2002 Leadership Awards: Joe Reynolds

This year marks the fourth year in which Chipco Professional Products and Lawn & Landscape magazine have partnered to recognize those professionals in the industry whose personal contributions have contributed to the industry’s development. These individuals will be honored at a reception to be held at this year’s Green Industry Expo in Nashville, Tenn. A new member of the 2002 Leadership Class will be announced at Lawn & Landscape Online every Monday and Thursday between now at then.  

Joe Reynolds has heard the old saying, “Those who can’t do, teach.” But the lawn care manager at Black Diamond Lawn Care, Toledo, Ohio, is quick to discourage people from belittling the efforts required by teachers based on his experience. Plus, spending the last nine years teaching at the turfgrass program at Owens Community has shown Reynolds the value of teaching when it comes to your own continuing education.

“I was at a golf tournament when I met the guy teaching the first turf class at Owens, and he talked about expanding the program,” Reynolds recalls. “I made myself available to help him grow, and he promptly took me up on that.”

While Reynolds expects this to be his last year teaching for some time so he can spend more time with his12-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter, he looks forward to one day returning to the classroom. “Teaching is incredibly rewarding,” he explains, referring to the personal and professional benefits he gains by dispensing wisdom. “I think if there’s one fault lawn care people have, and plenty of them are guilty of this, is that they stop learning. When you teach, you can never stop learning because you have to be always teaching new ideas. That means you have to learn them yourself. That’s what I love the most.”