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.
On Purpose
Tugboat Institute® CEO Dave Whorton recently revisited the meaning of the first of the Evergreen 7Ps®: Purpose. His learning and thinking in recent years, and in particular through conversations with Tugboat members Penny Pennington of Edward Jones and Arturo Lomeli of Clase Azul, led him to conclude that it was time to revise our definition of Purpose.
In particular, in this Tugboat Institute talk, Dave reconsiders some of the teachings of economist Milton Friedman. Purpose must, he concludes, have Private as a partner in order to meaningfully and truly drive a company. Through this thoughtful and thorough reconsideration, Dave arrives at a revised definition of Purpose for Tugboat Institute and concludes, yet again, that the greatest calling for a company is to be an Evergreen® company.
Watch and understand how Purpose, along with Private, sit at the heart of the Evergreen movement.
If It Ain’t Broke Yet, Fix It
When you step into your family company as CEO, there are certain advantages and certain challenges. Kristi Tacony Humes learned this first hand when she took the reins of Tacony Corporation as the 3rd generation leader of her family’s sewing and cleaning supplies company. Above all else, she learned the importance of being willing to question the status quo and fix things…before they are broken!
In this candid and insightful Tugboat Institute® talk, Kristi shares her experience and lessons learned from her experience as CEO of Tacony. In her Evergreen® company, Kristi had the mandate to keep the heart of the company the same, all while making the changes necessary to shape it into its current, modern form.
Watch and learn more about the advantages and the challenges of being a leader of a family business.
You Can Be More Honest Than You Think
Dr. David Bradford, along with his colleague Dr. Carole Robin, teaches the most popular course at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Officially, it is called Interpersonal Dynamics, but everybody calls it “Touchy-Feely.” Dr. Bradford has spent many years researching and working on interpersonal dynamics and the ways in which humans relate to one another and build relationships.
In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Dr. Bradford expounds on the teachings of his most recent book, Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues. He uses a model he calls “The Net” to explain how we can, in fact, be surprisingly honest in our relationships, both at home and at work. Far from being an obstacle to good relationships, honesty can, when approached carefully, result in stronger and richer relationships in all areas of our lives.
Watch and learn more about using honesty as a tool to strengthen all of your relationships.
