Evergreen Journal by Tugboat Institute

Change is uncomfortable, especially when we did not seek it and when it sets us on paths we would never have chosen. How we choose to deal with the inevitable surprises life has in store for us is where we really find out who we are and what we are capable of. This is true in our everyday lives, as well as in our jobs and careers.

In this talk, Tugboat Institute® member Elizabeth Glasbrenner shares her story of dealing with change. Elizabeth co-founded her company, Smiley Technologies, with her brother after their father sold his own company and they perceived a window of opportunity. Over the following years, as she started her family and worked on the business, she encountered several twists of fate she had not planned for at all, both at home and at work. As she faced the huge changes that presented themselves, she realized she had a choice: to let change happen to her… or to choose to embrace it and make it work for her.

Listen and be inspired by this extraordinary story to choose to be an agent of change, rather than a victim of it.

Tugboat Institute® member Kirk Aubry leads Savage Services,  a transportation company based in Utah that moves and manages critical materials. In the years he has led the company, they have seen impressive growth. Rather than simply sit back and admire their success, Kirk asked himself, why? He spent dedicated time and effort exploring this question, and has reached a clear conclusion: connection.

Connection is, in Kirk’s words, “The Secret Sauce” that has allowed for Savage’s success and growth. Connection amongst team members, with their customers, and with their community. This realization is, in many ways, a great confirmation of the Evergreen® model and mindset, because creating connection starts with communication, care, and a focus on People. 

Listen and be inspired to examine and improve connection throughout your organization.

Jeff Patterson is the CEO and founder of Gaggle, an EdTech software company that exists to protect students in schools. As a company founder, he has fought hard to create and build Gaggle, and along with it an entire industry, and he has remained committed to the Evergreen® path throughout. However, as committed as he is to the Evergreen 7Ps® principles, he has had a nagging feeling for years that he needs more than a wonderful culture to survive for the long term. 

In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Jeff shares his own journey toward creating a meaningful and effective strategy for Gaggle. After searching in vain for the “right” strategy, he embarked on his own learning journey, reading many books and talking with many leaders about the ingredients of an effective strategy. Here, he shares his learnings and explains why, in his eyes, culture is important, but without a strong strategy, it’s not enough.

Liusten and be inspired to dig deeper in your efforts to create a strategy that is just right for your company.

When he was still researching and teaching at university in Germany, Professor Hermann Simon undertook to study the landscape of market leaders in exports around the world and in different industries, with the goal of identifying the characteristics of the companies that managed to find their way into that selective group. What he discovered surprised him; it was not the giants he expected who occupied the top spots. It was, instead, predominately middle market companies who remained relatively unknown who were the clear leaders. Many of them came from Germany. 

In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Professor Simon shares key learnings from his work on his subsequent book, Hidden Champions: Lessons from 500 of the World's Best Unknown Companies. The Hidden Champions are different from Evergreen® companies, but they share some important and interesting characteristics. Professor Simon went a step beyond simply articulating his theory on Hidden Champions. Following publication of the book, he left the university and founded his own company which, following the steps he outlined in the book, he has grown into a Hidden Champion itself.

Listen to this talk, consider the characteristics of the Hidden Champions, and see if any of them might help your company.

When he was young, Jeff Chungath was torn between a career in medicine and one in engineering. So he compromised and became a biomedical engineer! With deep, combined clinical and technical expertise, Telligen, the company he leads, helps its clients improve the quality and value of the health care solutions they offer to their employees. Thanks to his training and his natural inclination to think like an engineer, Jeff has created a superb culture of continuous improvement at Teligen, ensuring that feedback loops exist at every level of their work. In turn, this enables them to be nimble and to tackle inefficiencies as soon as they arise.

In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Jeff shares what this looks like at Telligen, and how it has helped them stay ahead of the curve, innovate constantly, and foster an energetic and healthy culture of innovation. A 100% Employee Owned Company, their mission is to improve health outcomes for everyone, and through their careful and precise processes, they are able to make steady and remarkable progress toward this goal.

Listen and be inspired to re-evaluate your internal feedback loops; could they be even better, and drive even better results?

If you are a parent or if you ever watch the news, you are aware that, for years now, the conversation around kids and their mental health has become louder and more urgent. The effects of social media and our internet culture, paired with an increasingly prevalent culture of achievement in and outside of schools and the astoundingly isolating experience period during and after Covid have created a generation that struggles with anxiety, depression, and a host of other challenges.   

In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Dr. Denise Pope, Senior Lecturer at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education and the co-Founder of Challenge Success, addresses this topic with a focus on potential solutions to this mental health crisis. How can we help our children build resilience and find balance and strong mental health? What practices that have become mainstream are, in fact, damaging to our young people today? 

Listen and learn what you can do to make sure your children and other young people in your life are getting what they need to grow into strong, stable adults.

Jeffrey Korzenik is an economist by profession. Outside of work, his passion is furthering the cause of Second Chance Hiring. Those two endeavors are not as disparate as they might seem. Author of Untapped Talent, Jeff has spent many years advocating for what he sees as a solution to two societal and business problems all at once - supporting programs that help identify and place the right people with felony records in the right job for them.

In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Jeff shares that in today’s tight talent market, which demographics tell us will not ease anytime soon, there are nevertheless 19 million people with felony records who struggle mightily to find gainful employment. Many of them never served any time in jail at all, and others have committed to turning their lives around. In the right circumstances, with the right support, they can become stellar employees.

Listen and be inspired to explore the possibility of Second Chance Hiring for your organization.

Scott White, CEO of IGS Energy, has had a front row seat to the complexity of the energy industry and to what happens when shortages occur his whole life; he grew up with a parent who ran a natural gas company. Scott believes that the changes we can expect in the coming years will be even more challenging than the last five decades. As the global demand for energy continues to grow, we will need to grow and expand out capacity to meet it, but it won't happen overnight.

In this Tugboat Institute® Talk, Scott discusses the various means by which our society might allow for a sustainable increase in energy demand while protecting grid resiliency and maintaining affordability. In particular, he shares some specific strategies business leaders can employ to protect their companies against eventual shortages and price volatility.

Listen and be inspired to think about how you and your company can innovate and tackle energy challenges.

When Steve Doerfler and his partner bought out their boss at Metalcraft in 2006, they knew that they would have to work hard and overcome obstacles to help their new company grow and thrive. Many of them, however, both professional and personal, were entirely unexpected and unique.

In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Steve shares his journey of leadership through the buyout, several years as President, over a decade more as CEO, and now as Chairman. Although it has not been easy, it has shaped him as a leader and, he believes, made him better.

Listen and be inspired to turn your challenges into vehicles to strength and transformation.

For CEOs, and even more so for company founders, the prospect of stepping out of leadership, handing the reins over to your successor, and letting go of the company you have poured your heart into for years can be a challenge. Especially for Evergreen® leaders, who tend to be humble and gritty, their work has been a labor of love; they are so heavily invested in the success of their team, their team’s families, and their company that trusting it will be ok without them is almost akin to watching children go out into the world independently. But it must and will happen to all leaders.

In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Kris Maynard, founder and Executive Chairman of Cathedral Holdings, shares his own experience around this moment in his leadership journey. As a founder, he chose to step into the role of Executive Chair first, to ensure that the transition was smooth and gradual, but the end result is the same; someone else is in charge now. His story will shed light on this process for leaders who are looking toward this transition, and while his lessons learned will not make it easy, they will certainly help prevent surprises and prepare you for some of the more unexpected aspects. 

Listen and be inspired to prepare for and thoughtfully shape your own transition out of leadership, when the time comes.