Member Spotlight
Thanks to Andy McDuff , mclp , Vice President of Landscape America Inc . and MLP Board Member , for taking a few minutes to answer these questions for the MLP NEWSLINE .
When you were 10 years old , what did you want to be when you grew up ? When I was ten years old , I thought I was going to make it as a professional baseball player ! I wasn ’ t super talented , but I always ended up on great teams , so I had a good run when I was younger . At twelve , my team won the state championship and went on to the little league world series regionals . It was a great experience . It was also probably the point at which I realized I wasn ’ t going to make a career out of baseball !
How did you start out in the landscape industry ? At sixteen , I had been working at a CVS stocking shelves and taking in deliveries for about a year . The retail game was clearly not for me , and our family friend had a local landscape company , so I decided to give that a try . I loved the physical work immediately and enjoyed being outdoors . We were mainly a residential maintenance company , but I got a little exposure to planting , snow services , and irrigation as well . I was hooked , so I applied to the Stockbridge School of Agriculture and thankfully they accepted me .
Who has influenced you most when it comes to how you approach your business ? How have they influenced you ? There are so many people to list here and say thank you to , there ’ s no way I can answer who has influenced me the most . I ’ ll start with an apology to all my friends and colleagues who aren ’ t named here !
My brother and business partner Doug McDuff has to be mentioned first . I ’ ve been chasing him since I could walk . He ’ s certainly the visionary in the business and that helps me continuously expand my own potential .
Franny Folan , may he rest in peace , hired me into the landscape industry and taught me to put employees first . I remember him firing a client on the spot because they had been rude to us . It was a great feeling to know he had our backs . I hope that my employees know that I would do the same for them .
Dan McMullin was my foreman at Hartney Greymont . Working with Dan , I learned so much about plants , construction , job processes , and site set up . We worked hard but always had fun . I try to mimic his leadership style .
Finally , I ’ ve got to mention Dan Foley . Dan has been a friend and coach for a long time now . Foley has probably influenced everyone that will read this article in some way , so I don ’ t feel that I need to elaborate much here . But it might make him proud if I mention how important safety is in everything we do !
Favorite piece of equipment or product ? Maintenance – backpack blower . Is there anything more fun than doing a fall clean up ?
Construction – line level . My team might get a kick out of me saying that because I always mention them , but we don ’ t use them anymore and haven ’ t for a while .
Day to day – Felco # 2s .
What ’ s your favorite plant or tree ? Tri-colored Beech . All beech trees are cool but the leaves on this variety make it a winner for me .
What would you describe as the keys to creating a great company culture ? Make it fun . Empower the employees to help in decision making . Make it fun . Constantly work on getting better . Have clear and focused goals . Oh , and make it fun .
Andy McDuff , mclp Vice President Landscape America
What ’ s something you ’ re good at that most people would not guess ? “ Good ” might be a stretch but I play old man hockey every week . I love competition . I do get to “ compete ” in a lot of ways through work , but nothing beats the feeling of playing a competitive sport !
What would we most likely find you doing on your day off ? Chances are I ’ d be talking monster trucks and Paw Patrol with my 3-year-old son Corey and spending time with my wife Lindsey . But I also have projects going on all the time . This weekend I need to start building the backyard hockey rink . It ’ s a good size for a 3 on 3 game so feel free to call me if you want to play this winter !
What ’ s something new you ’ re learning now ? I can ’ t say it ’ s entirely new but something that I am actively trying to learn is how to bring safety to the forefront of our company culture . I ’ m signed up for an OSHA 10 course put on by NALP next week and I ’ m working on expanding our current safety program .
What ’ s the best business advice you were ever given ? I ’ ll give a shout out to Foley again here : “ Take imperfect action .” This is one of my favorite pieces of advice because I often find myself stuck in thought about a situation . ( I just spent 10 minutes trying to think of how to answer this question !) ❖
MLP Newsline | Winter 2021 15