David Surdam is a historical economist and professor at the University of Northern Iowa who studies how organizations adapt under extreme economic pressure.

In this Tugboat Institute® Summit 2025 talk, he shares the story of Major League Baseball during the Great Depression, when team owners faced one of the most challenging economic periods in American history. Their adaptation strategies not only helped them survive, but even thrive, offering timely lessons on resilience, ingenuity, and the enduring power of cultural institutions during difficult times.

Listen and be inspired to consider how your own organization might adapt in the face of a major economic downturn.

Over the last several years, private equity has continued its rapid expansion, reshaping the landscape of business ownership and investment. What was once limited to a small circle of institutional investors now reaches into 401k portfolios, making PE an increasingly dominant force in our economy. While this growth has fueled opportunity for many, it also poses new challenges for Evergreen® companies whose long-term, purpose-driven approach stands in sharp contrast to private equity's short-term return model.

Dave Whorton, Founder and CEO of Tugboat Institute®, revisits his 2019 talk, "The Rise of Private Equity," to explore how the private equity landscape has evolved and what its growing influence means for Evergreen leaders today. He reaffirms that private equity remains kryptonite to Evergreen businesses yet highlights examples of Tugboat Institute member companies that have found unconventional ways to engage with private equity and strategic capital while staying true to their Evergreen values.

Listen and gain perspective on how to navigate the shifting capital landscape without compromising the purpose and principles that define Evergreen companies.

Mark Steele is the president and owner of Craftsmen Industries and a former turnaround specialist for private equity firms. Early in his career, he stepped into struggling businesses and made the tough calls others avoided.

In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Mark shares how the opportunity to lead family-owned Craftsmen Industries sparked a profound shift in his career and business philosophy. He explores how leading the company, and ultimately becoming its owner, led him to embrace an approach to leadership and ownership grounded in Evergreen® values.

Listen and be inspired by Mark's journey from turnaround expert to Evergreen leader.

Adam Echter is a partner at Simon-Kucher and a global expert in pricing strategy. A thought-leader and consultant, Adam brings decades of experience helping companies shape strategies that drive both profit and purpose.

In this Tugboat Institute® Summit talk, Adam challenges the myth that purpose and profit are mutually exclusive. He lays out actionable pricing strategies that align with Evergreen® values, helping leaders create lasting value for customers while sustaining healthy margins. Through case studies and practical tools, Adam demonstrates that pricing, done well, is not just a financial lever but a strategic expression of purpose.

Listen and be inspired to rethink pricing as a pathway to strengthen both your impact and your bottom line.

Tugboat Institute® member Ashli Desai is President of Larry Walker Associates, an environmental engineering firm focused on water quality management. After founder Larry Walker's departure, the company remained family-owned but was led by non-family executives. This divide between ownership and leadership created challenges in communication and alignment among the family, leadership, and employees.

In this Summit 2025 talk, Ashli tells her story of bridging leadership gaps, crafting a unified, shared vision for the future that brought all stakeholders together.

Watch and be inspired to think about how you might strengthen alignment in your own organization.

In business as in life, longevity often invites assumptions. When we hear about a company that has thrived for over a century, it's easy to picture a large, slow-moving, and rigid organization. But surviving, and thriving, across generations requires quite the opposite: adaptability, agility, and a willingness to evolve.

Jayne Millard embodies this mindset as the fourth-generation leader of Turtle & Hughes, a family-run electrical and industrial distributor. Rather than resting on tradition, Jayne and her team are embracing innovation by focusing on sustainability and partnering with startups to stay ahead of industry trends. In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Jayne shares the rich history of Turtle & Hughes alongside her own unconventional personal journey, one that fuels her courage and inspires her leadership today.

Watch and discover how enduring businesses stay relevant by blending heritage with forward-thinking action.

Business leaders often rely on rules of thumb, simple tools designed to guide decisions in complex environments. But when followed too rigidly, even the most trusted rules can create blind spots. In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Dave Whorton explores this tension and offers a fresh perspective on how Evergreen® leaders might think differently.

Dave is the founder and CEO of Tugboat Institute and the author of Another Way: Building Companies That Last…and Last…and Last. Drawing on decades of experience, he challenges widely accepted misconceptions about growth and encourages Evergreen leaders to embrace the courage, patience, and discipline required to build enduring businesses.

Listen and be inspired to rethink familiar formulas and to lead with intention and imagination.

In business as in life, there are trade-offs. This is an accepted part of the business world as well, and is usually accepted as an unavoidable truth. This includes pairs like Profit and Purpose, or Profit and Paced Growth, which can sometimes appear to be at odds with one another. But what if this didn't always have to be true? Marianne Lewis proposes a leadership strategy that can help resolve this tension.

Marianne is Professor in the Carl H. Lindner College of Business at University of Cincinnati and co-author of Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems. In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Marianne makes an argument for finding a way to embrace, rather than cave to tensions within an organization. It starts with a shift in mindset.

Watch and be inspired to shift your own mindset, and make room for Both/And, instead of simply Either/Or.