For many years, when I would speak with Jack Stack about implementing the Great Game at my company, imageOne, I was usually explaining to him why it wouldn’t work for us. “We are unique,” I would explain to him. Jack would just snicker and shake his head. I remember those days vividly and now I know that he was right: business is business and the Great Game works for thousands of companies - why would mine be so different?

The 25th Annual Gathering of Games is not only going to be a fantastic networking and learning event — it’s going to feature some of the brightest and most influential business speakers in the world. You simply can’t miss these Great Game experts if you have any interest at all in open-book management. The pre-conference speakers alone cover a wide variety of topics and industries that you’re sure to enjoy.

You’ve likely heard that analytics is all the rage. Marketing. Sports. Fraud detection. Analytics is everywhere, yet many organizations struggle with successful implementation. Before covering the six steps to successfully use analytics, a quick definition: analytics is generally defined as the procedures and methods used to extract useful information from data to help answer a strategic question.

Each year, several hundred business leaders and key influencers from companies across the globe come together to learn and share the principles and practices of open-book management at an event known as “The Gathering of Games.” This year, the conference — which is in Dallas from September 6-8 — celebrates its 25th anniversary and features a reunion of “All-Stars” who have been enjoying success playing The Great Game of Business.

According to the Harvard Business Review, millennials will make up about half of the global workforce by 2020. These millennial employees are demanding work that connects to a larger purpose. At the same time, 66% of global consumers say they will pay more to support companies that are committed to making a social and environmental impact (Nielsen Global Corporate Sustainability Report).

At the 24th Annual Gathering of Games Conference, The Great Game of Business celebrated the 16th Annual All-Star Awards. These prestigious awards recognize and celebrate 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.

Ownership rule #5 from A Stake in the Outcome is “It takes a team to build equity value.” But how do you do that? How do you encourage teamwork and is it really that important? During this session, you will learn the importance behind having a strong team and how to build your team with fun quick games during your huddles.

For the last two years, we have been implementing open-book management in a small community craft center near Kruger National Park in South Africa. Fifteen years ago, I implemented open-book management in a highway construction and materials company in St. Louis, Missouri. Even though the businesses, cultures, education level, and many other things are vastly different, I have noticed some similarities between the two in ideas that work well with people on opposite sides of the planet. The Great Game approach to management is a practical science of observing what actually gets results. Through a long process of trial and error, I have discovered some universal commonalities in human behavior, despite residing on different continents.

I feel better knowing. Not knowing is scary. Many people don’t like knowing and practice living “Ignorance is bliss.” I am a bit too neurotic and controlling to accept ignorance as my default lifestyle choice. I am uncomfortable with the unknown, and, if I am left to my own thoughts, I am good at conjuring up a slew of conspiracy theories around a multitude of good and terrible things that are “going” to happen.

It’s official: The traditional classroom is dead! Okay, a bit dramatic, but our research at Amy’s EDU illustrates the ineffectiveness of traditional classrooms in the workplace; instructors in front, perfectly lined rows and sitting still for hours. If creating a regular business and financial literacy program seems daunting; we get it, you need valuable resources like money, time and focus. What if we told you that a break room could be more effective than traditional methods of adult education?