Books & Trainings

Learn How to Lead with Impact with Books by Award-Winning Author and Speaker Jeff McManus

Don’t wait for Human Resources or anyone else to invest in your team. You will miss a tremendous opportunity to do something really great.

Transform your team and lead with impact with these reads that spark action, innovation, and leadership growth, from award-winning speaker and best-selling author Jeff McManus.

Growing Weeders into Leaders

Written by award winning leader, best selling author and motivational speaker Jeff McManus, Growing Weeders into Leaders offers leadership lessons from the ground level. It takes you through the practical applications of empowering people to experience not only what it means to grow outstanding landscapes, but also to grow greatness in themselves and encourage it in others.

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Cultivate

Leadership expert Jeff McManus shares engaging stories that highlight personal characteristics necessary for becoming an effective team player. When you gather your team to discuss the priorities of the day, take a few minutes to use this book as a tool – read a page and answer the questions. Your team will  appreciate the discussions and the opportunity to share and bond.

Buy Now on Amazon

Cultivate

Leadership expert Jeff McManus shares engaging stories that highlight personal characteristics necessary for becoming an effective team player. When you gather your team to discuss the priorities of the day, take a few minutes to use this book as a tool – read a page and answer the questions. Your team will  appreciate the discussions and the opportunity to share and bond.

Buy Now on Amazon

What Readers are Saying

Jeff’s books have helped hundreds of leaders to lead their teams with impact—see for yourself!

What I admire about Jeff McManus is that he has accomplished what he authors. And now, in a clever twist with Cultivate, Jeff brings together 31 short stories that, when woven together, become an easy-to-implement and practical tool for developing individuals and growing a great team. Every business can easily implement the Cultivate strategy and create an interactive environment where individuals can comfortably participate and embrace personal and team growth. If you’ve met Jeff, you know he is genuinely committed to inspiring and motivating individuals to accomplish team success. After reading this book and embracing this as a tool, you’ll quickly conclude that, “it is a time to create trust with team members by respecting their input and listening. They will, for the first time, hear themselves embrace the concepts as a team.

Tom Ewing

Landscape Program Development
Proven Winners

  • Prestigious national awards and over thirty years’ experience at the highest levels of landscape management give Jeff McManus an incredible insight into developing leadership, team building, team motivation, and company culture. In his book, Jeff has been able to reduce complex management concepts into easy-to-understand-and-apply stories that will benefit everyone from the beginning crewmember up to senior management.

    Harry Ponder

    Professor Emeritus
    Auburn University

  • In his “how to” guide, Jeff McManus gives a perspective on service and leadership from the ground up. As a member of the leadership team at Chick-fil-A, part of my job is to help define the future of our business. We have addressed the fact that success is all about succession, and that in order to ensure future success you need to be constantly growing the leaders around you. One thing we have learned throughout my tenure at Chick-fil-A is that there’s a big difference between locating leaders and cultivating them. Jeff reminds us that all leaders can be cultivated with the right pruning and nurturing…this book will serve as a guide for doing just that.  Perfect for all current and future leaders.

    Dan T. Cathy

    CEO, Chick-Fil-A, Inc.

  • Refreshing, innovative and creative are the words that came to mind as I read this book. Growing Weeders into Leaders gently shows the positive end result of trusting, respecting and complimenting people who are doing ‘manual’ labor. As a valued department at Ole Miss, Jeff’s team has proven their ability to ‘make a place look loved’ and to attract world-class athletes, faculty and other top-notch talent to that campus as a result.

    Dan Miller

    New York Times bestselling author, 48 Days to the Work You Love

  • Cultivate is about creating dynamic teams as well as creating trust. This book uses practical, relatable examples that many in the green industry have indeed experienced firsthand. The thoughtful creation of each chapter focuses on breaking down different soft skill elements to help you and your team begin the conversation about teamwork, trust and how the team could grow together. I highly recommend this book to all in the pursuit of evolving your team into a dynamic, positive, and super productive one!

    Paula Sliefert

    Senior Marketing Manager
    The Toro Co.

  • After helping transform the Ole Miss campus from a former beauty into what is frequently hailed as the country’s most stunning, Jeff McManus knows a few things about building an award-winning team. Far more than a dry collection of management tips, Growing Weeders into Leaders is filled with personal experiences and insights aimed at empowering employees and helping them unleash their own creativity and drive. No matter what business you’re in, Jeff can help your team reach its full potential.

    Jeffrey S. Vitter

    Former Chancellor and Distinguished Professor, University of Mississippi

  • I love the intentional approach of this book. Perhaps unintended, but Jeff has it figured out – our society has made ‘leadership’ too big and way too complicated. Thus he puts us through a simple approach that people come first. His leadership has helped to propel our university from good to great – in not only physical beauty but in attitude and culture. I love working with Jeff and his team. I am glad he has chosen to make his approach available and accessible in such an enjoyable read.

    Ross Bjork

    Former Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics, The University of Mississippi

  • For me, being in the landscape industry, Growing Weeders into Leaders is a true treat. I could not put it down and actually read it twice! What you will find in this book is a gifted writer with an ability to simplify what so many folks try and make difficult. You will be truly inspired by the natural way Jeff shares leadership lessons for growing successful leaders in any industry. Great book!

    Cary Avery, CGM

    University of California, Davis

  • For generations stories have been used to give meaning to who we are and what we believe in. Throughout Growing Weeders into Leaders Jeff McManus brilliantly uses the art of storytelling to describe the many complex concepts of positive leadership. This book is rich with examples of how an effective leader empowers others and encourages them to lead. Great work!

    Katie Wilson

    Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, USDA Former Executive Director of the National Food Service Management Institute

  • Growing Weeders into Leaders isn’t, as it first appears, a book about leadership development in the landscape industry. The practices shared in the book are relevant to any type of organization.  With our facilities in the same town, my team and I have benefitted greatly from Jeff’s teachings and we are stronger because of it.

    Mark McAnally

    Quality Manager, Caterpillar HPE, Oxford, MS

  • Growing Weeders into Leaders reminds us that great leadership is a quest for excellence, not only in ourselves, but in our teams and in our work.  Jeff McManus has coached my colleagues in the classroom on how to create winning teams, and now he has brought that same leadership wisdom to the page in this easy to digest book, full of true-life leadership stories.  No matter the industry, the lessons transfer seamlessly, a gentle reminder that at the end of the day, leadership is all about investing in people.

    Bethany Cooper

    Human Resources Business Partner, FNC, Inc

  • Jeff is an inspirational leader, speaker and writer.  Growing Weeders Into Leaders is a straightforward approach to problem solving and methods to grow individuals into a team.  Jeff is an excellent teacher of new leaders and is quick to encourage experienced leaders to trust our instincts. Sometimes we just need reminding of the principles that have positive results and keep moving forward.

    Susanne Woodell, CGM

    Historic Gardens Manager, Biltmore

  • I found Growing Weeders Into Leaders an inspiring and accurate reflection of the challenges involved with managing the landscape and facilities of a comprehensive higher education institution.  I enjoyed and appreciated Jeff’s candor and innovation in cultivating leadership within his organization.  His work clearly demonstrates the impact of genuine, caring leadership on the development and success of an organization.  This is a must-read for anyone or any industry looking to impact the lives of others in a positive way!

    Dr. Chris Crenshaw

    Associate Vice President for Facilities Planning Management,The University of Southern Mississippi

  • Jeff is a man of integrity and a leader in the landscape industry.  Having met several of Jeff’s team members through the years it is obvious this book is based on real life activity in the landscape department at the University of Mississippi.  I have been in the landscape industry for over 40 years and I learned things from reading this book that I can easily use – as well as some things that will require a bit more planning and discipline.   Everyone in a leadership role would benefit from following the principles presented in this book.

    John A. Burns, CGM

    Landscape Manager, Past President, Professional Grounds Management Society, University of Texas at Austin

  • I have been coming to Oxford for the better part of 40 years, and can speak firsthand to the tremendous improvement that the University of Mississippi’s campus has seen under the leadership of Jeff McManus. It is no accident that the campus has been recognized as most beautiful on five separate occasions, and when you read this book, you’ll see why. Jeff’s leadership principles and philosophies discussed in this book can take any size business or workforce and turn them into a truly unified team that is highly motivated to achieve success. I have had the privilege of hearing Jeff speak on two separate occasions and I highly recommend him – the only thing better than the book is Jeff in person!

    Ward Toler

    Market Manager, C Spire

  • My good friend, Jeff McManus, has planted in words in the same incredible way he has planted in the grounds of Ole Miss, making the invisible become visible, allowing others to see the rich talent he has been given.  From the landscape architect of the most beautiful campus in America comes now the author inspiring us to become all we can be in the fields God has placed us.

    Lee Paris

    CEO, Meadowbrook Capital, LLC.

  • Jeff’s book may be about landscape management, but the techniques he employs and teaches are transferrable to any industry or team.  McManus teaches a system with identifiable objectives, measurement techniques, and easily communicated team principles.  This is a book for leaders at any stage of their development.

    Campbell McCool,

    Former CEO, McCool Communications, Founder and Developer of Plein Air

  • As a fan of books geared toward insight and professional advancement, I greatly enjoyed Jeff McManus’  Growing Weeders into Leaders.   His stories and self-reflection guide us in understanding how we are growing our own teams.  You might think the world of commercial real estate brokerage would operate differently from a landscape team, but Jeff has shown me that in all cases, in all businesses, we are very much the same.  Jeff’s work with my team has utilized the guiding principles addressed in his book and both are clear, insightful guidance toward professional development in any industry.

    Elizabeth J. Randall

    President, Randall Commercial Group

  • In Growing Weeders into Leaders, I recognize the home-grown values and principles that, when implemented, can inspire and guide an organization and the people in it.  Jeff tells the story of a smart, hardworking team of men and women who, in the words of one of our greatest story-tellers, William Faulkner, not only endured, but prevailed in their pursuit of excellence.

    Sam Haskell

    Former Worldwide Head of Television, William Morris Agency, National Best-selling Author, Philanthropist

  • In Growing Weeders into Leaders the author carefully and strategically aligns with all stakeholders from maintenance crews to football recruits to the University Chancellor. Then, with a specific plan of execution, McManus shares how the stakeholders rallied around a vision he had for Ole Miss. It’s truly a case study for any organization!

    Darryl W. Lyons

    CEO & Co-founder, PAX Financial Group, Author of Small Business Big Pressure: A Faith-based Approach to Guide the Ambitious Entrepreneur

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Stepping Up: Practical Wisdom for First-Time Leaders

Stepping into leadership for the first time? The skills that got you promoted will remain importance throughout your career and you will need some other skills to lead. In this 30-minute session, we’ll cover the real mindset shifts new leaders face, simple habits that build trust fast, and common early missteps to avoid. No jargon, just practical guidance. This webinar is created for new leaders and the managers/mentors supporting them. This session will leave you with a few things you can put into practice right away, and – just as important – a little more confidence in knowing that you’re not supposed to have it all figured out yet.

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