Dear Friends of Tugboat Institute®,

On this New Year’s Eve, I am happy share that in 2025 we are making several big steps forward in supporting the broader Evergreen® community, of which you are a part.

Since our founding, our vision has been two-fold. First, that Evergreen companies will go from being underappreciated to being broadly celebrated for what they are—attractive employers, partners, suppliers, customers, and community members that can be counted on to be trustworthy, fair, and reliable for the long term. Second, that Tugboat Institute will be the unrivaled resource for Evergreen CEOs and their businesses, providing a values-aligned support network unlike any other with additional, valuable services that evolve and grow along with our members and the broader Evergreen community.

For most of our first decade, our Pragmatic Innovation efforts were designed to support our members directly, whether through trusted peer experiences, unique content from members and Evergreen thought leaders, insightful biannual member surveys, intimate forums, or programs that go beyond the member experience, such as our Certified Evergreen® program and Tugboat Institute Gathering of Teams. This work will never cease; it has been and will always be critical, and it will be our honor to keep working toward this goal forever (for 100 years or more!).

Now, just over a year into our second decade, we are excited to extend in more deliberate ways what we have learned over the past decade to a broader, global audience of Evergreen leaders, founders, thought leaders, students, and supporters. We would love to help all Evergreen companies–regardless of size, location, industry, ownership type or background—become even stronger, more mature Evergreen companies to the benefit of their teams, customers, suppliers, owners, communities—and society.

An important first step in this direction has, in fact, been in the works for five years now—a book. After many years of urging from friends and Tugboat members, I finally sat down in 2019, and talked it through with my dear friend Bo Burlingham, of Inc magazine fame. It has been a true labor of love for both of us, and it has been my privilege to work not only with Bo, but also with our senior editor Scott Berinato at Harvard Business Review Press. I’m thrilled to announce that Another Way: Building Companies That Last…and Last…and Last will publish on May 6, 2025, and is available for pre-order now at your favorite online bookstores and at this link. Your early orders help support greater distribution of the book at launch.

A second and third step forward are coming soon and here is a sneak peek at each.

Ten years ago, we launched our free, weekly Evergreen Journal® (EJ) newsletter. Today, after publishing a new article or video every week for over a decade, we have huge library of timeless, invaluable content. This past summer, we surveyed this community to learn more about your interests. Based upon that feedback, in February 2025, we will launch the Evergreen Journal+ (EJ+), a subscription-based platform that will provide access to our entire library of almost 300 articles and over 200 videos with unique filters and search capabilities, alongside new tools like live online conversations and my book list. Stay tuned for more details soon.

Later in 2025, we will officially launch the Evergreen Growth Navigator by Tugboat Institute (EGN) on our website—our third initiative that has been two years in development. It’s a powerful, yet affordable tool for CEOs and presidents to assess their company’s performance across the Evergreen 7Ps® principles and identify the highest potential areas of improvement.

To our Tugboat members, thank you for urging us forward in this work. For everyone in our Evergreen community, we are so honored that you have chosen to be part of our Evergreen movement, and we look forward to serving you in better, more meaningful ways in the coming years. We hope Another Way, the EJ+, and the Evergreen Growth Navigator will all be new, valuable resources in your leadership learning journey.

As we continue to build this important movement together – company by company, leader by leader, founder by founder – we welcome your participation and your feedback!

Here’s to 2025. It will be a big one, and we can’t wait!

Warmly,
Dave Whorton
Founder & CEO, Tugboat Institute