CNLANEWS 2025 Leadership Summit EXPLORING DIVERSITY, AI TOOLS AND INDUSTRY GROWTH
Caterpillar Inc. hosted a cross-section of industry leaders from across North America at their training facility in Clayton, N.C.
BY STUART SERVICE CNLA Media Coordinator
CNLA’s 2025 Leadership Summit, held on Feb. 5, at Caterpillar’s Edward J. Rapp Customer and Training Center in Clayton, N.C., featured discussions on leadership, diversity, technology and industry growth. Carla Bailey, founder of Solutions by CB and a seasoned HR strategist in Canada’s landscaping industry, led an interactive discussion about the current state of the industry’s diversity. She highlighted that the amount of women in senior roles is under 40 per cent. “On the flip side of it, when I look at the American stats, when we look at our entire profession, we’re talking less than seven per cent identify as women,” Bailey said. “That is worrisome because that’s a lot of
want us to recognize where our challenges are,” she said. “There’s innovative stuff that happens, and the only way we can do that is by having different types of brains in this space. The way we do that is by encouraging diversity on our teams all the way from the bottom to the top.” Marcello Gordana, executive director of Tennis, a Toronto-based design agency, shared tips on how to use technology to grow your business, and to help customers in a way that ultimately leads to increased sales. In the span of 30 years, the tech world went from a niche community of dial- up internet users to today’s artificial intelligence, which is writing essays,
money on the table that we’re not touching.” Bailey then highlighted a statistic from 2022, which saw 10 companies within the S&P 500 index appoint a female CEO. For the first time in the index’s history, there were more women CEOs than CEOs with the first name John. “We beat out a name,” commented Bailey. Throughout her session, Bailey had attendees respond to pointed questions on their phones, with the answers revealed on screen. She asked the audience to write about various barriers for creating a diverse workplace, as well as what would create the ideal association for an under-represented group. “I’m not trying to be a Debby Downer, but I
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