"Where are you holding back your opportunities because you don't want to change?" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Last week, the National Association of Landscape Professionals had me down to Costa Rica for their leadership forum; you might have seen some information about that when I posted about their sandcastle-building competition!
It was a great event with a LOT of landscape-industry-specific insight. We had a few exploratory conference calls, which allowed them to build their confidence that I would provide them with a future-oriented keynote that would speak directly to their industry issues. It did; reports back from people in the audience, both via email and LinkedIn, are overwhelmingly wonderful.
The association just ran an article on my talk, found below. I'll share it - beacuse it captures the quote in today's quote which I made from the stage. In addition, I'll share a few of the slides from my deck to give a bit of a sense of what I do 'up there.'
Like Supertramp says in the song, 'And when you're up on the stage, it's so unbelievable...'
No truer words have ever been said!
How to Future-Proof Your Landscape Business in an Era of Fast Ideas
January 31, 2025 [ link ]
Futurist Jim Carroll challenged lawn and landscape company leaders to consider where the industry is headed on Jan. 31 during the Leaders Forum, presented by NALP and powered by Aspire, at Guanacaste, Costa Rica.
He pointed out that the future favors those who are fast, so it is important to understand what are the greatest challenges that need to be addressed in the next few years.
“It’s not the trends that matter but our way to cope with them,” Carroll says.
Align to Velocity
Carroll argues that the future is coming faster than you think. For instance, The Jetsons aired in 1962 and was set in 2062, yet many of the technologies featured in the show are available today, like drones and smartwatches.
Because new technology offers both challenges and change, it is important for landscape companies to imagine what their business will look like in the next 10 years and how they can implement some of these tools.
The Gartner Hype Cycle outlines the phases of how technology is introduced, reaches a peak of inflated expectation then falls into a trough of disillusionment before rising along the slope of enlightenment before reaching the plateau of productivity.
Carroll points out that with AI, companies are currently at the peak of inflated expectations and when people become disillusioned with it, they will stop utilizing it for a time, but it’s important for businesses to keep experimenting with this technology.
Ignore the Uncertainty
As volatility becomes the new normal, business owners cannot simply hunker down and try to ride out hard times. Carroll says that while consumers have been in a state of perpetual gloom and are convinced we are in a recession when we are not, companies do not need to follow them into this abyss.
He says during these periods of uncertainty, you can’t forget about the future. In a Grant Thornton survey, it was found that less than half of businesses planned to double down on innovation during downturns.
“History teaches us that if we stay focused on the future, we win,” Carroll says.
Carroll says we have entered an era of fast ideas where innovation can spread quickly and it’s important to keep up with the factors influencing demand in your business so you can be aware of what is expected of you. He advises having individuals on staff who are in tune with these beacons of trends so you can stay on the cutting edge of client preferences.
Lean Into Digital Opportunities
Science and knowledge are growing and expanding at a rapid pace. Carroll says it’s up to landscape professionals to keep up with this influx of new knowledge. For instance, with AI many have dabbled with it, but businesses need to learn the art of prompting so they can utilize this tool to its full potential.
“You won’t lose your job to AI, but you might lose your job to someone who is using AI,” Carroll says.
Owners also need to think through the arrival of smarter machines as robots powered by large language models and machine vision will become capable of doing far more than ever before. Like PCs before them, the cost of humanoid robots will be greatly reduced over time.
Carroll also recommends listening to your younger employees who may have fresh ideas or technology suggestions, as these generations are not opposed to change. The more you experiment with these innovations, the more experience you’ll have in implementing them.
One way to transform your business is building out an ‘xbox room’ which is where owners give younger generations on staff the resources and ability to explore the unknown so they can determine where they need to invest next.
Kill the Innovation Killers
It’s incredibly easy to simply say you’re too busy to focus on implementing any new innovations. But this is just one of several common innovation killers.
Other excuses include:
“We’ve always done it this way.”
“It won’t work.”
“It’s a bad idea.”
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s too risky.”
“It’s not necessary.”
“The boss won’t go for it.”
An unwillingness to adapt to the rapidly changing world around us can stunt your company’s growth or even make your operation become obsolete compared to evolving competitors.
Don’t let being perfect get in the way of getting started. Carroll stresses you should think big, start small and scale fast.
“Where are you holding back your opportunities because you don’t want to change?” Carroll says.
Here are just a few of the slides from my deck that were shared from the stage.
At one moment, I noted that their industry is already being heavily influenced - in terms of design and other issues - by the arrival and impact of the 'influencers.'
I then spoke to the issue that we are already seeing the arrival of 'AI influencers' in other industries, and it would only be a matter of time before this would have a profound impact on what their customers might expect from them. (This is happening already - think about the impact on our industry!)
This led to a detailed overview of how their future is and will continue to be changed at speed - with clients demanding more sophisticated outdoor living spaces, and instant virtualized design suggestions that are tablet-based, low-maintenance designs, and more.
I also helped them understand that as an industry very much based on science - pesticides, water, technology, and other trends - they are amid very fast-evolving trends.
This means that their clients are demanding new and fast-emerging sustainability and environmentally focused landscape design, such as eco-friendly design, extreme localization, water management, and more.
Not only that, but I walked them through the fact that technology continues to drive everything in their industry. They are already seeing the arrival of self-driving mowers - but there will be so much more, including design software, smart home technology, digital tools, and the acceleration of other key trends.
With that, we logged in - in real-time - to my home automation system and a lawn and garden smart irrigation system that was built by my 31-year-old son. This, let's just say, blew their minds - I was quizzed in depth about this by a few folks after my talk.
Every keynote needs to be up to date with current realities. That being the case, I also jumped into the impact of the recent wildfires in California, and how major challenges like this would come to impact their industry - with more demand for new types of fire-resistant landscape architecture.
These are only a few of the industry-specific slides shared with them; there were many more.
All of this led to a 1-hour long breakout with 300 people (!) - and I used my online polling software to quickly build a list of industry priorities and action plans. that the association should pursue to align with a faster future.
The CEO of the organization will use the results from the next two slides with the association Board to determine their future direction.
Through all this, he received direct, concise, detailed information on how their association needs to align to a faster future. He was pretty thrilled!
Futurist Jim Carroll undertakes an extensive amount of customization in each keynote. You can learn a little bit more here.