Tying Owners and Leaders Together with an “Accountability Agreement”
Early in my professional career I learned the importance of tying company owners and leaders together with an accountability agreement. Originally the idea was brought to me by a division leader in my landscape business. He did this as a way to get us both on the same...
7 Business Lessons From 2020
Welcome to 2021! As I spent the last few days with my family in the Netherlands (see some photos below), I have reflected on some of the biggest lessons I learned during the past 12 months that you can apply to 2021. Some of these you will recognize, some will be...
How Great Teams Work Together––Notes From My Travels Abroad
First off, Happy Holidays, from my family to yours! For the holidays, my wife and I traveled to her home country of the Netherlands to spend the holiday season with our three children—two of whom we have not seen for a full year. It was a strange and happy reunion....
Is Your Leadership Team Structured For Success?
How do you know you have chosen the right organizational structure to lead your team to success? Years ago, while in business school, I studied the teachings of Alfred Chandler (a management guru). He coined the phrase that "structure follows strategy." It is a...
Old Habits, Carried Forward Too Long, Can Harm Your Business Performance
I found this fascinating article in The Wall Street Journal on a quarterback from 50 years ago who changed how football is played today because he gathered data and statistics to inform his strategy, rather than using his gut instinct. Virgil Carter painstakingly...
New Ford CEO, Jim Farley, Shows Landscapers the Way to the Future
The new Ford Motor Company CEO, Jim Farley, is leading the transformation of the 117-year-old company by focusing on going digital and giving commercial vehicle buyers better use of their data to make better decisions. According to the Wall Street Journal, "As a racer...
Sales Commissions Can Fail in Three Ways
Sales commissions can fail in three big ways––two are somewhat obvious, and one is hidden and does damage if unnoticed. Before you even consider setting up a commission plan, you have to be ready for the culture change it brings. Commissions can be very “I” centric...
5 Levels of Financial Management: Terrible, Poor, Good, Better, and Best!
There are five levels of financial management in the landscape industry. They range from Terrible, Poor, Good, Better to Best. Where does your company operate financially? The following framework will help you identify where your company stands from a financial...
Dramatically Change Your Company Culture in Just One Week
What if you could dramatically change your company culture in just one week? In a way that would foster deep leadership buy-in, sharpened leadership focus, and surging employee morale? It may sound like pixie dust, but I have seen it happen over and over. This is not...
The Fourth Quarter Sprint: Seventeen Strategies to Drive Profit by Year-End
Your performance in the final quarter of 2020 will have an oversized impact on how much net profit your company earns this year. Weekly Throughput: The main driver of net profit in the final quarter is measured by your company's Weekly Throughput i.e. the amount of...
