It might be a little strong to call a relatively new industry peer group reserved for the top lieutenants at landscape and lawn care companies a happy accident or a case of taking lemons and making lemonade.
But even Sean Baxter, the group’s facilitator, admits the creation of Jeffrey Scott Consulting’s second-in-command peer group — or 2IC, as it’s called internally — which held its first stand-alone meeting in Destin, Fla., in early January, was more than just a little fortuitous.
“We had a phenomenon that kept happening with our main peer group (Leader’s Edge) where owners were bringing their second-in-commands to those meetings,” says Baxter, president of Lawn and Landscape Solutions in Bucyrus, Kan., and a peer group facilitator for Jeffrey Scott. 
“Those peer groups are pretty popular and well attended. Before we knew it, we had 30-35 people in the room, and Jeffrey and I just couldn’t function running a peer group with that many people. It got us thinking that we really needed a whole separate group for second-in-commands.”
The gathering in the Florida panhandle marked the start of the 2IC group’s third year. The group had met in person each of the first two years (in addition to numerous virtual gatherings), but always as an offshoot of a meeting for the main owner’s peer group. This solo event featured panel discussions, one-on-one strategic planning for 2025 and, in what was a first for this group, a tour of Russell Landscape Group’s Miramar Beach branch location.
“(The tour) was really interesting, a great fit for this group,” Baxter says. “You have this giant company that Teddy Russell founded in Atlanta (No. 44 on the 2024 LM150 ranking), and we’re at a $7, $8 million branch. What we were really after as a group of general managers was to learn how a company takes its values, mission and culture from metro Atlanta and translates those to this branch hundreds of miles away. What systems are used to create consistency in that kind of organization? It was really instructive.”
José Andrés Genel, chief operating officer at Landscape Renovations in Afton, Minn., is a first-year member of the 2IC group but had previous interactions with Jeffrey Scott’s owner’s peer group. He had glowing reviews from his time in Destin, although he admits he carried more skepticism than positive expectations into the meeting.
“My main goal was to figure out what exactly we were getting out of this,” Genel says. “Is this something functional? Is this something practical? Or is it more like just a space to vent about your owners and your teams?
“I was super glad to learn that the people in the room were just like me and completely capable of changing their companies in ways that they don’t even know. It’s a great group, and they’ve built a great culture that is very action-driven. It’s like having a gym buddy, someone who is going to hold you accountable.”
Desiree Bouchard, general manager at Great Lakes Landscape Design in Oak Park, Mich., is another 2IC peer group member with previous experience with the owner’s group. She says her takeaways from the group’s gathering in Destin matched what she had experienced with the Leader’s Edge group.
“The whole concept blew my mind a little, just the willingness and ability to have this network of people with different companies who are so willing to share what’s working for them, what’s not working, programs they find really valuable,” Bouchard says. “It’s opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know existed within the industry.”
Abby Dobson, general manager of Blanchford Landscape Group in Bozeman, Mont., and another 2IC peer group member, actually had a seat at the table for Jeffrey Scott’s Leader’s Edge peer group before ever joining the second-in-command group. Company CEO Andrew Blanchford spent several years abroad, meaning Dobson essentially ran the business in his absence and took advantage of opportunities usually reserved for him, like Leader’s Edge.
Because of that, her initial experiences with the 2IC group weren’t as rewarding as she had hoped, and she stepped back from the program in year two. But she was coaxed back in by Baxter and the new direction taken by the group for year three, and says her experience in Florida will pay dividends for her company down the road.
“This time, the focus was on the connections of the members in the group, mirroring the style of the owner’s group,” Dobson says. “When we were talking about business, it felt much more open and like we were setting the stage for more authenticity and candid feedback.
“When you have a group like that in the same room, someone has had the exact same problem that you’ve had and can tell you how they dealt with it, talk about what worked and what didn’t work. That’s super valuable.”
