Chasing After Joy and Eating It Up
Robyn Sue Fisher’s story is one of Pragmatic Innovation and good old-fashioned invention. For Fisher, founder and Chief Brrrrista of Smitten Ice Cream, ice cream is all about experiencing joy in the present moment. It’s also all about serving customers a superior product free of unnecessary additives. A self-described “super nerd,” she set out to make fresh-to-order ice cream with only natural ingredients. With the help of a brilliant engineer, liquid nitrogen, her life savings and tremendous Perseverance, she invented a machine that made her vision possible and rolled out her first “store” on the back of a Radio Flyer wagon.
In her Tugboat Institute Summit 2016 talk, Fisher breaks down what matters most in building her Evergreen business: creating joy for employees and customers, and committing unwaveringly to being the best.
Finding Your Team’s Harmonic Gait
Navy Seal Commander Rorke Denver refers to himself as a “sheepdog.” While serving in Iraq, he discovered he had a particular talent for taking care of, and protecting, others. He was there for his men during dozens of missions and he rose through the ranks to become a decorated leader, eventually recruiting and training cadets. Denver learned to value things like character, resilience and empathy over test scores and varsity letters. Like any good Evergreen leader, he realized that the qualities of his team were more important than their qualifications.
Jack Stack On Why Everyone Should Play The Great Game Of Business
At the Tugboat Institute’s most recent exemplar visit, members were able to hear Jack Stack tell the story of how he came up with The Great Game of Business after taking out a massive loan to buy out SRC from a failing International Harvester. With no experience running a company, he had to make up the rules as he went along and trust in his employees.
He quickly realized that the only way the company would thrive was if he taught the employees that the product was now the company. Understanding people hate to lose and love to win, he turned opaque company finances into an open game with rules, scoreboards and rewards. His employees returned his trust with amazing feats of entrepreneurialism that have helped grow SRC into a company with over $550 million in revenues and many successful offshoots.
People First From 28 To 15,000 Stores
When Howard Behar joined Starbucks as president in 1989, the company had just 28 stores. Through his leadership, early actions and behaviors he established a People First culture and led the coffee giant’s expansion to over 15,000 stores internationally.
In a discussion with Tugboat Institute CEO Dave Whorton, Behar shares his life story and reveals how a single lesson from his dad in their family’s grocery store forged his deep-seated belief that the meaning of life is to serve others. Behar, who contends that all businesses are in the people business whether they realize it or not, shares the most important lessons from Starbucks’ growth, and what he’s learned in the years since that chapter of his life ended.
Being Evergreen Helped Me Serve A Broader Purpose
F.K. Day and his brother Stanley Day started SRAM Corporation in 1987 with a passion for biking and innovation. The early years were not easy — the Days learned some hard truths about private equity backers and the importance of cultural fit when making acquisitions. Eventually they found their stride, and SRAM became a leader in high-end bicycle components, and a consummate Evergreen company.
But F.K. ultimately would have an even larger impact on the world. Moved by the 2004 tsunami disaster in Indonesia, he wanted to do more than send checks to relief funds — he was compelled to provide tangible aid. He soon found that something as simple as a single bicycle could change a family’s future for the better. Using Pragmatic Innovation, he took what he knew about high-end bikes and created an efficient, scalable model for producing low-cost, rugged bikes. The end result: World Bicycle Relief, which provides bicycles to students, health-care workers and entrepreneurs throughout Africa, South America and Southeast Asia.
What Evergreen Means to Me
At the Tugboat Institute, we live our Purpose: To build a trusted community of Evergreen CEOs and executives who share with each other their inspirations, best practices, unique insights and support. At our past Tugboat Institute Summit, we asked several of our members, “What does being Evergreen mean to you?” We found their replies inspirational and are thrilled to share the gift of their answers here with you.
Atlas Shrugged: Amy’s Empowers
After college, the ice cream company where Amy Simmons worked was sold to a new owner. Overnight, the culture changed. Because of that experience, she vowed to build a better business, one that sold delicious products but also provided a great work environment. Thirty-two years later, Amy’s Ice Creams is a Texas institution known for both its super-premium award-winning ice creams and its dedication to putting People First. She’s also turning the idea of successful enterprise on its head.
In her Tugboat Institute Summit 2016 talk, Simmons shares her passion for creating an empowered culture built on training, trust and financial and business literacy. The result: a thriving, high-performance, happy workforce that pays it forward in their families and communities.
After Success: What’s Next?
For Evergreen entrepreneurs, building a company that will last more than 100 years means taking great care with transitions such as transferring leadership within our businesses and transferring wealth, values and stewardship within our families.
In his Tugboat Institute Summit 2016 talk, Dennis Jaffe of Wise Counsel Research encourages business owners to treat their children like partners instead of subordinates — and to speak frankly about money. By fostering a spirit of transparency, engagement and shared learning, he says, Evergreen leaders will inspire a future generation of courageous business innovators.
Power of People-Driven Leadership
The food industry is notoriously difficult with thin margins, disappearing trends and a constantly rotating employee base. But Erin Wade has found a way to use the industry to build opportunities not only for herself but also for others. As co-founder and CEO of Homeroom, her full-service mac-and-cheese restaurant, she is building a unique culture within her industry. As a savvy Evergreen entrepreneur, she is creating a highly profitable growth business to fulfill her own aspirations and fostering a culture her employees value. And, Homeroom’s profitability puts it in the top 5 percent of performers in the industry.
In her talk, Erin shares her experience in building the culture of incredible food and fairness to all employees regardless of their role through recruiting, education and transparency. She also explores the challenge of how to maintain all this goodness as she grows beyond her first location in Oakland.
What Evergreen Businesses Can Learn From the Navy Seals
Successful military units must be ever mindful of their surroundings and quick to adapt as circumstances change. The same is true of successful businesses. David Silverman, the founder and CEO of CrossLead, and a former U.S. Navy SEAL, applies many of the lessons he learned fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Southeast Asia to his current mission: teaching companies how to adapt and win in their shifting environments.
Silverman explains how major recent changes in the collective business environment—including interdependency and a greater need for speed—can make or break an Evergreen company, depending on how it reacts to them. He also breaks down how businesses can use new, tested military principles and approaches to achieve their objectives.
