Evergreen Journal by Tugboat Institute

Tugboat Institute® member Ford Mennel is the fifth generation leader of his family company, The Mennel Milling Company. In their 139 years, the company has been through many phases, some marked by prosperity and expansion, and some by stagnation and risk. Through it all, the series of family leaders who have shepherded Mennel have succeeded in building an Evergreen® company that is strong, continu...

Dave and Dan Thrasher grew up in the house that served as the first HQ for their parents' basement waterproofing company, which they had started and grown slowly over decades. By the time the two brothers stepped into the business, their parents had grown it to about $4 million in revenues. In the 20 years since then, Dan has taken over leadership of Thrasher Group, Dave leads the newer company, S...

Sonja Lyubomirsky is an experimental social psychologist at University of California, Riverside. She has been studying the science of happiness for decades and her work has included consulting on projects like the film Mission: Joy, featuring the Dalai Lama and Bishop Desmond Tutu.  In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Sonja poses the question, "Is it possible to become happier?" and shares the findin...

How do creativity and productivity thrive simultaneously in a business? The creative and the business mindsets are often very different in their approach to problem solving and innovation, yet in most professions, success in each area is necessary for companies to grow and thrive. So what are the conditions that make space for both?  Paul Seck is a landscape architect and Partner at MVVA, a leadin...

Tugboat Institute®'s Gary Kunkle spent many years advising companies around sustained growth and then completing a PhD thesis on the true drivers of sustained growth. Through this work, he has built up an impressive store of data and insight. Gary leads Tugboat's Paced Growth Team Training and our Executive Team Training Series and has helped many Evergreen® leaders and executives understand their...

Most company leaders can attest to the fact that finding a way to be a present spouse, parent, and even friend while building a business can be extremely challenging. But it is critical for creating a life and lifestyle that are good and sustainable. People often talk about "balance," but sometimes balance is simply not possible. So seek harmony instead. In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Paul Mears...

Brad Herrmann learned about building and running a business from his father, who had done just that. But then his father sold the company, and the company and the team Brad had grown to love disappeared. He partnered with a friend and founded a new company, and they vowed that would not happen to them.  In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Brad shares his journey to find a way to ensure that his compa...

Change is uncomfortable, especially when we did not seek it and when it sets us on paths we would never have chosen. How we choose to deal with the inevitable surprises life has in store for us is where we really find out who we are and what we are capable of. This is true in our everyday lives, as well as in our jobs and careers. In this talk, Tugboat Institute® member Elizabeth Glasbrenner share...

Tugboat Institute® member Kirk Aubry leads Savage Services,  a transportation company based in Utah that moves and manages critical materials. In the years he has led the company, they have seen impressive growth. Rather than simply sit back and admire their success, Kirk asked himself, why? He spent dedicated time and effort exploring this question, and has reached a clear conclusion: connection....

Jeff Patterson is the CEO and founder of Gaggle, an EdTech software company that exists to protect students in schools. As a company founder, he has fought hard to create and build Gaggle, and along with it an entire industry, and he has remained committed to the Evergreen® path throughout. However, as committed as he is to the Evergreen 7Ps® principles, he has had a nagging feeling for years that...

When he was still researching and teaching at university in Germany, Professor Hermann Simon undertook to study the landscape of market leaders in exports around the world and in different industries, with the goal of identifying the characteristics of the companies that managed to find their way into that selective group. What he discovered surprised him; it was not the giants he expected who occ...

When he was young, Jeff Chungath was torn between a career in medicine and one in engineering. So he compromised and became a biomedical engineer! With deep, combined clinical and technical expertise, Telligen, the company he leads, helps its clients improve the quality and value of the health care solutions they offer to their employees. Thanks to his training and his natural inclination to think...

If you are a parent or if you ever watch the news, you are aware that, for years now, the conversation around kids and their mental health has become louder and more urgent. The effects of social media and our internet culture, paired with an increasingly prevalent culture of achievement in and outside of schools and the astoundingly isolating experience period during and after Covid have created...

Jeffrey Korzenik is an economist by profession. Outside of work, his passion is furthering the cause of Second Chance Hiring. Those two endeavors are not as disparate as they might seem. Author of Untapped Talent, Jeff has spent many years advocating for what he sees as a solution to two societal and business problems all at once - supporting programs that help identify and place the right people...

Scott White, CEO of IGS Energy, has had a front row seat to the complexity of the energy industry and to what happens when shortages occur his whole life; he grew up with a parent who ran a natural gas company. Scott believes that the changes we can expect in the coming years will be even more challenging than the last five decades. As the global demand for energy continues to grow, we will need t...

When Steve Doerfler and his partner bought out their boss at Metalcraft in 2006, they knew that they would have to work hard and overcome obstacles to help their new company grow and thrive. Many of them, however, both professional and personal, were entirely unexpected and unique. In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Steve shares his journey of leadership through the buyout, several years as Presiden...

For CEOs, and even more so for company founders, the prospect of stepping out of leadership, handing the reins over to your successor, and letting go of the company you have poured your heart into for years can be a challenge. Especially for Evergreen® leaders, who tend to be humble and gritty, their work has been a labor of love; they are so heavily invested in the success of their team, their te...

In 2022, at Tugboat Institute® Gathering of Teams, Tugboat CEO Dave Whorton shared a talk entitled On Purpose. At the time, we were approaching our ten-year anniversary and our Evergreen® community had grown and matured a great deal. Everything Dave, and all of us at Tugboat Institute, had learned from our incredible members and friends over the years had confirmed Dave's thinking about the power...

Evergreen® companies, who value their teams and put People First, believe deeply in the importance of a strong culture. However, the critical value of a strong culture is not simply a matter of faith. In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Oliver Staehelin shares concrete data around the specific, strategic advantages a strong culture can give a company. In a world where competition for great talent is...

It is rare and challenging for businesses to last beyond the first generation of ownership and leadership, and rarer still for them to last into the third generation and beyond. There are many reasons for this, but a common one is that a company, once it has created its breakout, successful product, will cease to innovate and change. When vigilance on this front diminishes, it is nearly impossible...

Humans understand and remember best through stories. The power of a good story to make a message memorable, meaningful, and impactful cannot be overstated. In your business, therefore, telling the story of your company effectively and well is crucial. This is doubly true for the Evergreen® business, whose story communicates the Purpose that drives their existence and the values that define their t...

Within any business, although we typically aim for efficiency and ease, we often end up with systems, processes, and norms that create friction. Friction can slow us down and negatively impact both progress and morale. Dr. Robert I. Sutton, Stanford professor and co-author of the recent book, The Friction Project, has studied friction within enterprises and has accumulated significant wisdom aroun...

Has the age of globalization come to an end? Given current demographic, political, and economic realities, what will the coming decades look like? And importantly, as business leaders, how can we best position ourselves to not only survive, but to succeed in the coming era? Peter Zeihan tackles all of these questions and more in this thought-provoking Tugboat Institute® talk. Peter Zeihan is a lea...

Change that is intentional and carefully managed over time is essential for the long term survival of a business. Katie Hopkins is the third generation President & CEO of her family's business, Truck Centers, Inc. (TCI), and she has experienced this reality first hand. After many years of slow and steady growth, TCI entered into a partnership with their primary supplier, Daimler Trucks, and they h...

At some point, most of us will face the difficult challenge of talking to our parents about their care as they age. The conversation is almost always challenging because it entails the complete reversal of the dynamic of a life-long relationship, wherein the parent is the caregiver and the child is taken care of. But there are ways to make it easier. In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Allen Serfas,...