2002 Leadership Winner: Terry Kurth

Today, Terry Kurth is director of development for the U.S. operations of Weed Man. But before moving into this role, Kurth owned parts of four Barefoot Grass franchises. It was while running one of these businesses in 1988 that Kurth encountered one of his most challenging moments and learned one of his most important business lessons.

He was celebrating his 10th business anniversary. His company offered customers a deluxe fungicide program to manage leaf spot in the summer and snow mold over the winter. But, suddenly, burn spots started appearing in his customers' green, lush lawns. About 250 customers were affected.

Because he couldn't figure out what was happening, he called in one of his industry friends who said the brown spots looked like Atrazine damage. To determine if that was the case, Kurth and a superintendent friend with a plot applied the product and asked product representatives to fly in and view the damage. It turned out that during the product bagging process some Atrazine - used as a weed control product - got into the fungicide.

Once the problem was diagnosed, Kurth set to work correcting the situation. He created a slurry solution to neutralize the Atrazine in his customers' lawns before repairs could begin. Then he filled a truck with water under pressure and blasted the black off clippings.

To complete the process, Kurth hand-delivered a 10-pound box of steaks with a hand-written note to each of his customers. The note said, "We hope this leaves a good taste in your mouth."

His company was nominated for a Blue Chip award from the national Chamber of Commerce.

"My customers were great. We only lost three because of the problem," he says. "We teach our people that you're always going to have a moment of truth, but you can turn a bad situation into a good one."