The opening spread of Inc.’s August 1986 cover story, “The Turnaround,” which introduced SRC’s story and early open-book management practices to a national business audience.
Forty years ago, Inc. magazine told the story of Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation’s remarkable turnaround.
Now, Inc. has once again recognized the lasting impact of Jack Stack, SRC, and the ideas that became The Great Game of Business®.
On July 3, as part of its America 250 coverage, Inc. included Jack Stack among “13 Founders Whose Businesses Changed America.” The feature revisited stories from Inc.’s archives that continue to stand the test of time.
For SRC and The Great Game of Business® community, the recognition is especially meaningful because Jack’s inclusion points back to Inc.’s original 1986 article, “The Turnaround.” That story captured a pivotal moment in SRC’s history: a struggling division of International Harvester becoming an independent company built around financial transparency, business education, employee ownership, and shared accountability.
Inc.’s recognition is not just a look back at one company’s turnaround. It is a reminder that the ideas born at SRC helped change the way many leaders think about business.
At SRC, people learned the numbers. They studied the income statement. They understood how their work affected the score. They shared in the risks and rewards. And they proved that when people are trusted to understand the business, they can help improve it.
That idea became the foundation of The Great Game of Business®.
In Inc.’s 2026 recognition, the publication described “The Turnaround” as the story of how Jack helped take a one-time division of International Harvester from a money loser to a company growing 40 percent annually. But the bigger lesson was not simply growth. It was the birth of open-book management — a blend of financial discipline, business literacy, and a deeply people-oriented way of running a company.
That combination is what made the SRC story different.
The original 1986 Inc. article did not simply describe a financial recovery. It described a workplace where people throughout the company were learning how the business worked, following the numbers, participating in decisions, and sharing in the outcome.
It showed supervisors teaching income statements, employees tracking performance, teams working toward common goals, and employee-owners beginning to see the connection between their daily actions and the company’s future.
Bo Burlingham also played an important role in helping the SRC story reach a wider audience. As an executive editor at Inc., he helped assign the original “The Turnaround” article—and later partnered with Jack Stack on The Great Game of Business® and A Stake in the Outcome®, helping bring the lessons of SRC’s open-book approach to leaders well beyond Springfield.
The article also captured one of the core beliefs behind Jack’s approach: people are capable of contributing far more when they are invited to understand the business.
As Jack put it in the original article, “Why hire a guy and only use his brain to grind crankshafts?”
That question still matters.
Today, many companies are working through challenges around employee engagement, trust, accountability, succession, financial literacy, and long-term resilience.
The SRC story offers a lasting reminder that people support what they help create — and that business can become more competitive when everyone has access to the score, understands the rules, and has a stake in the outcome.
That is why Inc.’s recognition feels timely. It validates a story that began inside one company, but grew into a broader way of thinking about ownership, leadership, and performance.
The Great Game of Business® was built on a simple but powerful belief: when people understand the business, they can help improve the business.
The story that Inc. captured in 1986 is still moving forward. For those who want to better understand where The Great Game of Business came from—and how these ideas continue to shape companies today—there are two natural next steps:
Watch the Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid Feature
See how The Great Game of Business was featured on Fox Business Network’s Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid, and learn more about the SRC/GGOB story.
Explore The Great Game of Business Conference
Learn from practitioners, coaches, and companies applying open-book management today—whether you are just getting started or working to strengthen your game.
Forty years after Inc. first published “The Turnaround,” the story is still moving forward.
And so is The Game.