November/December 2022 - 66

5 MINUTES WITH ...
5
MINUTES
-WITH-
LAWSON
THALMANN
Lawson Thalmann is business technology
manager at Chalet in the North Shore of
Chicago. He is the fourth generation of his
family to be involved in running the business.
By Teresa McPherson
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
As business technology manager, I provide our people and
teams with the tools to reach their full potential. We have a
lot of incredible people, but it sometimes takes shaking up
the way we do things to reinvigorate and improve both the
employee and customer experience. For me, that process is
the most rewarding.
What keeps you up at night?
Both from a positive and negative standpoint, I'm thinking
about where the world and our business will be in five to 10
years. I see a lot of glimmers of hope, but there are many
frightening trends as well if we're not prepared and thinking
ahead. Unfortunately, we tend to be good at planning for the
next season, but not as good much further than that.
As a family business, what measures do you take to
separate the family part from the business part?
I wouldn't say we're the best at this, but typically when
we're eating dinner or doing something social, we make
an effort to talk about things unrelated to the business.
Without that, we could easily think and talk about the
business 24/7 and that's probably not healthy.
What advice would you give to someone just
starting out in hort?
Don't be afraid to ask the tough questions. Our businesses
can benefit greatly from new perspectives. For example, for
the " green " industry, we have a lot of not-so-green practices
like our use of plastic pots. The next generation has the
potential to challenge these practices - and with enough of
a groundswell, can gain traction.
What's something that few people know about
you?
I love composting. I have a composting unit called
SubPod both on my balcony in the city and at our farm. So
I'm able to throw food scraps directly into the unit that's
built into a raised planter where worms will consume it in
a matter of days or weeks, turning it into rich, black humus
for the garden.
Favorite plant to grow? Why?
I love growing veggies in general. I grow a wide variety at
Chalet's farm, but if I had to pick one, it's probably tomatoes.
It's fun to try the many varieties. It's enough of a challenge
to keep things interesting. And there's a lot you can do with
them in the kitchen.
66 | LAWN & GARDEN RETAILER | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022

November/December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November/December 2022

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