Whether it’s on a dusty softball field, in a corporate boardroom or on a gravel-lined nursery plot, Lyndsi Oestmann remains consistently devoted to the task at hand. Her purposeful and sincere work ethic was forged when she was a child, watching her dad play professional baseball. It was reinforced as she played competitive softball, persisted into her college studies and eventually became etched in her career. Lyndsi owns and operates Loma Vista Nursery in Ottawa, Kansas, a business that was founded by her father, Mark Clear in 1991.

Lyndsi spent nearly the first decade of her life traveling to ballparks to watch her father play. From some of her first memories, he instilled in her not just the importance of hard work, but the necessity of it in every aspect of life.

“Dad always taught me that if I wanted something, I had to work hard for it,” says Lyndsi. “It’s something he’s always done, too.”

When Lyndsi started playing softball at age 12, Mark told her a lesson he learned from a former coach, “You can expect to play like you practice.” It’s a lesson she’s never forgotten and a standard that continues to drive her.

“We’re a very competitive family, and when dad was my coach, we always practiced like it was the ninth inning of the World Series,” she says. “It’s the same in business. You need to always do your best, not just when we’re pulling orders for the customer that will scrutinize the plants the most. We want to do that every time, every day.”

Sports has certainly influenced Lyndsi’s outlook and how she manages employees and the business. When she started softball, she was playing 150 games a year. Mark noticed her natural leadership qualities with the team.

“I was her coach and probably harder on her than most of the other kids,” he says. “Instead of moping or pouting about it, she looked on the positive side and worked until she got to be one of the better players in the area. She always dug in, no matter what it was, and she was always the team leader. It’s no different now as she’s running the nursery.”

Mark and the family moved from California to Olathe, Kansas, and started the nursery when Lyndsi was 10. Lyndsi and her brother performed several duties at the nursery and even planted the first crop of trees. Lyndsi enjoyed working at the nursery, but she had different career aspirations. She attended Kansas State and received a marketing and international business degree with a minor in Spanish and planned to travel the world. After graduation, she landed a job at PepsiCo Inc. and got a taste of corporate America. She dove in, learning all she could about managing people and process improvement. While at PepsiCo, she learned about accountability and had the good fortune of being cross trained within several departments.

She wasn’t traveling the world as originally planned, but unbeknownst to her, Lyndsi was soaking up valuable lessons that she’d eventually take back to the family business.

Mark bought property in Ottawa to expand Loma Vista and he needed someone to run the Olathe operation, which had been converted into a landscape distribution center. He asked Lyndsi to return home and manage the distribution division.

“I really liked being part of corporate America, but when dad offered me this opportunity, I thought, ‘I can do this because I’ve had this great training and I’ve been managing people at Pepsi and learning how to manage processes,’” she says.

Lyndsi brought a fresh perspective when she returned to the nursery.

“Dad and I make an awesome team because his passion for the business has always been on the production side, and I came in and immediately focused on sales, customer service and marketing,” she says.

Executing a game plan

As she gained a foothold in the distribution operation at age 23, she looked to some of her landscape contractor customers as mentors.

“I tried to learn some of their best practices and see how we could apply those to our own operation. I looked at companies with really strong cultures and ones that had good employee retention,” she says.

She asked customers what they needed from the Loma Vista team, had face-to-face meetings with customers, conducted focus groups and sent out surveys.

“She came in and found areas that needed improvement and executed those changes. She did it by building a good team. She’s got the team concept down pat,” Mark says.

Four years ago, Loma Vista sold the distribution division to SiteOne, one of the largest landscape distribution companies in the nation. The deal essentially reduced the size of the company by half, which gave Lyndsi the opportunity to work on the production side of the business.

“It was a great move for our company,” she says.

Now the company was solely focused on growing and there were some staff changes, which presented another chance for Lyndsi to learn new skills.

Her first lesson was in approaching change. The company’s controller was leaving, and Lyndsi took over the finance and accounting duties of that position.

“I was ready to change everything. We were doing a good job, but I felt like we could be so much more efficient,” she says. “As I started talking to one of our key team members about all of these changes, they had one of those deer-in-the-headlights looks. I tended to approach change like just grab the bull by the horns and just do it. But I’ve learned that I need to slow down a bit and respect how others react to change. It’s important to have lots of communication during changes, really overcommunication in this case, to have complete transparency and buy-in. Because nothing works without buy-in.”

Providing for people

Mark taught Lyndsi a lesson that she never forgot and one that resonates with every decision she makes about the company.

“Dad has always said that people are the most important asset of a company,” she says.

Investing in the Loma Vista employees has been her top priority. Applying some of her experiences from PepsiCo, nursery team members are cross trained to understand how each department affects the others. There’s accountability throughout the system.

“It used to be that one person knew how to do everything, and if that person wasn’t at work, there’d be a lot of people standing around not knowing what to do. So, we developed a playbook for our company with strong documentation of our processes and a formalized planning system,” she says.

Another vital part of training at Loma Vista is taking part in nursery conferences and visiting other nurseries.

“I want everyone on our production team to have lots of contacts in the industry,” she says. “If they’re facing a challenge, they can pick up the phone and call on a fellow grower. Or they can go on a nursery tour and bring back an idea for us to execute. Making those contacts and going to those events has totally changed the dynamic of our team.”

Lyndsi values every person that’s related to the nursery, from each employee and their families to the customers and the community.

“My mission in business is to help the company become the best it can be,” she says. “The company is a lot bigger than just a nursery and its employees. The health of a lot of families relies on Loma Vista, and I take that really seriously.”

That blends impeccably with her mission in life.

“I want to always strive to be the best version of myself, to act with purpose and outwardly express people’s value to everyone I encounter,” she says.

Caitlin Hupp, a territory sales manager at Loma Vista, says she admires Lyndsi’s ability to see the potential in people and help guide them to their best role.

“There’s so much about Lyndsi that makes her a great leader. She’s very conscious of everyone having a work/life balance and she gets to know the families of everyone here,” Caitlin says. “I admire that she’s worked in every role in the company, so she can speak from experience no matter the job. She doesn’t hire square pegs for square peg roles. She sees the potential in people, lets them experience the company culture and helps find a good fit for them.”

Reacting with purpose

As the nursery was navigating the Great Recession, Lyndsi made a profound observation during a budget meeting with her dad, an operations manager and the accounting manager.

“I said, ‘Hey, we’re four people and we’re trying to move the direction of 150 people. We need everyone in the company to hear these numbers. We need everyone to understand what’s going on so the four of us aren’t spinning our wheels.’”

The company became totally transparent and began sharing all financial information in company meetings, including how the nursery is performing compared to budget and how it’s doing compared to industry benchmarks.

“It has made a huge difference. Having buy-in from everyone — not just your top managers, but your middle managers, supervisors and down to the individual level — it’s difficult to get 100% buy-in, but we’re working on it,” she says. “One person, or in our case four people, can’t make the company successful. It is the effort of every single person here because every person is here for a reason.”

The employees appreciate the transparency.

“When Lyndsi implemented the open-book mentality with our budget and finances, that let us know she believed in our capabilities and our ability to problem solve,” Caitlin says. “She gives us the power to get involved and make decisions about the business and the direction we’re going, and to provide solutions to obstacles.”

During the last recession, Lyndsi also realized the nursery’s customer base needed more diversity.

“We were deeply tied to the commercial construction market, so we took a hit during that time,” she says. “We knew right away that we had to put some measures in place, which took a lot of time and planning, to diversify our customer base. We put a lot of work into our product mix, our production timing, how we tag products, how we deliver products and how our sales team operates. I feel a lot more comfortable having a diverse customer base as we face another recession.”

With the recent COVID-19 concerns, Lyndsi realized the importance of being nimble, which also means having a well-developed plan in place.

“We work off of really solid plans — plan A, B, C, all the way to Z if needed. You have to be able to make changes in a timely matter and plan for the things that you can control,” she says. “In the past I have spent a lot of sleepless nights worrying about things that are out of my control. That’s futile. Now we plan for possible scenarios and execute the plan based on variables we can control.”

Loma Vista’s customers appreciate the team’s focused planning and the calculated reactions.

“My company started in 1991, the same year as Loma Vista, and we were their first credit customer,” says Marty Seiler, principal of Epic Landscape Productions in Olathe, Kansas. “Lyndsi has worked hard to lead Loma Vista and take it a step forward. Sometimes in family businesses, the second generation rides the coattails of the first generation. That is not the case with Loma Vista. She’s very professional, well studied and very knowledgeable of the industry. There’s a high level of confidence from father to daughter.

“She demonstrates a passion and love for the industry. She’s personable and easy to talk to. As we’ve gone through the recent COVID-19 issues, we’ve been able to work through some of those issues together.”

© Ruud Morijn | Adobe Stock

Boxwood is a workhorse you can always count on: Tough, adaptable, evergreen, deer-resistant and beautiful. Sheared or shaggy and available in many sizes and forms, there are few gardens where boxwood doesn’t fit right in. No wonder U.S. boxwood sales are around $126 million annually, a significant source of revenue for growers and nurseries.

But the plant’s fate has come into question since boxwood blight reached the U.S. in 2011. The disease has now spread to 28 states, posing a significant threat to established boxwood plantings in landscapes and historical gardens as well as nursery inventory. Researchers and growers have quickly responded to better understand this pathogen, determine the susceptibility of various boxwood varieties already on the market and develop more resistant cultivars.

A new paper, “Ranking Resistance of Buxus Cultivars to Boxwood Blight — An Integrated Analysis,” was published in the June 2020 Journal of Environmental Horticulture. The paper documents a study conducted by researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Services and Rutgers University who assembled data from prior studies as well as new data to create the most comprehensive, statistically consistent ranking to date of Buxus cultivars to boxwood blight.

A comprehensive study

Researchers used 289 samples from the National Boxwood Collection at the U.S. National Arboretum, one of the most complete collections of boxwood in the world with 700 varieties.

“The National Arboretum is one of the primary groups involved in breeding resistant boxwood, we’ve been screening for resistance for several years,” says Dr. Margaret Pooler, a supervisory research geneticist with the U.S. National Arboretum and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.

From those initial 289 samples, the researchers chose the 65 most resistant varieties for further study and statistically merged them with data of prior studies of boxwood resistance.

“Instead of publishing yet another disease resistance comparison, we decided to compare our data to that of other studies and put them together to create a bigger study that compiles all the data. We undertook this study because there were several groups who had completed studies to screen for resistance among cultivars but the results of these studies were inconsistent. So we took a statistical approach to tease out what was causing this variability. We looked at all the studies we could find that had data, or we obtained unpublished data from other researchers to conduct a meta-analysis. We wanted to figure out why the results were different and compiled the prior research with our own, so all the data is summarized in one place,” she says.

Chuanxue (Chuan) Hong, professor of plant pathology at Virginia Tech, who summarized some of the unpublished data for the study says, “I think it’s a very important paper because it provides information that can help growers and those in the nursery industry supply less susceptible boxwood plants to their customers. If we can lower the risk of boxwood blight by using more resistant cultivars and practicing good plant maintenance, everyone will have better success. The nursery industry will have fewer returns and everyone downstream will be more successful, and this has a national impact in reducing boxwood blight. Boxwood is important to the American landscape, it is irreplaceable. It’s important to carry the boxwood heritage forward.”

Key findings

The report provides a susceptibility estimate for 131 varieties of boxwood. While no variety showed complete resistance to boxwood blight, some were less susceptible to the disease than others. The ten least susceptible boxwood listed in the study are:

• B. sinica var. insularis 60705 (Korean littleleaf boxwood)
• B. microphylla ‘Little Missy’
• B. microphylla var. japonica ‘Winter Gem’
• B. SB17 (parent plant of NewGen Freedom)
• B. microphylla ‘Compacta’
• B. microphylla var. japonica ‘Green Beauty’
• B. sempervirens 43877
• B. microphylla ‘Northern Emerald’
• B. microphylla var. japonica 4227
• B. sinica var. insularis ‘Wee Willie’

The full article, including the ranking of 131 boxwood varieties, is available at http://bit.ly/boxwood-ranking.

“Our key findings are that there is a lot of variability among boxwood types to the blight and there is nothing that is truly resistant, at least among the plants we have in the U.S. The different plants we looked at have varying degrees of susceptibility. So right now, everything that we know of will get blight if you hit it hard enough with the pathogen,” Pooler says.

Bennett Saunders, general manager of Saunders Genetics, a boxwood grower that is evaluating boxwood varieties for blight, says, “The sempervirens cultivars are very susceptible and we have to get away from those cultivars. Generally, the microphyllas are the most resistant to blight.”

In reviewing this new paper, he says, “The Sheridan series of boxwood are scattered in the middle as far as boxwood blight.” These were developed at Sheridan Nurseries in Ontario in the 1950s and are the crosses resulting in B. sinica var. insularis and include the varieties ‘Green Gem’, ‘Green Velvet’, ‘Green Mountain’ and others. Sheridan cultivars are the most-grown boxwood in the country, and ‘Green Velvet’ might be the most grown boxwood in the U.S. and it has moderate susceptibility to blight.”

The study did not evaluate how a plant’s form or architecture factors into blight susceptibility. Saunders provides his field observations on this aspect: “If a plant is more upright and open it tends to be more resistant because of better airflow. In most cases the disease originates at the bottom of the plant due to water splashing spores onto the plant and then the disease has to grow up through the plant. One upright sempervirens that we’ve seen a little less blight on is ‘Dee Runk.’ The disease seems to have trouble climbing that plant but under intense pressure it will succumb.”

A way forward

Will a truly blight-resistant boxwood ever be developed? That remains unclear for a number of reasons, Saunders says.

“There are landscapes full of susceptible cultivars carrying the disease,” he says.

But there are options to reduce favorable blight conditions.

“If we reduce the numbers of susceptible cultivars in our gardens, replant with more resistant cultivars and use best management practices, we will minimize the chances of ever seeing blight. Maybe the plants don’t have to be totally resistant if we diligently follow best management practices, some of which are very basic, such as mulching boxwood. Chuan Hong has determined that mulching can reduce blight lesions by as much as 96%,” he says.

Saunders notes that more testing is warranted since “some of the plants in the study only had one test done on them and those might benefit from having more testing done.”

Hong says the green industry will benefit from additional trials.

“Those in the industry should push for further evaluations, not only of newer cultivars since the last studies were done, but also of how the most resistant cultivars from this paper perform in different locations around the country. This additional data will further substantiate the existing studies on susceptibility or resistance of the cultivars and help determine whether the cultivars perform differently in different environments,” Hong says.

Pooler expects the evaluations to continue.

“We definitely will evaluate new cultivars that have come out since this study. We don’t know what a truly resistant boxwood looks like. That’s what we would call a negative control and would be one extreme of our study,” she says. “We have plenty of plants to use at the susceptible end but having resistant cultivars as the gold standard; that is still pretty hard to come by. We’re waiting for what comes out from breeders in the U.S. and Europe to see how they stand up to strains of the pathogen. Our number-one objective is to breed new plants and we actively seek out and obtain new cultivars.”

The U.S. National Arboretum has made hundreds of crosses and have thousands of plants in poly houses, Pooler says.

“Some look promising in terms of ornamental characteristics. It’s a matter of getting them tested in the lab and to see how they do in the landscape. We’re doing genetic studies of resistance that will open doors to anyone who wants to breed new cultivars if we can get a handle on the genetics,” she adds.

A collaborative research project has also been established to combat boxwood blight under a Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“This project is a collaboration between all the key players in government, industry and academia. It includes pathologists, breeders and even economists, so it’s taking a multi-prong approach,” Pooler says.

“It’s an exciting project,” says Pooler. “We’re hoping it will help us find some breakthroughs in finding resistant boxwood cultivars.”

Martha Swiss is a garden writer and designer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; https://plantsomejoy.com

© Viktoria Kurpas | Adobe Stock

The truth is, everyone in an organization is involved one way or the other in selling. From company owner to account manager to the receptionist on the phone, every member of your company is in a position to generate more business.

It doesn’t matter what the medium is. Whether it’s an email, a voicemail, business dinner or industry meeting, everyone on your team has a role to play in delivering a satisfying customer experience.

In a world where everything seems to be done online, a world-class buying experience can start with a simple chat. Follow these five tips and create a fast lane for better relationships, solid leads and convince others to believe, buy and bite.

Build rapport

It’s all about them, so if your focus is on you, your company, your product or service, you’re losing already. Here’s the point, they don’t care about any of that; they care about their issues and what you can do for them. Remember, you’re not selling your service or your product. You’re selling a solution to their problem. Find out what their problem is, and the rest is easy.

70/30 time rule

This will help you with #1. You should be talking only 30% of the time, and they should be talking 70% of the time. When they are talking, you are listening, taking notes and getting ready to ask questions based on what they have shared so you get more insight.

Empathy

Now, this one might be tough for most of you. It requires a lot of mental energy to be so in tune with the client or prospect, that they can put themselves in that person’s shoes, understand their problem, then share with comments like, ”Wow, I can’t imagine what that was like for you” or “Are you serious?” or perhaps, “You know that says a lot about who you are, most people wouldn’t respond like that.”

Mirroring

We all want to build likability and trust and that often requires mirroring. This means that whatever emotion the client or prospect is having, you want to echo or “mirror” that same emotion. So, if they are excited about a new property they have acquired, you should express the same level of excitement; or if they are sad about an employee they recently lost, you should also express concern or say that you’re sorry to hear that.

Deal with the issue

This one is also tough, and many just simply avoid it. Why? Because it’s uncomfortable, that’s why. Many of us don’t like dealing with the issue, but unresolved issues kill deals! A prospect or client won’t buy if they are uncomfortable, so you have to be the one willing to get uncomfortable. Here’s an example: “I notice you keep asking me for more material, is it possible that you’re not really interested, and would rather I leave? It’s not a problem if that’s where we are.” Or, “I see price keeps coming up. I have to say we are not the low-price, low-quality company in the industry, so it’s possible we may not be a good fit.”

The secret here is to lean into your customer’s concerns and be honest.

If you look at this list, you’ll notice it’s very effective when talking to any other person, not just clients or prospects. We all want to be valued, listened to, respected, understood, and we all want to deal with real issues.

So, embrace these five tips and watch your relationships and revenue grow like you’ve never thought possible.

© Mykyta | Adobe Stock

Due to an invisible enemy, fear and fatigue surround businesses, communities, individuals and families. Casualties multiply. Impatience and anger unexpectedly erupt. At the same time, heroes have stepped up in big ways. There have been acts of great sacrifice and generosity, and creativity has flourished as we’ve found new ways to connect, serve and work.

Turbulent times offer unique invitations for leaders to shine. Without WWII, Winston Churchill would little be remembered. Because of his decisive and inspiring leadership, Britain persevered through the war’s darkest days and Churchill is still greatly admired.

What you do as a leader matters now more than ever. Here are five tips for leading well during difficult times:

1) Lead.

Despite how you are feeling and what’s going on around you, if you haven’t already done so, your team needs you to step up. You don’t have to have all the answers, but you must lead the conversation. Ask questions. Get input. Then, make the best decisions you possibly can. As you lead by your words, actions and example, your team will step up to the plate and join you in the fight.

2) Lead with honesty and vision.

Trust is the cornerstone of great leadership. Rather than shielding employees from what’s happening or offering misleading statements, directly communicate what is going on. If your business is struggling, be honest. Then, lay out your vision for facing this difficult time and coming out stronger together on the other side.

3) Lead by taking care of yourself and asking your team to do so as well.

Burning the candle at both ends takes a toll on your body and jeopardizes your team’s well-being. It’s during difficult times you most need reserves. Take time to eat right, sleep, exercise, connect with loved ones and engage in activities that remind you that the world is greater than what you are currently facing. Just as your car needs gas to keep running, you need emotional and physical fuel for the battle you are facing. Your team will follow your lead, and it’s far easier to avoid burnout than to bounce back from it.

Turbulent times offer unique invitations for leaders to shine.

4) Lead with compassion for yourself and others.

Understand that many on your team are grieving, frightened, fatigued and even angry. Expect emotions to be closer to the surface than usual. At the same time, don’t give a free pass for bad behavior. While it’s OK to be frustrated, it’s no excuse to yell, belittle, intimidate or humiliate anyone. Express gratitude, offer encouragement and rally around teammates who are experiencing tough days.

5) Lead by looking for the positive and lessons learned.

While it may not feel like it, there is always a silver lining. If you don’t find yourself naturally looking for the positive, it’s time to begin training yourself to do so. Focusing on what’s wrong, bad or unfair is not only depressing, it also keeps you and your team stuck. On the other hand, looking for the positive and what’s been learned creates energy and positions you to move forward to face challenges head on.

Strong, honest, caring leadership is critical during this challenging time. Your team needs your leadership now more than ever. Your team needs hope and direction now more than ever. Your team needs to pull together now more than ever. If you, like Churchill, will guide and inspire your team through this difficult period, you can expect to come out of it victorious and with your head held high.