June 22 2025 — Chicago, IL — Power100, the nation’s only third-party unbiased ranking platform for home improvement companies, announced the release of groundbreaking research on the leadership practices and cultural standards of America’s top 100 home improvement CEOs. The findings were revealed in an energetic keynote presentation by Power100 CEO Greg Cummings at the Pinnacle Experience at the JW Marriott Hotel in Chicago on June 19, 2025.

This comprehensive two-year case study analyzed the mindsets, practices, and commonalities of the nation’s most successful privately held and independently operated home improvement leaders. Drawing from over 1,000 interviews with CEOs, executive teams, employees, installers, and homeowners, as well as extensive panel discussions and focus groups, the research identified five core pillars of excellence that drive business success and cultural transformation.Power100-Press-Release.docx​

The Five Pillars of Excellence: A Framework for Business Transformation​

During his keynote address, Cummings outlined the five pillars that distinguish top-performing home improvement companies from the competition. These pillars represent a data-driven framework that any leader in the industry can implement to elevate their business, improve company culture, and achieve sustainable growth.​

Pillar 1: Brand Focus — Building an Unshakeable Company Culture

Brand focus centers on cultivating a company culture so strong that employees believe their organization is the best in the world. Cummings illustrated this concept using a memorable metaphor: “If I ask any one of your employees, ‘Is this the best company in the world?’ and they don’t get that glitter in their eyes—that absolute belief—then you have massive room for opportunity.”

According to the research, leaders must establish a clear company creed centered on being the best and reinforce this daily through celebration of wins, recognition of achievements, and consistent communication. The top 100 CEOs in the Power100 rankings share this trait universally: they are relentless in their pursuit of cultural excellence and never stop looking for ways to improve.

“Culture is the sole driver of success,” Cummings stated during the presentation. “Whether your culture is struggling or already exceptional, the best leaders are always pushing to make it better. There’s never a day you stop working on your culture.”

Pillar 2: Project Manager as Quarterback — The Orchestrator of Operational Excellence

Drawing from sports analogies, Cummings emphasized that the project manager is the quarterback of your operation—the single most important person in your company who must orchestrate success across all departments.​

The quarterback must:

• Be on-site at every installation or touch every job daily through personal presence or structured follow-up calls
• Operate with Tom Brady-level leadership, encouraging both the offense (sales) and defense (installation)​
• Drive KPIs across sales, operations, and installation​
• Create 51% of service-related visits proactively, ensuring the customer experience extends beyond the initial sale​
• Celebrate wins publicly while working privately to improve performance​

“Your project manager is not just managing installations,” Cummings explained. “They are the keeper of your culture, the connector between your sales team and your installation team, and the person responsible for ensuring every customer feels like they’ve stayed at the Ritz Carlton.”​

Pillar 3: Unbreakable Commitment — The Foundation of Trust

This pillar focuses on personal accountability and the discipline required to build trust one meeting at a time. The research revealed that top leaders commit to specific practices:

• Honor every meeting commitment or provide 48-hour notice with alternative times offered within 24 hours​
• Arrive one minute early, fully prepared, and laser-focused during meetings​
• Eliminate distractions like phone messages and split attention​
• Understand that these small actions—“trust bridges”—accumulate to transform culture​

“Culture changes one meeting at a time,” Cummings emphasized. “When you reschedule a meeting, you’re either building or eroding trust with your team. The best leaders treat their team meetings with the same respect they treat customer calls.”

Pillar 4: Sales Rangers — Elite Teams Driven by Mission

Inspired by the U.S. Army Rangers, this pillar describes a sales team mentality characterized by elite preparation, unwavering commitment, and a rescue mission mindset.​

Army Rangers operate with specific principles that translate directly to home improvement sales:​

• They jump behind enemy lines outnumbered thousands to one but prevail nearly 99% of the time
• They never leave a man behind
• They train daily, preparing as if life depends on it

“Your sales team must operate with this same mentality,” Cummings told attendees. “You’re not just selling a window or a roof—you’re saving that homeowner from the risk of hiring a scrupulous contractor. You’re preventing them from falling off a cliff to their rocky death.”​

Top-performing sales organizations mandate:​

• One installation visit per salesperson, every single week (with no exceptions)​
• On-site training sessions where sales teams witness the quality of installation work​
• Consistent preparation and messaging reinforcement​

Pillar 5: HOGs — Huge Outrageous Goals as the Ultimate Culture Test​

The final pillar, HOGs (Huge Outrageous Goals), represents the ambitious objectives that test whether your organization truly believes in the vision you’ve communicated.​

Cummings presented a powerful metaphor using a simple rubber ball: “When you push down the bumps on this ball, other bumps pop up. That’s how your business works. When you chase every problem, you’ll create ripple effects that tear your organization apart.”​

Instead, leaders should:​

• Set clear, methodical huge outrageous goals​
• Roll them out with conviction and a detailed plan to achieve them​
• Invest in new systems, processes, tools, and people to support the goal​
• Avoid knee-jerk reactions that damage culture​
• Know when to stop chasing individual bumps and streamline your entire process​

“When you can stand in front of your company and say with confidence that you’re the best company in the world, you feel it,” Cummings said. “That’s when you can achieve almost anything.”​

Power100: The Nation’s Only Unbiased Ranking Platform​

Power100 distinguishes itself through its rigorous, independent evaluation methodology. The platform evaluates leadership using a five-layer proprietary ranking system that combines artificial intelligence, machine learning, and human intelligence. From a qualified pool of over 8,000 home improvement companies annually, Power100 identifies and ranks the nation’s top 100 leaders.

Key differentiators of the Power100 platform include:

• Third-Party Independence — No paid placement, no applications, no “pay-to-play” model​
• Comprehensive Evaluation — Companies are assessed on leadership quality, company culture, customer experience, community engagement, and sustainable growth​
• Trusted Partnership Network — The top 15 strategic partners are carefully vetted service providers across marketing, sales operations, and installation training​
• Risk Mitigation Focus — Companies that achieve high rankings have opened their doors to transparent evaluation, signaling low risk to homeowners​

“Our rankings are independent and data-driven,” said Cummings. “We’re proud to feature companies like those recognized in 2025 not because they campaigned for recognition, but because their results, reputation, and leadership spoke for themselves.”​

Industry Recognition and Contractor Response​

The presentation resonated powerfully with attendees and industry leaders.

Dustin Kirby, Director of Business Development at gFour Marketing Group, noted: “It was great hearing Greg’s back story. You can tell he is a winner.”​

Daniel Morrison, Editorial Director at Pro Remodeler, observed: “I was glad to see Greg Cummings speaking on stage. He was very energetic, and the top leaders were taking notes, suggesting that something good was happening. The best part of the speech was the motivational side, being able to talk about how to really get behind the processes and turn those around.”

Alex Marck, CEO of 1st Call Closer, summed it up simply: “Greg Cummings’s speech was top-notch.”​

The Research Behind the Five Pillars​

The development of these five pillars represents an unprecedented investment in understanding home improvement leadership. The case study included:​

• Over 1,000 interviews with CEOs, executive teams, employees, installers, and homeowners from top-ranked companies​
• Comprehensive panel discussions and focus groups exploring leadership practices and cultural standards​
• Detailed business evaluations of companies at every revenue level within the independent home improvement sector​
• Two-year longitudinal study tracking leadership practices and their correlation with business success, employee retention, customer satisfaction, and community impact​

“We didn’t just ask these leaders questions,” Cummings explained. “We spent time in their companies. We watched their interactions. We interviewed their teams. We studied their results. And we identified the exact practices that separate the best from everyone else.”​

The Pinnacle Experience and Industry Leadership

The Pinnacle Experience, held annually in Chicago, serves as the premier networking and education event for home improvement industry leaders. The event brought together top remodelers, home improvement professionals, and industry innovators to share insights on leadership, sales, marketing, and business growth.​

The full presentation by Greg Cummings is available on YouTube and includes detailed breakdowns of each pillar, real-world examples, and actionable steps leaders can implement immediately.​

About Power100​

Power100 is the nation’s independent, third-party research and evaluation authority ranking the top home improvement companies. The platform’s five-layer methodology reviews leadership, company culture, customer experience, community engagement, and sustainable growth—ensuring rankings reflect genuine achievement, not paid placement or self-submission