When Jim Dubberly saw the light, it had nothing to do with the house he was wiring. He was observing a mowing crew tackle the new housing development in which he worked, and thought he could do a better job mowing and improve his lifestyle doing it.

There's the old saying, "leadership is earned and not given." And how is leadership earned? There's another old teaching (Biblical) "Whoever would become a leader, let him be a servant" That sounds like a paradox. and as a business principle, it just wouldn't work... "You'd be eaten alive in the dog-eat-dog business world." But this is a principle that Walker Manufacturing was founded on and is trying to follow.

You know a company is serious about its landscape when it has 100 acres of lawn to mow, maintains 25 acres of mulched planting beds, and has planted more than 15,000 trees and shrubs since the mid 1980s.

Here's a job most any landscape contractor would enjoy. Maintaining one of California's most prestigious display gardens. Located 30 miles south of San Francisco, Filoli Center beckons back to the early 1900s when wealthy residents built some of the most luxurious country homes of the century. This one, built by William Bower Bourn II between 1915 and 1917, is still in its original setting.

You're a Vietnam vet, a retired police officer, and you've worked hard your entire life. What are you doing mowing lawns for a living? That's the question Walker Talk asked Vernon Henderson, owner of V. Henderson Landscaping, Washington, D.C.

If you're like most lawn maintenance professionals, you started your business using one or two walkbehind mowers. And if you're like most successful entrepreneurs, your business has grown to the extent you now need to purchase additional mowing equipment. Should you buy more walk-behinds, or is it time to consider one of those expensive riders you see some of your competitors using? The answer may surprise you.