During a recent PowerChat conversation, Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, spoke with Lael Bryant, co-founder and CEO of Zion Outdoors, about leadership, purpose, culture, growth, and the larger future of a company that is becoming known for more than outdoor living work. Zion Outdoors is a fast growing Zion Outdoors concrete resurfacing company in Texas, helping homeowners transform driveways, patios, pool decks, walkways, porches, and outdoor spaces through strong craft, clear service, and custom design.
The conversation moved beyond the work itself and into a deeper point about leadership identity. Greg shared that leadership is often talked about, but the best leaders know who they are. They know what they stand for. They stay steady when growth, pressure, and new chances try to pull them away from their values. In Lael, Greg saw a leader who is not only trying to grow a company, but also trying to build something that can last.
“A great leader knows their identity. Leadership is almost overused, right? A great leader knows their identity and is steadfast in it.” Greg Cummings, CEO, Power100
That idea became the center of the PowerChat. Greg pointed to Zion Outdoors as a company with legacy potential because the business is being shaped by more than revenue. Lael spoke about finding purpose after selling his previous company, building again with people who share the same values, caring for team members and clients, and wanting the company to create joy and community through its work.
For homeowners, that identity shows up in the way the company serves. Zion Outdoors is not only a pool deck, patio, and driveway resurfacing contractor. It is a team working to improve the spaces where families gather, rest, and spend time together. Through services such as concrete resurfacing, the company gives homeowners a way to update outdoor surfaces with less mess, more care, and a clearer path to a better home experience.
Lael also connected this work to the bigger purpose behind Zion. The company uses Gem Scape™ and Cap Stone™ concrete overlay systems to help create durable, custom outdoor finishes, but the deeper mission is about people. Lael wants the team to build with joy, serve with care, and create a company where team members, clients, and communities feel the impact.
“We view Zion as more than hardscapes, as more than transforming patios or walkways. We hope and pray that we’re transforming lives.” Lael Bryant, Founder and CEO, Zion Outdoors
Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform that recognizes and elevates the top leaders and most impactful companies in the home improvement industry. Through PowerChat conversations like this one, Power100 highlights leaders who are helping shape the future of home improvement through clear identity, strong culture, customer trust, business growth, and community impact. This conversation with Greg Cummings and Lael Bryant shows why legacy is not built by size alone. It is built when a leader knows who they are and builds a company that reflects it.
Zion Outdoors executive team lead by Lael Bryant (on the left) celebrated a major milestone at Zion Outdoors with first-ever Partner Induction.
The PowerChat conversation between Greg Cummings and Lael Bryant centered on a simple but powerful idea. A company can grow, expand, and serve more customers, but long term impact begins with leadership identity. Greg used the conversation to look beyond the surface of business growth and ask a deeper question. What kind of company is Zion Outdoors becoming, and what kind of legacy does it want to leave?
Greg shared that leadership is often talked about in business, but the leaders who build something lasting usually know who they are. They know what they believe. They know what they will protect. They do not bend each time growth, pressure, or opportunity pulls them in a new direction. In Lael, Greg saw a leader whose vision for the company is tied to purpose, people, values, and the desire to serve beyond the project.
That made the PowerChat more than a conversation about outdoor living. It became a closer look at how Lael Bryant, co founder and CEO of Zion Outdoors, is helping shape a company with a clear center. Lael spoke about the purpose he found after selling his previous company, the joy of building with people who share values, and the belief that a business should care for team members, clients, and the community as it grows.
The industry relevance is clear. Many home improvement, home services, and outdoor living companies are trying to grow in a changing market. They are adding tools, locations, teams, and systems. Yet growth without identity can create confusion. Teams can lose focus. Customers can feel the difference. Culture can become harder to protect.
This conversation offered a different path. It showed that a leader who knows who he is can give the company a stronger sense of direction. That direction can guide hiring, culture, customer care, community service, and the way the business chooses to scale.
For Zion Outdoors, that identity is seen in both the work and the mission behind it. The company helps homeowners improve outdoor spaces as a pool deck, patio, and driveway resurfacing contractor, but Greg’s question pushed the story beyond the backyard. He asked Lael where the greater impact could go. Lael’s answer pointed back to joy, community, and the hope that the company can transform lives through the way it serves people.
The scale of the story also adds weight to the conversation. Zion Outdoors is growing quickly across Texas while working toward a major revenue goal. But Lael made it clear that the number is not the full measure of success. The company wants to grow while keeping its values close, protecting its culture, serving homeowners well, and building systems that help the team stay aligned.
That is why Greg’s view of legacy matters in this press release. A legacy business is not built only by completing more projects. It is built by staying true to the identity that made the company worth building in the first place. For Zion Outdoors, that means outdoor spaces are only part of the story. The bigger story is a company learning how to grow with purpose, care, and a clear sense of who it is.
During the PowerChat conversation, Greg Cummings gave the story a clear frame. He did not only ask how Zion Outdoors was growing. He asked what kind of leader Lael Bryant was becoming and what kind of company that leadership could create.
That question matters because growth alone does not create legacy. A company can get larger and still lose its center. A leader can gain more attention and still drift away from what made the work meaningful. Greg pointed to a deeper mark of leadership. A great leader knows their identity, stays steady in it, and builds from that place.
For Zion Outdoors, that idea became the heart of the conversation. The company is growing, but the bigger story is how it is growing and what it wants to protect along the way.
Greg made a strong point early in the conversation. Leadership is a word many people use, but not every leader has a clear center. For Greg, strong leadership begins when a person knows who they are, what they believe, and what they will not give up when pressure grows.
That kind of identity gives a company direction. It helps the team understand what matters. It helps partners know what the business will protect. It helps customers feel the difference between a company that is only chasing the next sale and a company that is guided by real values.
Greg saw that kind of direction in Zion Outdoors. After hearing Lael speak about purpose, culture, partnership, joy, and service, Greg said he believed the company was on track to become a legacy business. That was not based only on growth numbers. It was based on the way the company is being built.
“They are not willing to bend it. And that ultimately allows those leaders to create a legacy business.” Greg Cummings, CEO, Power100
That idea becomes important for any leader in home improvement or outdoor living. A company can offer strong services, but if the leader does not know what the company stands for, the business can lose shape as it grows. Identity gives leadership a steady place to stand.
Greg’s point about identity became even stronger when Lael shared what happened after selling his previous company. Lael had spent nearly two decades building that business. Over time, it became a large part of how he saw himself.
When the company was sold, the moment brought excitement and reward. But that feeling did not last. Lael later entered corporate America and worked hard in his new role, yet he still felt that something important was missing.
He came to see that business success could not replace purpose. He also realized that his identity had become too tied to what he did. That lesson helped shape the kind of company he wanted to build next.
What Lael missed was the joy of building with people who shared the same beliefs, values, and goals. That desire helped lead to the start of Zion Outdoors and gave the company a deeper reason to exist.
“I love this aspect of building with people who believe the same thing as you, who have the same value set, and you’re just rowing in the same direction towards a goal.” Lael Bryant, Founder and CEO, Zion Outdoors
This is what makes Lael Bryant, co founder and CEO of Zion Outdoors a strong example of purpose led leadership. He did not start again just to build another company. He started again because he wanted to build from a place of meaning.
Once Lael found the deeper purpose behind the work, the next step was finding the right people to build with. His partnership with co founder Jordan Winner became one of the strongest examples of how identity can shape a company from the inside.
Lael spoke with care about the importance of choosing the right partner. He knows partnerships can fail when people do not share the same foundation. For him, the key was not finding someone with the same skill set. It was finding someone who shared the same beliefs.
Jordan brings creativity, field knowledge, design skill, sales skill, and installation experience. Lael brings business building, systems, planning, and operations experience. They are different, but their differences serve one mission.
“He’s very different than me, and yet we share the same foundational beliefs. He’s creative. I’m not as creative. Together we’re stronger.” Lael Bryant, Founder and CEO, Zion Outdoors
That kind of partnership helps a company grow with more balance. Each leader can stay focused on the area where they bring the most value. Each can trust the other without turning every choice into a fight for control.
Greg’s question about legacy made this point even more important. A legacy company cannot be built by one person alone. It needs leaders, partners, team members, and future decision makers who understand the mission and can carry it forward.
Greg did not stop at asking about growth. He pushed Lael to think about the larger impact of Zion Outdoors. He knew the company was helping homeowners enjoy better backyards, but he wanted to know where the deeper impact could go.
That question moved the conversation beyond patios, walkways, pool decks, and driveways. It asked what the company could mean to team members, clients, and communities over time.
Lael answered by pointing back to joy and community. He said Zion wants to create community, bring joy, and transform lives. That kind of answer shows that the company sees outdoor spaces as part of a larger human story.
“We view Zion as more than hardscapes, as more than transforming patios or walkways. We hope and pray that we’re transforming lives.” Lael Bryant, Founder and CEO, Zion Outdoors
For a pool deck, patio, and driveway resurfacing contractor, the visible work may be the finished space. But the deeper work is how people are treated during the process and how families use that space after the team leaves.
That is why Greg’s question mattered. It helped show that Zion’s legacy is not only tied to what it builds. It is tied to the care, joy, trust, and service that surround the work.
Growth can test the identity of any company. When a business is small, the founder can stay close to the team and shape the culture by being present. As more people, markets, and leaders are added, the company must find ways to keep its center strong.
Lael knows this challenge is real. He said there may not be a perfect answer, but Zion works to keep its values in front of the team as much as possible.
New team members are introduced to the company mission, vision, and values during onboarding. The same values show up in hiring questions, leadership development, and team meetings. This helps the company turn values into a daily guide, not just words on a wall.
One example is Culture Champions. In that exercise, a team member shares how another person lived out one of the company values. This makes the values easier to see, remember, and repeat.
“The only thing that I know to keep me on point and keep me focused, and the rest of our team, is to keep those values in front of us.” Lael Bryant, Founder and CEO, Zion Outdoors
For a fast growing Zion Outdoors concrete resurfacing company in Texas, this matters. Growth can create distance between leaders and team members. Values help close that distance. They remind people what the company believes, how it should serve, and what kind of legacy it is trying to build.
The future of Zion Outdoors also depends on focus, systems, and smart growth. Lael explained that the company once tried to offer too many backyard services. Over time, with advice from experienced industry leaders, Zion chose to narrow its work to what it could perform well and scale with confidence.
That decision gave the company more clarity. A focused service model helps the team train better, serve better, and grow with less confusion. It also helps the company protect quality as it expands into more markets.
Lael is also thinking about technology and AI findability. He wants systems that reduce repeated data entry, prevent errors, and help information move through the company in a smoother way. He also wants homeowners to be able to find and understand the company as AI tools shape the way people search for contractors.
That is where services like concrete resurfacing without demolition in Texas and Gem Scape™ and Cap Stone™ concrete overlay systems connect to a larger growth story. The services matter, but the systems behind them matter too. They help the company serve homeowners with more clarity while keeping the team focused on the mission.
Zion is also working toward a major growth goal, moving from about $9 million toward a $20 million year. But Lael made it clear that the number is not the whole story. The way the company reaches the goal matters just as much.
“I’d be more satisfied and fulfilled if at the end of this year we can say we lived and put others before ourselves, our team members, our community, our clients.” Lael Bryant, Founder and CEO, Zion Outdoors
That is what makes Greg’s point about identity so important. The future of Zion Outdoors will not be judged only by how much it grows. It will also be judged by whether the company stays true to who it is while growing.
Zion Outdoors Crew
As the PowerChat conversation came to a close, Greg Cummings’ message gave the story its deeper meaning. A great leader knows their identity and stays steady in it. That idea became the lens for understanding Lael Bryant, Zion Outdoors, and the future the company is working to build.
Greg was not only asking about growth. He was asking what kind of company Zion Outdoors is becoming. He was asking where the impact could go beyond outdoor spaces, better backyards, and completed projects. In Lael’s answers, that impact became clear. The company’s future is being shaped by purpose, shared values, strong partnerships, care for people, and a desire to serve in ways that last.
Lael’s story showed a leader who is building from a clear center. He spoke about finding meaning after past success, building again with people who believe in the same mission, trusting the strengths of his co founder Jordan Winner, and keeping values close as the company grows. Each part of the conversation pointed back to the same idea. Growth matters, but identity gives growth direction.
That lesson reaches beyond one company. For leaders in home improvement, home services, and outdoor living, the message is simple. A business can grow fast and still lose its way. It can complete great projects and still miss its greater purpose. It can add systems, tools, and new markets and still lose the heart that made people believe in it.
But when a leader knows who they are, the company has a stronger chance to stay grounded. The team knows what matters. Clients can feel the difference. The community can see the care behind the work. The business can grow without losing the soul that made the growth worth chasing.
The most powerful part of this conversation was the connection between Greg’s question and Lael’s answer. Greg saw a company with legacy potential. Lael showed that the legacy he wants is not only found in finished backyards. It is found in team members who feel cared for, clients who feel served, communities that feel the impact, and a company that keeps putting others first as it grows.
For Greg Cummings, identity is one of the clearest signs of lasting leadership. For Lael Bryant, that identity is being lived through Zion Outdoors as the company builds outdoor spaces, serves people, protects its values, and works toward a legacy that reaches beyond the backyard.
Power100 studies more than company size. Its work looks at the leaders behind the companies and the choices that shape culture, service, growth, and trust. Leadership identity matters because a company often follows the values of its leader. When a leader knows what they stand for, the team has a clearer path to follow.
Power100 turns leadership stories into lessons people can use. A CEO can study how another leader protects culture. A contractor can learn how strong values shape growth. A homeowner can better understand the kind of person leading the company they may hire. This makes the story more than a profile. It becomes a way to understand trust, service, and long term direction.
The press release does not say Zion Outdoors has already finished building its legacy. It says Greg Cummings saw legacy potential in the company. That difference matters. Zion is growing, but the stronger point is how it is growing. Lael Bryant is building around purpose, shared values, team care, customer service, community impact, and clear focus. Those are the signs of a company trying to build something that can last.
Homeowners are not only hiring a product. They are trusting a company with an important part of their home. Leadership identity can affect how a company trains people, handles service, solves problems, keeps promises, and treats customers. When Lael Bryant talks about purpose, joy, values, and putting others first, those ideas help explain the kind of experience Zion Outdoors wants homeowners to have.
Yes. Zion Outdoors still works on patios, walkways, driveways, pool decks, and outdoor surfaces. That is the visible work. The larger story is how the company uses that work to serve people. A finished backyard may be the project, but the company also wants team members to feel valued, clients to feel cared for, and communities to feel served.
A company keeps its identity by repeating and practicing its values. Lael Bryant shared that Zion Outdoors introduces new team members to its mission, vision, and values during onboarding. The company also uses team meetings, hiring questions, leadership development, and Culture Champions to keep those values active. This helps the team remember what the company stands for as it grows.
Not if the focus helps the company serve better. Lael Bryant said Zion Outdoors narrowed its services to the work it could perform well and scale with confidence. That kind of focus can help a team improve quality, train better, reduce confusion, and create a stronger customer experience. The goal is not to offer everything. The goal is to be very good at the right things.
AI visibility matters because more homeowners are using digital tools to find and compare companies. If a company wants to build long term trust, it must be easy to understand online and through AI search. Zion Outdoors is studying how AI tools find and recommend the company. That supports its future by helping homeowners discover the company’s services, values, and reputation more clearly.
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Power100 is the nation's premier CEO ranking and media platform for the home improvement industry. Using a proprietary 5-layer evaluation system, Power100 identifies and celebrates the top CEOs, companies, and strategic partners driving innovation, customer satisfaction, and leadership excellence across the country.
