Each year at the Annual Gathering of Games, we recognize several companies who represent the “best of the best” in open-book management practice by honoring these companies with an All-Star Award. This prestigious award recognizes and celebrates the remarkable achievements of companies from around the globe that have fully embraced the principles of open-book management and The Great Game of Business, and have demonstrated outstanding results. For the past few weeks, we’ve been introducing the most recent winners of the All-Star Award. This week, we’d like to introduce you the company who joined the ranks of the most exceptional Great Game companies: The All-Star Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame companies must have a 10-year history of playing The Game; the 2013 Hall of Fame inductee will no doubt inspire you as you continue to explore open-book management.

Each year, at The Annual Gathering of Games, we recognize several companies who represent the “best of the best” in open-book management practice by honoring these companies with an All-Star Award. This prestigious award recognizes and celebrates the remarkable achievements of companies from around the globe that have fully embraced the principles of open-book management and The Great Game of Business, and have demonstrated outstanding results. Throughout the next few weeks, we’d like to introduce you to each of these companies in hopes that their experience will inspire you as you continue to explore open-book management.

Each year, at The Annual Gathering of Games, we recognize several companies who represent the “best of the best” in open-book management practice by honoring these companies with an All-Star Award. This prestigious award recognizes and celebrates the remarkable achievements of companies from around the globe that have fully embraced the principles of open-book management and The Great Game of Business, and have demonstrated outstanding results. Throughout the next few weeks, we’d like to introduce you to each of these companies in hopes that their experience will inspire you as you continue to explore open-book management.

Each year, at The Annual Gathering of Games, we recognize several companies who represent the “best of the best” in open-book management practice by honoring these companies with an All-Star Award. This prestigious award recognizes and celebrates the remarkable achievements of companies from around the globe that have fully embraced the principles of open-book management and The Great Game of Business, and have demonstrated outstanding results. Throughout the next few weeks, we’d like to introduce you to each of these companies in hopes that their experience will inspire you as you continue to explore open-book management.

Playing The Great Game of Business can be a real rush, especially in the beginning. It’s a new concept for most people, so there’s an initial excitement when everyone is first figuring out how this all works. But the romance can fade, and if it does, The Game can become just another routine office chore. How can you tell if the romance is fading? There are four obvious danger signs. Individually, they can just be one or two people being grumpy, but collectively, they can signal that people are starting to take The Game for granted. So here’s what you need to be wary of:

First off, let me thank all of you out there who attended the recent 20th anniversary of The Gathering of Games in St. Louis. It truly was our best celebration yet. Getting the chance to learn from our keynote speakers, Kim Jordan of New Belgium Brewing and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, as well as our breakout session leaders, panel members and newly crowned All-Stars, truly made for an inspiring couple of days.

One of my favorite traditions of our annual Gathering of Games celebration is that we recognize a handful of companies each year as Great Game “All-Stars” – an honor we commemorate by writing up a brief case study about the company. In the 20 years we have been doing this, we have covered an amazing variety of companies across just about every industry out there, from manufacturing to retail and food service to banking.

Running a business can be a lonely job. That’s why entrepreneurs are drawn to groups like the Young President’s Organization, Vistage, EO and the Birthing of Giants programs.

We've had almost a full three-weeks to unwind after the 19th Annual Gathering of Games. Everyone here at GGOB had a great time, but I thought I'd share my personal "Top Ten" from the 2011 Conference: 10) The awesome staff at The Hyatt. Special thanks to Deandre; with his help we managed to unload our truck in ONE load (the usual is 6+) and Sondra “The Iced Tea Queen”. 9) Our dinner at Caleco’s with the ladies of SRC and our special guests Linda from Telisimo and Tammy from Creative Roots.