Leadership changes announced at BrightView
Lawn & landscape- November 6, 2015
Roger Zino and other key executives are leaving the company as reported today in Lawn & Landscape Magazine– According to an internal memo obtained by Lawn & Landscape, Roger Zino will step down as vice chairman of BrightView at the end of the year as well as other key leadership executives.
https://www.lawnandlandscape.com/article/ll-110515-Brightview-Zino-ValleyCrest
Note- My blog post and thoughts are not to target the company and or any employees. I hold much regard for all shareholders involved in these organizations from executive leadership down to the crew-member. My discussion is strictly from an outside perspective, and for the sole purpose of creating a discussion within this blog post as to the reshaping of the landscape industry.
The big question why the departure of these high ranking company executives?
As I have written about in previous posts, this merger is complicated and I do honestly believe some of the challenges are becoming more apparent. While I personally do not know any of these individuals, I do know that Roger Zino is a very well-liked, and well-respected individual in the landscape industry and has led ValleyCrest with the ideologies of the Sperber family for many years.
As many know, in the M&A world it is not uncommon to have an exodus of the incumbent executives depart sometime post-merger. While reasons vary, many feel alienated from the new top management team or not agreeing with the viewpoints of outside influences such a investors. In similar M&A’s like this one, the company recorded the executive’s departure simply as voluntary. However, the nature of these executives’ departure raise some questions as to what’s really going on within the walls of Brighview’s corporate offices.
Simply speculation; In the case of Brickman & VC and now BrightView there are and were a lot of well-seasoned executives within these two business entities. The reality while all intentions are good, it’s easy for people in an organization to get caught up in both the glamour and boardroom banter of integrating two organizations together. For the moment, that’s where the action is. The future shape of the combined company, including jobs, careers and of course business strategy appears to be in the hands of the integration task forces and top executives. If executive management allows itself and the organization as a whole to get distracted, the base of the intended objectives will suffer. If everybody’s trying to manage both the ongoing business and the integration, nobody will do either job well as the challenges are immense.
People Talking…We keep hearing over and over that merger transparency and communication has been a challenge from top management down. That said, is the departure of these executives simply a well-planned strategic move to bring these two companies that much closer to a Brightview? Or is it a major corporate distraction that will incur further challenges internally and externally? I guess. only time will tell.
Want to share your thoughts? Please do!
Steven Cohen, Principal of GreenMark Consulting Group is a business management and operations consultant with more than 25 years of landscape/snow industry experience. Steven has an extensive background in managing cross-functional business operations, business strategy and market growth projects. He prides himself as being both an analytical and a conceptual thinker who effectively partners with business owners to assess opportunities, facilitate strategic decisions, and drive successful implementations. GreenMark Consulting Group specializes in helping growth-oriented companies see through challenges and map out operational and growth strategies.
Questions? Email me at scohen@greenmarkgroup.com
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