Even Evergreen CEOs Need To Think About Exits
One of the central tenets of Evergreen businesses is that they stay private. But that doesn’t mean there will never be an exit in the form of a change in leadership. For his book “Finish Big,” author Bo Burlingham spent years talking to entrepreneurs about the best way to exit — whether through a sale or by passing the company on to the next owners. His advice: Start preparing for an exit years in advance.
Burlingham explains that in order to leave happy, you need to view your exit as another natural phase of the business, not a sudden event. By knowing yourself and your purpose and doing right by the people who have shared your journey, you can create a happy, satisfying life for yourself after your exit.
An Evergreen Empire Built On Stewardship, Restraint And Reverence (VIDEO)
In the 1950s, Earl and Carol Holding moved to the Wyoming desert to take over a failing gas station/motel/cafe. That was the first step toward building what Tim Silva calls an "incredible empire" that includes Sun Valley Resort, the home base for Tugboat Summit and Sinclair Oil Corp. Silva, the resort's general manager, says the Holding family used core Evergreen principles to grow their assets.
The conservative couple initially clashed with this free-spirited mountain town, but by investing in the resort and its people, becoming active members of the community and preserving the natural beauty of their surroundings, they earned the community’s respect.
What Distinguishes A Great Place to Work
What separates good workplaces from great ones? After 30 years of analyzing happy and efficient companies, Robert Levering, co-founder of Great Place to Work, has a few ideas.
The common denominator, he says, is trust. The three levels of trust for employees are: credibility of management, what does management think of me and knowing there is a level playing field. Evergreen leaders can use Levering’s insights to create an environment where employees are engaged, satisfied and productive.
How An Evergreen Company Passed The Torch
An Evergreen business eventually comes with a unique challenge: smoothly transferring control and ownership. At 75, Andrew Kawaja’s father still comes to work each day at IFS Industries, the company he founded in 1972. But the senior Kawaja has already successfully completed the leadership transition to his three sons.
Andrew Kawaja explains how his family's enterprise has stayed true to its founding principles and navigated the culture war that he calls inherent in a generational transfer. In his talk, Kawaja details the three core rules his family has followed for a prosperous and harmonious succession.
Cartographer Of Opportunity
Because Evergreen entrepreneurs don't have the promise of a looming exit and payout to attract and retain top talent, they must turn to something else. "That something else, to me, is human nature," says Quest Nutrition co-founder and president Tom Bilyeu. He says that one of the biggest problems business leaders face is a failure to acknowledge human nature and use it to their advantage. "Values and identity drive behavior," says Bilyeu. "Your job is to create, define, explain and get your employees to embody a core set of values." If a company hasn't outlined its values, employees will act in accordance with their own — which opens the door to discord and ineffectualness.
Bilyeu explains how he helps employees pull in the same direction as his company, and why he's more than happy to help poor cultural fits find a job that works better for them.
There are No Shortcuts on the Evergreen Path
Ed Viesturs has been climbing mountains for almost 40 years. In that time, he has climbed all of the world's 8,000-plus-meter summits — 14 in total — without using oxygen tanks. Viesturs embodies one of the most important elements of an Evergreen entrepreneur: perseverance. It took Viesturs 21 attempts to complete his 14-summit bucket list. For each of those climbs, he vowed not to break the rules that he lives by — no shortcuts, no complacency.
"Life is a series of climbing mountains," he says. "You have to be willing to take the time to have the journey, roll up your sleeves and strive for the summit while making sure to get back down alive." The same could be said of the path of an Evergreen business leader. Viesturs’ advice: Listen to the mountain. Conditions will guide your actions. You have to be acutely aware of them, adjust plans accordingly and avoid forcing action on your timeline instead of what the mountain offers.
VIDEO: You Can Grow Your Own Way
Zingerman's Deli co-founders Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig vowed that the business they started in 1982 would always stand on its own. The Zingerman’s experience could never be replicated. But after 10 years of growth, sales flattened and esprit de corps fizzled. One of the reasons: Good workers didn't have room to advance into leadership.
So Saginaw and Weinzweig crafted a new vision that allowed ambitious employees to become managing partners of independent businesses under the Zingerman's brand. Today, the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses consists of 10 such operations. This arrangement has allowed the company to stay Evergreen and experience steady paced growth.
Work, Parenting and Choices (VIDEO)
We have 168 hours each week. How will you spend them? The classic 40-hour-workweek schedule disappeared a long time ago, says David Surrenda, CEO of executive-level consulting firm The Leadership Edge. Senior executives typically work well beyond that, with most averaging 60-plus hours a week in the office. The problem can be especially acute for Evergreen CEOs who often must wear many hats. Factor in commuting time and late-night emails and these executives are creeping into what Surrenda calls the danger zone — they're burned out, depleted and ill-equipped to deal with the daily challenges of family life.
The good news, according to Surrenda: The skills that make you a great executive are the same skills that can make you a great parent. In his talk, Surrenda offers actionable tips for parents who want to make the most out of their time at home without sacrificing their business.
Mining For Astronauts: The Art of Optimizing Human Capital
Early in his career, Tom Bilyeu helped build a successful technology company, Awareness Technologies. Despite its impressive growth—in 2010 Deloitte named it the 42nd fastest-growing company in North America—after eight years, he and his partners realized they were miserable. The reason? They were building wealth for wealth's sake. So they turned their attention to something they were all passionate about: health and nutrition.
Once they started down a purpose- and passion-driven path, they discovered that happiness and wealth aren't mutually exclusive. In his talk, the Quest Nutrition co-founder explains his rubric for hiring and the ways in which Evergreen entrepreneurs can cultivate a growth mindset for all of their employees. He also claims the ghetto is the greatest source of untapped human potential.
Beyond Net Promoter
Great products are no longer enough. The company that delights with superior service is the company that wins, says Brad Cleveland, an author and senior adviser with the professional services firm ICMI. He contends that no matter how big or experienced your competitors are, quality customer care is an Evergreen business’ most powerful differentiator — and it has to emanate from the top.
Excellent service is expensive when viewed in isolation, Cleveland acknowledges, but leaders who invest in it will see measurable returns in efficiency, low customer churn and strategic value. Cleveland breaks down what matters most in customer care.
