Jeffrey Scott’s Summer Growth Summit, held Aug. 31 to Sept. 1 in St. Louis, Mo., encouraged more than 150 attendees to nurture an entrepreneurial spirit and keep up with the changing landscape.
“We bounced forward into a new type of normal, and we have to stay nimble. We’re in the middle of change, and we have to keep changing as well,” Scott said. “You have to stay hungry and be sure to not fall asleep at the wheel.”
Throughout the two-day conference, industry giants, including Kurt Bland, president of Bland Landscaping in Apex, N.C., and Todd Pugh, founder of Enviroscapes in Louisville, Ohio, shared their experiences with attendees, and LanDesign executives spoke about their areas of operation.
The session topics included creating a platform for managing and inspiring future growth of people, systems and divisions; increasing profitability through efficiency; optimizing the use of time as a leader; building leadership teams to prepare for succession; employing a growth mindset to overcome future challenges; and more.
The conference also included a two-facility tour at LanDesign, a multimillion-dollar company serving the St. Louis area.
The company now includes four facets: LanDesign, LanDesign Plus, Automatic Rain and a newly purchased septic sector.
Owner George Tucker discussed LanDesign’s beginnings, how he broke away from his parents’ company to strike it out on his own and how he put the necessary people in place to help the operation run smoothly, including CEO Brent Pollard.
“I knew I had to get out of my own way,” Tucker said about hiring Pollard. “I’m not the best person to be the CEO of my company because that’s not what my passion is. There are plenty of people who will help take you to the next level.”
COO Charley Branham added to the conversation by discussing the development of general managers into company leaders.
“One of the toughest things is that these guys have come from working in the business to working on the business,” Branham said. “But as the speed of the general manager so goes the staff.”
He added that it’s important for employees to understand their potential growth path upon entering the company.
“Put that growth path up somewhere where crews can see it,” Branham said.
