If you are reading this and haven't already "opened the books" to share company financials with your employees, my guess is it's because you are scared. What are your real concerns about open-book management? Financial transparency in business is a concept so new, so counter to the way business has always been done, no wonder it scares people. Just the thought of opening the books is followed by a whole list of what-ifs. The thing is - it's not actually that scary when you break it down. Here are our answers when people hit us with the what-ifs:

Taking the leap into open-book management and a transparent culture can be intimidating, so we asked the best of the best in open-book why they implemented the Great Game of Business®, and what motivates them to continue investing in The Game. 

On Monday, September 15, 2019, thousands of factory workers went on strike. It was the first time the union, the United Auto Workers, or UAW, had called for a work stoppage in a decade. It remains to be seen if and when the strike will have any significant impact on any of the automotive-related businesses at SRC.

Knowledge is power, or in its original Latin, “Scientia potentia est.” The saying, attributed to the 16th century writings of Sir Francis Bacon may be a centuries-old sentiment, but the idea has significant applications in today’s business world. A good modern manager should be familiar with the old Latin phrase in its new forms: open-book management and financial transparency. Here’s why transparency in the workplace matters.

We love to see and hear the inside stories of companies putting the principles and practices of The Great Game of Business® to work in their organizations, which is why we love to find videos by and about Great Game practitioners! As we revealed at the 2018 Gathering of Games Conference, we have goal to impact 10 million lives in the next 10 years in the #sharonthedream campaign. Here are three of our favorite videos representing three very different stories of how the Great Game has made a difference across the globe...

Are you ready to introduce Great Game™ to your employees? Reading the book as a group is a great way to establish the concepts of the Great Game of Business® with your staff, whether your company is new in implementing open-book management, introducing new hires to The Game, or refreshing your Great Game knowledge.

Inspired by Rich Armstrong & Steve Baker's upcoming book, Get in the Game: How to Create Rapid Financial Results and Lasting Cultural Change. For nearly forty years, The Great Game of Buisness® has been known as the “open-book people.” The term open-book management (OBM) was coined by John Case in Inc. Magazine back in the 1980s, and the name stuck. With SRC and Great Game’s approach to OBM, Jack Stack, our CEO and founder, was even dubbed the “Father of Open-Book Management” by Inc. But if you ask Jack what he thinks of OBM, he’ll tell you—it’s not just about opening the books! Financial transparency is worthless without education, accountability, and reward. The only way to see your people AND your organization grow and transform is by teaching employees how business works.

Change is often uncomfortable, and adapting to it can be messy. Whether you’re implementing The Great Game of Business®, staging an acquisition, creating a new culture committee, or looking into employee ownership, consider these tips from CEOs that can help business leaders communicate your message in ways that build buy-in and rally your team behind the effort.   

  Excerpted from The Great Game of Business. The Great Fear #2 Is It Competitors You Fear—Or Your Own Employees?  Sad to say, a lot of companies hide their financials not because they're afraid of their competitors, but because they're afraid of their employees. They don't think people will understand the numbers, and there's some truth to that. If you don't show employees how to use financial information as a tool to help the company, they might well use it as a weapon against the company.

These three Great Game® videos illustrate an overview and the why behind Great Game methodology, highlight the origins of open-book management & the Great Game of Business®, and give a live example of one of our fundamental practices: the Huddle Cycle. Check them out to see how GGOB instills Lasting Cultural Change while promoting Rapid Financial Results™ in organizations across the globe. 

 Excerpted from The Great Game of Business. How do you get to the point where you can even think about democratizing the workplace—about being a transparent business that gives people access to the numbers and therewith the means to control their destiny? Not by swallowing your pride and admitting that you don't have all the answers and can't make all the decisions. No, it's by swallowing your fear. The Great Fear #1 What If Competitors Get Hold of Your Numbers?

Excerpted from The Great Game of Business. Like most American companies, International Harvester operated on the principle that everybody should focus on doing the specific job he or she was assigned. The corollary was that you should only give people the information required to do their specific jobs; everything else should be treated as some kind of corporate secret. Somehow it had become common wisdom that this was a good way to run a business—in fact, the only right way to run a business. That is the biggest myth of all.