What Is Evergreen? The Core Value of PERSEVERANCE

We believe that values-driven leadership teams are redefining success in the industry. While all companies love the journey of mastering our craft, the compass of rising market leaders is guided by a different “true north”, leading from a unique set of core values known as the Evergreen principles. These teams not only have the grit and resourcefulness to build and scale profitable, market-leading businesses, but they also make a positive and long-term difference in peoples’ lives and in our world. BOSS LM is proud to be announced as an Evergreen Company, and we invite you to join us in learning about “What is Evergreen?” in this blog series.

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As passionate leaders and owners with a growth-minded worldview, we often assess highly successful people or companies to learn from their strengths. Passion is high. Eagerness is infectious. The team is “all in”. Goals are being fulfilled. Morale is incredible. Simply put, everyone loves being on a winning team; it’s the story we all want.

But be careful. It’s easy to look at the destination and overlook the journey.

Any quality peer group reveals to owners that teams who have achieved great things had to survive sufferings along the way to get there. When we press past what Furtick famously explains as, “comparing your behind-the-scenes to someone else’s highlight reel,” what we find is that a critical yet too-often unsung differentiator of market-leading companies is not just a shiny purpose but the core value of perseverance to go with it.

Dave Whorton, world-renowned venture capitalist turned Evergreen champion, aptly defines perseverance to this end as, “having the ambition and the resilience to overcome obstacles and keep pursuing the mission indefinitely into the future.” The mindset of an Evergreen company understands that over a long enough period our lives, our teams, and our businesses will weather all types of seasons together – some for better, some for worse. As such we must develop the ability to persist through both types of seasons in order to fulfill our long-term objectives.

Recent internet sensation Simon Sinek argues the value of perseverance in long-term business leadership in his latest work, “The Infinite Game”, explaining: “An infinite-minded leader does not simply want to build a company that can weather change but one that can be transformed by it. They want to build a company that embraces surprises and adapts with them. Resilient companies may come out the other end of upheaval entirely different than they were when they went in – and are often grateful for the transformation.”

But setting aside what this intangible of perseverance is, the world of psychology offers us tangible insights into how we and our teams can develop it. “Success at something requires persistence through some form of discomfort, an ability to push through when confronted with complications… In that sense, perseverance is related to our ability to delay gratification, self-regulate, and practice self-control. All of these are required to honor our commitment to a longer term goal. Perseverance means that we prioritize sustainable future rewards over short-term pleasures in the present. … Crucially, all forms of learning and mastery require perseverance.” (Angela Duckworth; Karl Ericsson)

Many businesses have potential and purpose, but may we forge the perseverance which enables us to achieve it.

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To learn more about what it means to be a Tugboat Institute certified “Evergreen Company”, and the “7 P” core values involved, visit tugboatinstitute.com.

David Rempfer shares from 13 years of profit and non-profit team leadership, is a veteran leader of multimillion landscape and snow operations, and is one of less than 300 professionals in North America to be SIMA Executive CSP certified. He now consults industry executives and leadership teams in their pursuits of business improvement and quality-of-life.