Don't miss the largest ESOP conference in the world! The Great Game of Business will be there to share how we use open-book management to drive amazing results in our company ESOP. 2013 Las Vegas ESOP Conference & Trade Show: November 13 & 14, 2014 | Cesars Palace

A Stake in the Outcome: Should You Consider an ESOP? Maybe so, if it kills two birds with one stone. It’s fundamental: to play the Great Game successfully, employees need to have a stake in the outcome. Otherwise, it’s hard to imagine why they would go to all the extra trouble to help the company boost its performance. But what’s the best way to provide that?

Founded in January 2000 in Fort Worth, Texas, Texas Air Composites (TAC) repairs and overhauls aircraft for airlines and other private owners all over the world.

Tim Kerrigan has long been a believer in the power of open-book management and The Great Game of Business to turn around the performance of a company. In fact, it was during his first stint working for Stalcop, a manufacturer of cold-formed metals based in Thorntown, Indiana, that he helped pave the way for the company to begin sharing financial information among its 75 employees.

Should you sell your company? It’s a question many business owners will eventually face. But just as vexing might be the added notion of: whom should you sell your business to? One alternative that continues to gain in popularity is to sell your business to an ESOP, or employee stock ownership plan. It’s estimated that there are now some 11,500 ESOPs operating today, which account for some 13.7 million participants – or 10% of the entire U.S. workforce.

We are always expending energy. The energy we use either hurts us or helps us, moving us backward or forward. Throughout the day, we navigate events using our focus. As our energy follows that focus, we are always headed in one direction or the other on what is called the Energy Map. People who know how to direct energy, both within themselves and others, have a distinct advantage in and out of the workplace. They create greater results.

More and more companies these days have begun to pay attention to the topic of employee engagement as a way to help drive their future growth and workplace culture. Unlike the days of old, when workers - especially those on the frontline - were expected to do little more than punch a clock and perform rote tasks, today’s leading organizations have come to appreciate how valuable it can be for manufacturing workplace culture in particular when employees throughout every level of the company bring their passion and creativity with them to work every day.

It is inevitable that privately held companies will face some type of ownership transition event. Too often business owners delay or avoid employee ownership transition planning which can result in severe consequences, including deterioration of company value and sustainability as well as family wealth and security. Business owners should be mindful of these consequences, while also realizing that “planning” does not necessarily mean execution of a strategy today. Also, understanding the process and alternatives available can help demystify the topic and help business owners understand the value of planning for this “once in a lifetime” event.

“The numbers in a business are just stories about people.” - Jack Stack, CEO of SRC Holdings and author of The Great Game of Business What are your company’s numbers, and how do you use them to assign accountabilities to departments and people?

Sharing information with employees is the foundation of an ownership culture. But too often old (and flawed) cultural beliefs conflict with an ownership culture and result in more confusion and fear about employee information sharing than advancing the company’s goals.