Evergreen Strategies to Scale through Organic Growth, New Industry Verticals, & Acquisitions
Tugboat Institute® member and President of Supportworks, Inc., Dave Thrasher grew up watching his father found and build a company. When it came time for him to step into leadership, Dave was ready to take what his father had built and scale it. In the end, he founded his own offshoot of his father’s Evergreen® company, which is run today by his brother Dan, and he started the work of scaling Suportworks, Inc., always with an eye to maintaining his core Evergreen values.
In this Tugboat Institute talk, Dave shares his learning about the ways Evergreen companies can scale successfully. Many of them are the strategies used widely by companies of all types, but he has modified where necessary to ensure that as he scales, his growing company stays fully aligned with the Evergreen 7Ps® principles and the Evergreen mindset. He has had astounding success.
Watch and be inspired to explore new growth opportunities in an Evergreen way.
In Search of Excellence and Beyond
Tom Peters’ book, In Search of Excellence, stands as one of the seminal management books of all time. It had an enormous influence on Tugboat Institute® Founder and CEO Dave Whorton as a young man, as it did on so many others. Its foundation in People First aligns beautifully with the Evergreen® mindset, and offers great wisdom for the Evergreen leader.
In this Tugboat Institute talk, Tom engages in conversation with Dave Whorton and revisits the eight main points he detailed in his original book. Then they discuss some ways in which Tom’s thinking has evolved in the years since it was published. Still as relevant and Evergreen as ever, the takeaways from this rich conversation are numerous and valuable.
Watch and enjoy the wisdom and wit of this great leader and thinker.
Dear White Friend: How Are We Doing, One Year Later?
At Tugboat Institute® Summit, 2021, member and CEO of TriVersity Construction Mel Gravely took to the stage and spoke about his recent book, Dear White Friend: The Realities of Race, the Power of Relationships, and Our Path to Equity. His 2021 talk was powerful and impactful. This important conversation is one that continues to be relevant across the country, in all areas of our lives, including our businesses. So we asked Mel to speak again in 2022 and give us an update on his thinking and the progress of the conversation on a broad scale.
In this short talk, Mel shares his key learnings from the past year and the factors that he believes must be at the front of all of our minds when we recommit, as we must, to this effort. Only together, and with renewed commitment, can we work toward making our businesses, our communities, and this country an equitable place for all.
Watch and be inspired to commit yourself to this effort, for both the short and long term.
Helping Others & Enriching Lives: The Power of Vertical Integration
James Avery is a revered and beloved institution in Texas. They have been crafting beautiful and meaningful jewelry for their customers and providing a supportive and engaging work environment for their employees since 1954. As they have grown, they have adhered closely to the Evergreen® values that the founder, James Avery, set as the company’s foundation.
In this Tugboat Institute® talk, CEO John McCullough shares stories from the growth and evolution of this impressive company, as well as the benefits they are able to point to today that have come out of a gradual process of becoming nearly totally vertically integrated. While vertical integration is not without certain costs and limitations, it has allowed the company to be nimble in times of crisis and to gain a level of self-reliance that has protected them, to some degree, from market forces such as supply chain challenges and production shortages.
Watch and learn about the advantages vertical integration can give a company, particularly one that is deeply People First and committed to meeting customer needs in the best way possible.
The Challenge and Promise of the Rising Generation
In family businesses, as new generations mature and prepare to step into leadership of the company, conflict and challenge are common. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. The differences that distinguish the new generation from their predecessors do not have to be impediments to a smooth transition; they can, instead, constitute an advantage. The key to it all is open communication.
In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Dr. Dennis Jaffe, Senior Research Fellow with BanyanGlobal Family Business Advisors, shares his wisdom about effective ways to approach the younger generation and ensure a more productive, conflict-free process. Dr. Jaffe has deep experience in this field; he is widely considered to have been one of the leading architects of the field of family enterprise consulting.
Watch and learn strategies to help create the kind of relationship and communication with the younger generation that will make this work easier and more productive.
Economic Development Deals: Why Evergreen Companies Can Be Ideal Candidates
Economic development groups exist in virtually every city, town, and community. Their aim is to improve, in any way they can, the quality of life and the opportunities for the local population. Attracting businesses that will bring positive change to their communities is one significant way they do this, yet businesses often overlook the opportunities this might open for them.
In this short Tugboat Institute® talk, John shares some of the ways he has seen economic development teams work with businesses, including his own, Community Impact Newspapers. As Evergreen® businesses, Tugboat Institute members’ companies are especially strong candidates for the advantages available, because of their Purpose-driven, People-First focus; they consistently bring good into the communities they serve.
Watch and be inspired to look for opportunities in your own community, or in a community you are considering entering.
100 Years of Innovation
White Castle is a century old company that is growing and thriving. Lisa Ingram, the fourth generation CEO of the company her great-grandfather founded, is proud of the moves they have made in recent years to innovate and stay relevant for future generations of Cravers. Lisa’s predecessors were innovative in their own ways, but product innovation has been a relatively recent trend at White Castle. Like everything at White Castle since the very beginning, it’s been driven by a mindset that is decidedly People First.
In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Lisa shares the history of innovation at White Castle and brings us up to the present day. Above all else, this Evergreen® company gets its best ideas by talking and listening to its devoted employees and customers.
Watch and be reminded that when they are cared for and honored, your employees and customers can be your best advocates and your best source of new, powerful ideas.
Why Love and Leadership are Key to a Thriving Evergreen Company
Jeet Kumar had cause, throughout his childhood, to consider the keys to making it possible for a person to thrive. Above all else, people need to be shown love. As he built his successful Evergreen® company, In Time Tec, Jeet has become an impactful leader, largely through keeping love at the center of his leadership style.
In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Jeet shares the beginning of his life’s journey, how he came to put love at the center of his thinking, and the different ways love can show up in a business. Although we are not accustomed to talking about love when we talk about business, Jeet argues that it is critical to effective and meaningful leadership.
Watch and be inspired to infuse your leadership style with love.
Fireside Chat with Penny Pennington and Dave Whorton
Penny Pennington is the sixth Managing Partner of Edward Jones, a financial services firm with over 15,000 branch offices across the US and Canada. With their focus on community and relationships, along with their 100 year history, Edward Jones is an exemplary Evergreen® company across all of the 7Ps.
In this Fireside chat with Dave Whorton, Penny shares her journey, beginning with her upbringing in Nashville, to becoming the leader of Edward Jones. She considers the impact each of the other five Managing Partners have had, and shares how the Evergreen 7Ps® principles show up at Edward Jones.
Watch and learn about the journey of this impressive leader and the impressive, Evergreen company she leads.
Simple Tools
Rich Ledbetter, COO of Guarantee Electrical, has had the good fortune to be guided through his career by several great thought leaders and inspiring people, starting with Muhammed Ali. He learned to take the best of each lesson and use them as building blocks for his own philosophy of leadership, which he has boiled down to what he calls his Simple Tools.
In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Rich shares the lessons gleaned from some of the people whose thinking has shaped his own the most, including Jim Collins, Simon Sinek, and Pat Lencioni. All three contributed significantly to Rich’s Evergreen® leadership philosophy. At the heart of the Simple Tools he has built from these building blocks is trust.
Watch and be inspired to consider your own sources of inspiration and the leadership tools in your own toolbox.
