My friend and I stood out, like two penguins. We scrambled to his car to take off our bowties and tried to dress down.

That experience taught me something about degrees of overdressing. While wearing a tuxedo may be too much, at work it’s important to be slightly over dressed than looking ragged or overly casual.

Our industry needs more owners who think the same way. Whether it’s for a networking event, or for your company dress code.

Because you can’t put lipstick on a pig, and you also can’t show up looking like one.

Look the Part

Your appearance (at networking or at a client’s property) is a signal before you say a single word.

Branded uniforms elevate your team. A logo hat, vest, or water bottle when you’re meeting a client shows pride and commitment.

Note, when an owner also wears the logo, that means something special (especially to their team.) Nothing beats company pride.

Unfortunately the bar is set low, and if you want to stand out, it does not take much: Clean, neat, and pressed will put you ahead of many competitors. Non-iron golf shirts exist everywhere. There’s no excuse for wrinkles.

And it’s not just you. Your trucks, equipment, and your yard also send a signal to your clients and employees.

A dent that doesn’t get fixed becomes two dents. A truck that has two tools out of place will soon become four or eight. People start caring less, and it snowballs.

The Real Work After You Show Up

Looking good gets you in the room, but it doesn’t keep you there.

An owner or leader (or salesperson) who comes from a well-organized operation should show up calm, prepared, and on time.

Though, in Germany (where I lived for a short time), they consider showing up “on time” to be late. e.g. if your appointment is at 9am, then rolling up at 9am would be late for them.

Plan to be five minutes early. That alone will make an impression and start things off right:

• Phone off.
• Organized for note taking.
• No oil leak in the driveway (this last note comes from experience).

And follow up. Because if you look sharp but don’t follow through, you’re still a bozo in a nice vest. (Again, I know this from experience, too.)

The salesperson’s appearance and the follow through have to match.

You Can’t See Your Own Cracks

This is where many owners get stuck.

• The dent on the truck becomes invisible to you.
• The wrinkled or ripped shirt looks normal in the heat of the moment.
• The slow email response doesn’t register because you’re busy.
• You’re too close to your own operation to see what everyone else sees.

Outside eyes change that. When you walk through someone else’s company and really look at it, you start seeing your own blind spots in a whole new light. And when someone does the same for you, it’s one of the most valuable things that can happen to your business.

Your Challenge: Engage Your Team and Your Peers

Ask your team three questions this week:

1. Where do we look unprofessional?
2. Where do we act unprofessional?
3. What’s one thing we could fix right now to upgrade our professionalism?

Then take action. Your team sees what you don’t and they’ve probably been waiting for someone to ask.

Go get ’em, Jeffrey Scott!

P.S. You can also engage your peers. Our Leader’s Edge Peer Group is built exactly around this outside-eyes experience, where we visit each others facility and learn to see our companies in a new light.

Same goes for our Summer Growth Summit. You go behind the scenes at real landscape companies, seeing how the best operators run their businesses.

The post You Can’t Put Lipstick on a Pig appeared first on Jeffrey Scott.

Joe was an early industry innovator and a founding member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD).

Decades ahead of his time, he designed, built, and serviced entire properties through his pool business. Along the way, he helped launch the careers of many people who became some of the best in our industry.

Since his passing, friends have shared stories that reveal the personal impact my father had on them. Below is one from Everett, my oldest friend and a former employee of our firm.

These stories have reminded me how powerful it is to see someone you respect through another person’s eyes. Your spouse, parent, employee, or friend have likely influenced others in ways you never fully understood.

Don’t wait until someone dies (or quits) to ask others what they value about that person. What you learn now can be eye-opening, grounding, and even deeply meaningful.

Everett’s Perspective on Joe Scott Jr.

“Many things come to mind when I think of Joe Scott: panache, swagger, principled, dapper, integrity, an understanding of aesthetics, mensch, a man who built his own brand, with a gentle smile and a kind soul.

Joe exposed me to what life could truly be. Many of my passions began with what I experienced through Joe, his wife Dotty, and their company, GlenGate: my love of aquatic environments; the interplay among land, water, and architecture; being an audiophile; loving British cars; and enjoying style.

He showed me the value of working hard and working smart.

Joe gave me work and a place to live when I was ‘stretching my wings’ as a young man—and he didn’t mince words when I fell short.

I am forever grateful for what he taught me and what I experienced through him and his ventures. I am lucky to have known him. May his memory be a blessing to us all.”

—Everett

Obituary: Obituary Link

Regards,
Jeffrey

The post The Green Industry Loses a Titan & Innovator appeared first on Jeffrey Scott.

The post HR Leadership and People Solutions with Katie Magoon and Mitch Katz appeared first on Jeffrey Scott.

While a clever tagline may help people remember your company, a powerful mantra helps your employees run it.

For example, BMW has spent more than five decades promising “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” As a fervent BMW owner, I can attest that the cars deliver on that promise.

Nike built a similar global identity around “Just Do It.”

However, the strongest phrases do more than advertise a brand. They express what the company believes and how it intends to behave.

Here are four landscape examples from companies we have worked with over the years.

One Team®

“One Team” is the mantra of my friend Ted Lucia, owner of Lucia Landscaping and two other businesses—known collectively as the One Team Family of Companies.

Ted takes this mantra seriously—he even owns the trademark.

As Ted explains, “Exceptional companies aren’t built by individual departments or standout performers. They’re built by people working together toward a common purpose.”

Ted and his employees live and breathe this mantra. It reminds people that they are part of something larger than their department, role, or even individual company.

We Get Sh*t Done

This is the mantra of Ivan Katz’s Great Lakes Landscape Design in Detroit, host of our Summer Growth Summit.

The mantra came directly from the company’s largest residential estate client, who said they loved working with Great Lakes because “you just get sh*t done—no hemming and hawing, no excuses. You simply figure it out and execute.”

That phrase now permeates the company, including its sales promise: Great Lakes starts a job and works through to completion, without constantly stopping and restarting.

From the office to the field, their mantra reinforces accountability, resourcefulness, teamwork, and putting the client first.

Landscapes for Life

“Landscapes for Life” is the tagline at my friend Paul Fraynd’s company, Sun Valley Landscaping.

The idea began when Paul heard a speaker connect soil health and landscapes to the advancement of human life. When Paul and Hugh Morton merged their companies in 2012, it became their slogan and a statement of why their work matters.

It now appears on their trucks and gear, but more importantly, it acts as a filter for running the business.

They often remind their employees: “What you do matters.” You are not merely planting a tree. You are creating the setting where someone’s life will happen.

Family First

“Family First” is the mantra at DeHamer Landscaping, run by brothers Wade and Dustin Vugteveen.

They are willing to make short-term financial sacrifices to support employees and their families. At the same time, they teach long-term financial accountability because a financially healthy company is ultimately better able to provide stable careers and support those families.

That balance makes “Family First” more than a feel-good slogan.

What We Use at Jeffrey Scott Consulting

At our firm, we use three phrases for different purposes:

• Service ethic: “Do what’s in the client’s best interest.” When faced with a difficult decision, we choose the path that serves the client best.
• Accountability standard: “Run our business the way we tell our clients to run theirs.” It keeps us walking our talk.
• Mission: “Help our clients bring their dreams to life.” That is why we jump out of bed every morning: to make a difference in the lives of our clients and all the families that depend on them.

Your Challenge: Creating a Tagline That Will Become a Difference Maker

The key is choosing a mantra your leadership can believe in deeply—and turning it into a standard that your employees can see, use, and hold the company accountable to.

The big question is: What belief are you unwilling to compromise? What will guide your most difficult decisions?

I am curious: If you have a mantra you are proud of, hit reply and share it with me. I would love to read it.

Regards,
Jeffrey Scott

The post When a Tagline Becomes a Difference Maker, That Moves All Your People appeared first on Jeffrey Scott.

As we enter Q3, it is time for every company to start planning the next 12–18 months before year-end sneaks up on you.

We held our annual roadmap session a few weeks ago in New Orleans.

As you can imagine, a productive retreat requires more than a good agenda. It takes preparation, team chemistry, and enough time for honest conversations.

Here is how we did it.

Build the Team Before Building the Plan

We began with a half-day of social activities.

This is especially important for a remote company like ours, but every leadership team benefits from leaving the office and spending relaxed, personal time together.

We took a two-hour historical walking tour of the French Quarter, followed by live music and a few cold drinks at a little-known European jazz club near Bourbon Street. From there, we walked to dinner and broke bread together.

This helped us reconnect as people and sparked all kinds of valuable sidebar conversations.

People, Products and Processes

We opened Day One with an icebreaker: a personality assessment exploring each other’s strengths and blind spots.

It was instructive to hear how teammates experienced one another’s strengths and blind spots. This open discussion set the tone for the rest of the retreat.

The remainder of Day One focused on:

• Past results
• Key systems needing improvement
• Our core products and how to strengthen them
• Sales and marketing updates
• Our organizational chart and future capacity

We ended the day at one of New Orleans’ most iconic restaurants, Commander’s Palace. Totally worth it!

Turning Discussion Into Action

Day Two was shorter and more focused.

We discussed our upcoming Summer Growth Summit and then spent most of the day reviewing future goals and revising our company’s Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for the coming year.

We also used Plaud to record and summarize our discussions, making it easier to capture decisions, action items, and even the sidebar ideas.

At the end of the retreat, we evaluated what worked well, what could have been stronger, and what we would do differently next time.

My Three Biggest Takeaways

1. Preparation Determines the Quality of the Session

Preparation by both the leader and participants makes all the difference. We completed considerable work beforehand, yet agreed that even more preparation would improve our next session.

Don’t bring your team in cold. Share information, questions, and assignments ahead of time so everyone arrives ready to contribute.

2. Relationships Improve the Discussion

The social time and personality assessment created the foundation for deeper conversations.

When people feel connected and understood, they are more willing to be vulnerable, challenge ideas, admit concerns, and offer honest input.

3. Different Tools Uncover Different Insights

Using different exercises and discussion formats helped us draw ideas from everyone—not just the loudest voices.

The variety of topics also encouraged balanced participation across the team.

Your Challenge

Make time to strengthen both your strategy and your team.

My single biggest takeaway was how strongly our team wanted to support our vision and help shape the company’s future.

Don’t assume strategic planning is something you have to carry alone or that your goals must remain “reasonable.” Share your biggest dreams and your greatest needs, then ask your team to help. Just be ready to accept their input.

We were able to facilitate our own annual roadmap because we had a room full of experienced coaches.

Most leadership teams benefit from an outside facilitator who can ask the difficult questions, ensure every voice is heard, and ultimately help build a productive roadmap.

A final aha: Your budget follows your strategy.

Don’t let budgeting season shortchange your strategy. Decide where you’re going first, then build the budget to support that plan.

Regards,
Jeffrey Scott

P.S. If you’d like help creating your own annual roadmap, drop me a line!

The post An Inside Look: How We Run Our Annual Roadmap appeared first on Jeffrey Scott.

It’s not too late to join us — but tickets are moving fast. Save your spot today: Summer Growth Summit in Detroit, MI. August 18–20, 2026 – https://jeffreyscott.biz/summer-growth-summit-26/

Key Takeaways

What if that was not even the most difficult challenge you would face?

We have added Kurt LaButte, co-founder of Todd’s Services Inc. (Hamburg, MI), to the speaker lineup for our Summer Growth Summit.

His presentation, “Growing Through Every Season,” is a story of entrepreneurship, devastating setbacks, rebuilding, leadership development, scaling to new heights, and succession.

It is truly one of the most moving business stories I have heard.

From Rowboats to Nearly $10 Million

Todd’s Services began in 1979, when Kurt’s brother, Todd, was 15 and Kurt was only eight years old.

The brothers used rowboats to travel around the Chain of Lakes near Hamburg, Michigan, mowing lawns and doing whatever odd jobs people would pay them to do—including cleaning up after their dogs.

Over time, they added equipment and services, bought an irrigation company, moved into landscape design and construction, and developed one of the largest hydroseeding operations in the country.

By 2007, Todd’s Services had grown to nearly $10 million in revenue.

Kurt was enjoying the rewards of their rare success when suddenly the Michigan economy and housing market collapsed.

Todd’s Services was heavily dependent on new construction, and revenue fell to just over $4 million.

It was time to make big changes—and fast.

But that was not all. Kurt then lost his brother and lifelong business partner.

As the younger brother, Kurt suddenly had to take the helm and steer the company through loss, financial pressure, restructuring, and eventually regrowth.

It’s Time for a New Strategy

Kurt realized that rebuilding the company would require more than hard work. He needed an entirely new approach.

He built a management team, made difficult personnel decisions, and developed his own personal leadership style—one based less on giving orders and more on listening, collaboration, and trust.

He also had to confront another truth: they needed a new business model.

After surviving the downturn and personal tragedy, the company began rebuilding on a stronger foundation.

Todd’s Services diversified its services, developed more recurring revenue, strengthened its financial discipline, invested in systems, and expanded its leadership team.

Today, it has grown into one of the largest firms in its community, with multiple locations and the next generation stepping into ownership and leadership.

Lessons From Every Season

At the Summer Growth Summit, Kurt will share the decisions that helped Todd’s Services survive, rebuild, and scale, including how to:

• Protect cash and manage debt
• Diversify through recurring revenue
• Build and trust a leadership team
• Adapt when markets change
• Expand into new locations
• Transition a company to the next generation

As Kurt will attest, real growth does not happen when times are flush.

Rather, it happens during times of uncertainty and rebuilding—those moments when you are forced to change.

Whether your company is growing, struggling, rebuilding, or preparing for succession, Kurt’s story will provide practical lessons you can take home and apply immediately.

We are thrilled to have him joining us at the Summer Growth Summit Pre-Event.

P.S. Early Bird pricing ends this Friday, July 10. Register now to save $300 per ticket.

Regards,
Jeffrey Scott

The post New Summit Speaker Announced: Growing Through Every Season with Kurt LaButte appeared first on Jeffrey Scott.

Rockefeller would walk to work with his brother and three key leaders every morning. During that walk, they discussed what was happening across the business, what decisions needed to be made, and where problems were beginning to surface.

He then walked home with the same group.

It was simple, consistent, and powerful.

That daily conversation helped Rockefeller stay connected to his growing enterprise without waiting for a weekly report or a crisis to unfold. Information moved quickly, priorities stayed visible, and obstacles could be addressed before they became expensive.

After working with more than 350 landscape companies, I have seen many of the best-run firms rely on this same “Rockefeller habit.”

Great Lakes Landscape Design, co-host of our Summer Growth Summit, is a perfect example. During the summit they will share how their production huddles drive efficiency right to the bottom line.

In my experience, the daily huddle needs to happen at a few different levels: with your production teams, with your leadership team, and possibly with sales.

Production Huddles – Start the Day Right

Most landscape companies understand the importance of getting crews out of the yard quickly. But speed without alignment will backfire and create inefficiencies.

A short 10–15 minute production huddle gives crews and supervisors the opportunity to review the previous day, plan the day ahead, and surface concerns and questions.

Typical recurring topics include:

• Safety
• Department calendar
• Key metrics
• Current issues
• Preparedness

Huddles are most effective when paired with a huddle board or visual scoreboard that tracks agenda items, metrics, and action items.

They also allow you to surface employee concerns and make people feel heard.

A good huddle protects both your crews and your productivity while giving everyone a stronger sense of ownership and teamwork.

Leadership Huddles – Keep Departments Aligned

Leadership teams have similar needs.

As an owner, you may want to huddle with your direct reports to discuss what is keeping each person awake at night and ensure everyone has their finger on the pulse of the business.

Steve Jobs famously had lunch every day with design leader Jony Ive to keep innovation moving forward. Even experienced managers need regular alignment, and waiting an entire week for a leadership meeting may be too long.

Our client, Greg Semmer of Semmer Landscape in Chicago, has a head of operations and recently hired a sales manager. The three of them huddle every day and have lunch together each week.

This approach is especially valuable when a leadership team is new. It gives the owner greater confidence to delegate responsibility without losing visibility.

A leadership huddle can focus on three questions:

1. What is happening today? Share the most important meetings, commitments, or decisions.
2. What do the numbers tell us? Review a few leading and lagging indicators.
3. Where are you stuck? Identify approvals, missing information, client issues, or departmental conflicts slowing the company down.

Huddles expose problems, but they should not solve every problem.

• Some issues should move to the weekly leadership meeting.
• Others can be handled outside the huddle by the appropriate people.

Your Challenge: Make Your Huddles Stick

Production and leadership huddles fail for the same reasons: lack of preparation, commitment, and consistency.

1. Start on time.
2. Keep everyone standing to maintain energy and pace.
3. Use a timer and create a firm stopping point.

Participants should arrive knowing exactly what they need to report. When people show up late, ramble, or come unprepared, the meeting quickly becomes ineffective and eventually disappears.

For the next 30 days, try running a daily production, leadership, sales, shop, or design huddle. Keep each meeting to 15 minutes and measure the results.

You should see greater efficiency, stronger performance, and more problems prevented before they become expensive.

Regards,
Jeffrey Scott

To learn how to implement production huddles in your company, join us at our Summer Growth Summit, where Great Lakes Landscape Design will share its proven approach.

Early Bird pricing ends July 10. Register now and save $300 per ticket.

The post How Daily Huddles Greatly Improve Efficiency and Avoid Big Mistakes appeared first on Jeffrey Scott.