-savvy managers, as not being tech-savvy holds everyone back.

This type of forward-thinking is a trademark of Wilson. He credits this mindset to a book he read in the 90s called The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge.

“The premise was the only lasting competitive advantage that a company has is its ability to learn faster than the competition,” Wilson says.

He says after reading this book, ValleyCrest started to put more time into strategizing. They would brainstorm how to fix their current problems but also what’s going to be the problem two or three years down the road and fix that before it happens. Wilson says most owners are in a firefighting mode and aren’t able to take the time to make these big-picture changes.

“I believe a lot in the process of reflection,” Wilson says. “When I go to meetings, a lot of times people say that I’m really quiet and I don’t say much. I have a reputation for that. The reason I am is because I’m thinking and reflecting.”

Another element he’s seen hold back the industry is how many companies are copycats.
“Because of that, there’s a lot of people that I think hold themselves back,” Wilson says. “I think it’s a destructive habit that some people have in the industry, where they’re not willing to try something until somebody else tries that and proves that it works. They’re never going to get ahead of the game.”

As for where Wilson sees the industry going in the next 10 years, he expects to see robotic mowers and other types of technology become more prevalent. While customers will always want competitive pricing, he believes they still value great customer service.

“I believe the industry is still going to be a business built on relationships with both employees and customers,” Wilson says.

This article was published in the November/December issue of the magazine. To read more stories from The Landscape Professional magazine, click here to subscribe to the digital edition.

Reprinted with permission. GIE Media. Lawn & Landscape Sept 2021 (c)

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