Nursery Lessons
    Nursery Lessons

    A Literary Memoir · Arriving Early 2027

    Some of the most insignificant times of life create the most significant foundations.

    A young father, a Christmas tree lot, a $4.25 minimum wage, and the mentor who would provide the foundation for success.

    Be the first to know →Read an essay

    The Book

    Built in a garden center. Carried into a career.

    Nursery Lessons traces how eight years at an independent garden center in Baton Rouge taught one young man everything he would need to take on much larger things — and one mentor who saw him before he saw himself.

    Book One of a Trilogy

    Nursery Lessons — Life's Building Blocks

    Shane Michelli

    Arriving 2027

    A memoir about a place, a family, and a mentor — and what they made possible.

    In November of 1992, a twenty-year-old father walked onto a Christmas tree lot in Baton Rouge for what he thought would be a few weeks of holiday work. Nearly eight years later he finally moved on — by then equipped with everything he would need to lead organizations many times the size of Louisiana Nursery.

    This is a book about mentorship, apprenticeship and merchantship. It is an illustration how some of the most insignificant times of life will create a significant foundation for our future.

    Format

    Hardcover · Audiobook · eBook

    Release

    Early 2027

    Series

    Book One of Three

    The Place Behind the Book

    Louisiana Nursery.

    What happens when you combine an orphaned retail executive, his family, friends, and former employees, with a vacant lot on a busy intersection, live nursery goods, a portable building, and a lot of want to?

    Yep, Louisiana Nursery. The Mayes family's journey is a true American success story. The proof still stands, as the iconic retail showplace has been in operation in Baton Rouge and surrounding areas since 1983.

    Whether you are a garden enthusiast, Christmas junkie, Beanie Baby victim, or an HGTV warrior, if you live in the Baton Rouge area you have probably spent some time in Louisiana Nursery.

    While I am a promoter of all things Louisiana Nursery (Louisiana Nursery Outlet, as some locals still refer to it), my focus for the moment is not on their offerings, but more on the opportunities.

    Louisiana Nursery has employed thousands of people over the years; dozens that made it their career. I was one of those. Nursery Lessons describes how my time spent under the direction of Roger and Mitch Mayes shaped me and provided me with the principles needed to succeed personally and professionally.

    Read Roger’s story, in his own words →Visit Louisiana Nursery ↗
    “I never set out to be a manager. My rise to success was the most purpose-driven accident anyone can imagine.”
    From the Introduction

    Essays From the Book

    A first taste.

    Short pieces from the manuscript and its surrounding material. New pieces arrive about once a month.

    The Controlled Burn

    From Nursery Lessons, Book One

    In the spring of 1993 I rode to Forest Hill, Louisiana with two veteran nursery managers for a seminar and a day of visiting growers. The one driving had been born and raised up there, and since we were ahead of schedule he took us off the interstate and onto the back roads, which nobody objected to. Narrow, winding, pine on both sides. Somewhere past a sign telling us we were close, we came around a curve and the whole horizon was smoke.

    Read the essay →

    Black Lincolns

    From the Foreword to Nursery Lessons

    On a Friday in the fall of 1982, most of the people who ran Woolco learned from the radio that the company was closing every store in the country. Twenty-five thousand jobs. The Baton Rouge paper reached Roger Mayes before headquarters did, and he told the reporter it was not true, that it had to be a misunderstanding about a few underperforming stores. They printed his quote in the same edition as the headline.

    Read the essay →

    Accept Challenges

    From Nursery Lessons, Book One

    I can't tell you how many times I have heard, “that's not in my job description” or “that's above my pay grade.” I can tell you one of the most common traits of successful people is their willingness to take on challenging tasks or work outside of their comfort zone.

    Read the essay →
    All essays
    Read Roger’s full story, in his own words →

    In Conversation

    The Nursery Lessons Podcast.

    A companion to the book, in the voices of the people who lived its lessons.

    Conversations on merchantship, mentorship, and the long apprenticeship.

    Each episode sits with a craftsman, a merchant, or a mentor — the kind of working life the book is about — and lets the conversation take the time it needs.

    Launching Alongside the Book

    The Author

    Shane Michelli

    A merchant first. Everything else followed.

    Shane and Stephanie Michelli
    Shane & Stephanie Michelli

    Shane Michelli

    Author · CEO, Eques Health · Founder, Cannon Clay

    Shane Michelli began his career in 1992 on a Christmas tree lot at Louisiana Nursery Outlet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Over the next three decades that beginning would carry him through senior leadership roles at Lowe's, the presidency of Easton, and the founding of a multifamily office and a healthcare company.

    Nursery Lessons is his first book — the opening volume of a trilogy that traces what merchantship, mentorship, and the long apprenticeship taught him about leading, building, and remembering where he started.

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