Landscape Leader: Bryan Mours

Source: www.TurfMagazine.com

With 25-plus years of experience in all aspects of the green industry, Bryan Mours has done everything from spreading fertilizers to building budgets for multimillion-dollar firms. He started his consulting business, Mour Growth Consulting, LLC, in 2011, because of his strong desire to help people succeed. Due to his work experience, which includes owning and working in restaurants at the country club level, he understands that business owners don’t necessarily have everything they need to be successful.

Find out why he believes there isn’t just one leadership style that works and why being an empathetic leader who can adapt easily helps employees give back.

How would you describe your leadership style and why does this work for you?

I lean towards a democratic leadership style in most situations. There tends to be more involvement by group members who are allowed, and even encouraged, to share ideas and opinions on a topic or issue. I will never claim to know everything or have the best solution to a problem. I will ultimately be the one who makes a decision, but after great input from a team.

All that being said, I try to adapt my leadership style based upon the project and the team involved. Not all projects or teams work well under a democratic style of leadership. In order to be a great leader, I look at the team and the project and adapt my style to meet these needs.

How do you work each day at becoming better at leadership?

I never stop learning. No matter how old I get, I can always learn something new from a book, from a seminar or from a team member of a group with whom I am doing consulting work. Knowledge is all around us every day. We just need to be open to it.

Who are your major leadership role models and why?

I am not big on role models, but growing up in Wisconsin how could I not be a fan of Vince Lombardi? There was a man who could motivate, challenge, set goals and get the guys to work as a team to achieve those goals. That man was loved by everyone who played and coached for him.

What leadership books inspire you and why?

I like to read and find that nugget from every book and every author. Companies that focus on one author’s way of educating on leadership are missing out on a great deal of knowledge.

What have you done as a leader that you are most proud of and why?

No one thing stands out, but I would guess that I would have to say the loyalty that my employees and companies have shown to me over the years. That has been a sign that people trust and respect me as a leader and are willing to go the extra mile. I ran several restaurants and landscape companies, and while other businesses in the area had more than a 30-percent turnover, my turnover was less than 5 percent.

If you were to give young leaders one piece of advice, what would that be?

Lead with empathy. Today, people are being treated like the technology we hold in our hands or work with at our desks every day rather than human beings with feelings and emotions. People are no longer considered the No. 1 most valuable asset at a company. If you care for and take care of the people who work for you, they will show you that back tenfold.

What leadership words or quotes inspire you most and why?

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up.” To me life is full of ups and downs riddled with mistakes and failures; God knows I have had my share. The person who can learn from his mistakes and dust himself off and give it another try after a failure is the person who will always be happy and will succeed in life.

In a leadership capacity, where do you see yourself in five years?

I have always wanted to be more involved in helping nonprofit organizations grow and become stronger. So I plan to volunteer for boards of organizations I feel very strongly in. I also would like to be an educator, filling young minds with the knowledge I have gained during my life’s work.