2 December 2015 The Channel Islands Clipper

Four Ways to Keep A-Team Employees From an article by Maile Bucher in GreenIndustryPros.com

Competitive Pay and BenefitsGreen Industry businesses are not only in business because they love the landscape industry, but because they need to make a living. Employers who offer their employees competitive pay and benefits are a great example of how to hang onto top-notch workers.

Run your business so that your employees think of their job as a career, not just some temporary job. Assurance of year-round employment, benefits including sick leave all work to keep your A-Team members from moving on to another employer.

Strive to become one of the most sought after companies in your area, which will enable you to raise your rates and then in turn pay the best wages, offer bonuses, retirement plans and insurance. This will all help to nurture fun and excitement in the workplace…and help you keep your employees.

Flexible Time OffEmployees are people like you and me, and life outside of work may require some time off to take care of personal issues. It has been proven that workers given flex time are happier and more

productive workers. Again, this is another important reason for them to stay with your firm.

Team InvolvementMaking employees feel like family through company BBQs, company trips, and an open-door policy help to keep the lines of communication open and build loyalty. Weekly breakfast meetings where employees are given the chance to speak openly about concerns or issues will help you get ahead of

any potential problems while keeping negativity out of the picture.

TrainingYou want to hire as many qualified employees as possible, but it is also smart to have a training program in place for your workers to improve their skills and enhance value to themselves and to the company. Some companies have their employees do something different every day. This keeps the work interesting and is a key part of their continual training program. Attendance at trade shows, seminars and bringing in industry trainers will benefit your employees and in turn benefit your company.

Productive Work Environment

6 December 2015 SFV CLCA Valleyscape

GARDEN TOUR GOERS Norm Lopez of Southland Sod, Secretary/Treasurer Ted Sandrowsky,

Past State President Charles Nunley and publishing guru Bronwyn Miller enjoy the festivities and the tacos.

WORLD’S PROBLEMS discussed and solved at the LCIS Open House by CI’s Pete Dufau

and Daniel Wilson.

LCIS OPEN HOUSE drew lots of conventioneers eager to enjoy the hospitality and tasty treats generously provided by Landscape Contractors Insurance Services.

DIVING FOR BUCKS – Executive Director Sandra Giarde jumped into Gordon Larson’s pool to

raise funds for LEAF. The event was the highlight of the interesting and informative Sustainable Gardens Tour.

ENJOYING THE LCIS Open House are Norm Lopez, Kevin Kohn of Ewing,

and LCIS Secretary Nelson Colvin.

CHANGE OF THE GUARD – Outgoing Associate Member Director John Hernandez (right)

welcomes Ewing’s Andrew Baker to the position of 2016 AM Director after his election at the Convention.

2016 FIRST COUPLE Stephen Jacobs and Ann Chute-Jacobs chat with CI Chapter newlyweds

Shari Collins and Ted Rogoff.

PAST STATE PRESIDENT Mickey Strauss and wife Cindy wouldn’t miss this event for anything, even the exceptionally cool nights of this area near Palm Springs.

LANDSCAPE TOUR of the Hyatt Regency grounds was conducted by Sixto Lares (right) of their landscape

staff. The tour was enlightening and fact-filled.

STATE OFFICERS Ed Wallace and Pete Dufau enjoy the Welcome Reception of the CLCA Convention

held Nov. 11-14 at Hyatt Regency Indian Wells.

VALLEY CREST TREE VIPS Robert and Jill Crudup, some of the strongest supporters of the SFV

Chapter, enjoy a Convention luncheon.

PAST STATE PRESIDENTS Pete Dufau (center) and Charles Nunley (right) enjoy the evening with good

buddy Norm Lopez of Southland Sod.

Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Hosts CLCA Convention

SFV CLCA Valleyscape December 2015 7

CONDOS/TOWNHOUSES/APTS Installation First Place goes to The Celtis Group/Diablo Landscape

(Barry Cohen). Presenting for Sponsor Golden Oak Co-op is Nelson Colvin.

LARGE HOA MAINTENANCE First Place goes to Stay Green Inc. (Grant Clack). Presenting for

Sponsor Rainbird Corp. is Nelson Colvin.

SM COMMERCIAL MAINT First Place goes to Cadre Landscape (Julio Lopez 3rd from left). Presenting for Sponsor Landscape Contractors Insurance Services: Terry Mahlman, Kim Ayala and David Bloodgood.

SM COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL Installation First Place goes to Jonny Appleseed (Jon Goldstein and crew). Presenting for Sponsor Superior Sod is

Nelson Colvin.

PUBLIC WORKS INSTALLATION goes to Dufau Landscape (Pete Dufau, right). Presenting for

Sponsor CLCA is Javier Lesaca State President..

EXCELSIOR AWARD goes to Black Diamond paver Stones & Landscape (left). Presenting for Sponsor

Ewing Irrigation Products is Andrew Baker.

KNIGHT OF THE GARTER designation is bestowed upon Sir Chris McNairy for his tireless efforts on behalf of LEAF. Presenting is LEAF and Auxiliary

VIP Mary Cohen.

SMALL RES INSTALLATION OA goes to Zone 24 Landscaping (Beth Burns). Presenting for Sponsor CLCA Landscape Solutions are Bill Deeble,

Gina Stanley and Lance Terry.

TROPHY AWARDS JUDGES Bob Kirtley and Gordon Larson are recognized with certificates of appreciation presented by Awards Emcee Dave Oborn.

HUMANITARIAN AWARD to Dufau Landscape (Pete Dufau) for Museum of Ventura County project.

Presenting for Sponsor CLCA Auxiliary is Mary Cohen.

BOB BAIER MEMORIAL Award goes to Wilson Environmental Contracting (Daniel Wilson). Presenting for Sponsor Aquasave is Nelson Colvin.

DESIGN/BUILD OA goes to Signature Pools & Landscapes (Eric Watanabe). Presenting for Sponsor

Delta Bluegrass is Fred Hanker.

Awards and Fun Make for a Great Convention

More Convention photos on Page 9

8 December 2015 The Channel Islands Clipper

Tech Corner - Book Review

The Idea Factory Written by Jon Gertner and Reviewed by Mark Zuckerberg in his Year of Books, from Page 19 Book Service

In the science and tech world we talk a lot about innovation: what it looks like, how to do it, and who’s doing it right. But what

came before Google, Microsoft and the others?

Pick number 21 in Mark Zuckerberg’s Year of Books takes us back in American history to examine the time between the 1920s and 80s when a different company was setting the bar for innovation. It’s not Microsoft, it isn’t Google, and it isn’t some secret science hideout buried deep in the core of the earth. It’s AT&T’s Bell Labs, and today, you’ve probably used at least once piece of tech-nology that owes its existence to Bell.

The book traces the origins of modern communications by describing life at Bell Labs between the 1930s and 1970s. Gertner introduces some of the people who worked at the labs and their chiefest innovations, among them the transistor, the radar, and satellite communica-tion.

As a whole, the book offers new ideas on what fosters inno-vation and what a truly innova-tive company looks like.

Three Things You Should Know from The Idea Factory1. The scientists at Bell Labs

refined radar, which was critical to the World War II effort.

The problem with radar at the beginning of WWII was that it was underdeveloped. But then Bell Labs refined, tinkered and adjusted and eventually developed new radar instruments that allowed technicians to reliably detect objects from even farther away.

2. Bell Labs developed the tech that’s at the heart of all modern electronics and computing.

As the end of 1947, Bell Labs physicists Walter Brattain and John Bardeen were shooting an electrical signal through a slice of silicon. They soon realized that the process actually served to amplify or switch the signal on and off, which had major implication. How major? Well, what they’d just discovered was the first transistor – a component in every piece of tech you love most.

Brattain and Bardeen’s device got approval around the lab and a humble mention in The New York Times, but the invention – updated by William Shockley to be made stable and reliable – stoked the most interest from the computer community. Why? The transistor was the ideal digital tool. With tiny bursts of electricity it could be turned on or off; in essence, turned into a “yes” or “no,” a 1 or 0.

Soon, scientists learned that transistors could be linked together to enable logical decision and process informa-tion encoded in a string of 0s and 1s. The rest, as they say, is history.

3. You’ve got Bell Labs to thank for the device on which you’re reading this.

So far we’ve established that Bell Labs was the fertile womb for modern radar tech and the tran-sistor. It also gave birth to the OS Unix, the laser, solar cells, and even communications satel-lites. Each of these technolo-gies would eventually change the world, but there was even more to come – namely, mobile telephony.

One surprising idea from The Idea Factory: Bell Labs saw video calling on the horizon well before Facetime showed up. Bell Labs was fantastically innova-tive, but it wasn’t all sunshine and solar cells – there were great flops, too. An exceptional example was the Picturephone: a device that allowed audio-visual telephony. AT&T considered the technology as highly promising, but when the Picturephone was launched in

1970, it tanked. It turned out that, at the time, customers simply liked the impersonal aspect of a regular phone call.

If you remember only one thing, make it this:

Bell Labs was the place of birth of a number of groundbreaking scientific and technological innovations, among them the transistor, the radar, the laser, satellite communications, and mobile telephony. Innovation at Bell Labs was fostered by a free and flexible work philosophy and by mutual exchange of ideas. When AT&T’s monopoly in telephony was broken, Bell Labs ceased to exist, and not even today’s tech giants can outclass it.