Leverage engagement throughout the customer life cycle.

Recruit and hire the right employees.

What is your #1 business concern for the remainder of this year and going into 2015 and how are you addressing it?

The sad truth is that the majority of employees spend at least 10 hours a month complaining or listening to others complain about their boss.

Monte Wyatt, Rural Lifestyle Dealer contributing writer and business coach, shares strategies for identifying and improving your leadership style in his "Take the Lead" column in the summer issue.

Mike Hedge, President/CEO of Birkey's Farm Stores, Champaign, Ill. (2007 Dealership of the Year), has often been referred to by his now-retired predecessor (Ron Birkey) as the "best financial mind in the farm equipment dealer industry." After prior experience in public accounting at a large multinational hotel chain, Hedge (a CPA) joined the dealer group as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer in 1992. In January 2013, he was named president/CEO following a planned succession process.

Dixie Chopper was the talk of the town at last week's GIE+EXPO in Louisville, Ky., as the mower manufacturer marched into the show with a military-themed campaign called "Chopper Army"? that helped showcase several new mowing weapons added to the company's arsenal.