--- title: "The \"What\" - Great Game of Business" description: The Great Game of Business started a business revolution by introducing the world to open-book management, a new way of running a business that creates unprecedented profit and employee engagement. image: https://www.greatgame.com/hubfs/Templates-2019/Home/Great-Game-of-Business-Book.jpg --- [![GGOB logo (1)](https://www.greatgame.com/hubfs/Templates-2020/Home/GGOB%20logo%20(1).png "GGOB logo (1)")](https://www.greatgame.com?hsLang=en) [** 800.386.2752](tel:18003862752) [Community](https://community.greatgame.com) [GGOB Store](https://ggob.myshopify.com/) ** [**](https://www.greatgame.com/search?hsLang=en) [Register Now!](https://www.greatgame.com/event/the-great-game-of-business-conference/about?hsLang=en) The Great Game of Business Conference starts in just: : : : dayshrsminsec About ** ### About The Game [What Is The Great Game of Business®](https://www.greatgame.com/about/what-is-the-great-game-of-business?hsLang=en) [It’s Money, It’s People, It’s Both™](https://www.greatgame.com/about/its-money-its-people-its-both?hsLang=en) [People Support What They Help Create](https://www.greatgame.com/about/people-support-what-they-help-create?hsLang=en) [Our Process](https://www.greatgame.com/about/our-process?hsLang=en) [History](https://www.greatgame.com/about/history?hsLang=en) [In The News](https://www.greatgame.com/press-release?hsLang=en) ### The Great Game Team [Our Team](https://www.greatgame.com/about/our-team?hsLang=en) [Our Coaches](https://www.greatgame.com/about/our-coaches?hsLang=en) ### Winning Results [The Great Game All-Stars](https://www.greatgame.com/about/the-gathering-all-star-awards?hsLang=en) [Testimonials](https://www.greatgame.com/about/testimonials?hsLang=en) [Case Studies](https://www.greatgame.com/case-studies?hsLang=en) The Fundamentals ** ### Know and Teach the Rules [Business Transparency](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/business-transparency?hsLang=en) [Open-Book Management](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/open-book-management?hsLang=en) [The Critical Number™](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/critical-number?hsLang=en) [High-Involvement Planning™](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/high-involvement-planning?hsLang=en) [Workplace Culture](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/workplace-culture?hsLang=en) [Leadership](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/workplace-leadership?hsLang=en) [Contingency Planning](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/contingency-planning?hsLang=en) [Succession Planning](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/succession-planning?hsLang=en) [Financial Literacy](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/financial-literacy-training?hsLang=en) ### Follow the Action and Keep Score [Business Forecasting](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/financial-forecasting?hsLang=en) [Workplace Huddles](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/workplace-huddles?hsLang=en) ### A Stake in the Outcome [MiniGames™](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/minigames?hsLang=en) [Employee Bonus Plans](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/bonus-plan?hsLang=en) [Employee Engagement](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/employee-engagement?hsLang=en) [Employee Retention](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/employee-retention?hsLang=en) [Employee Owned](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/employee-ownership?hsLang=en) Playing the Game ** ### Getting Started [4 Easy Ways to Start Your Journey](https://www.greatgame.com/getting-started/steps-to-get-started?hsLang=en) [How We Can Help](https://www.greatgame.com/getting-started/how-we-can-help?hsLang=en) [Downloadable Resources](https://www.greatgame.com/getting-started/resources?hsLang=en) ### For Practitioners [On Site Training](https://www.greatgame.com/getting-started/on-site-training?hsLang=en) [Business Coaching](https://www.greatgame.com/playing-the-game/business-coaching?hsLang=en) Events ** ### Events [All Events](https://www.greatgame.com/events?hsLang=en) [The Great Game of Business Conference](https://www.greatgame.com/event/the-annual-gathering-of-games/about?hsLang=en) [Discover the Game](https://www.greatgame.com/events/discover-the-game?hsLang=en) [Get in the Game Course](https://www.greatgame.com/gigcourse?hsLang=en) [High-Involvement Planning™ Workshop](https://www.greatgame.com/events/high-involvement-planning?hsLang=en) [High-Involvement Planning™ Accelerator](https://www.greatgame.com/accelerator?hsLang=en) [Training Workshops](https://www.greatgame.com/events/training_workshops?hsLang=en) [Change the Game Podcast](https://www.greatgame.com/podcast?hsLang=en) Some Answers ** ### Most Common Questions [What Is Open-Book Management?](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/open-book-management?hsLang=en) [Can I Do It Myself?](https://www.greatgame.com/answers/can-i-do-it-myself?hsLang=en) [Who Else Has Gone Through This?](https://www.greatgame.com/answers/can-i-talk-to-someone-who-has-gone-through-this?hsLang=en) [What Will It Do For My Company](https://www.greatgame.com/answers/what-will-it-do-for-my-company?hsLang=en) [Does OBM Mean You Share Everything?](https://www.greatgame.com/answers/does-opening-the-books-mean-sharing-everything?hsLang=en) [Have You Worked With Companies Like Mine?](https://www.greatgame.com/answers/have-you-worked-with-companies-like-mine?hsLang=en) [How Do I Teach My Staff About Financials?](https://www.greatgame.com/answers/how-do-i-teach-my-staff-about-financials?hsLang=en) [What Is Great Games’ Role in the Process?](https://www.greatgame.com/answers/great-games-role?hsLang=en) [What’s the Next Level to The Great Game?](https://www.greatgame.com/answers/whats-the-next-level-of-the-great-game?hsLang=en) [Products](https://ggob.myshopify.com/) [Blog](https://www.greatgame.com/blog?hsLang=en) ** # It's Money. It's People. It's Both. Capitalism in its traditional form is under attack. Solutions from both sides are extreme and unsustainable. There is a revolution going on in business; a movement that is teaching the have-nots how the haves make it. It’s about creating and distributing wealth equitably as a way to close those gaps in wealth that plague our society. It’s about changing the game. And it all started nearly 40 years ago at a company called SRC. [![Great-Game-of-Business](https://www.greatgame.com/hubfs/Templates-2019/Home/Great-Game-of-Business.jpg)](https://www-greatgame-com.sandbox.hs-sites.com/the-what-great-game-of-business?hsLang=en#bt1) ### [The "What" The Origin Story of Open-Book Management](https://www-greatgame-com.sandbox.hs-sites.com/the-what-great-game-of-business?hsLang=en#bt1) [![Get in the Game](https://www.greatgame.com/hubfs/Templates-2019/Home/Get-in-the-game.jpg)](https://www-greatgame-com.sandbox.hs-sites.com/the-how-get-in-the-game?hsLang=en#bt2) ### [The "How" The Definitive Guide on Implementing the Great Game of Business](https://www-greatgame-com.sandbox.hs-sites.com/the-how-get-in-the-game?hsLang=en#bt2) [![Change the Game](https://www.greatgame.com/hubfs/Templates-2019/Home/Change-the-game.jpg)](https://www-greatgame-com.sandbox.hs-sites.com/the-why-change-the-game?hsLang=en#bt3) ### [The "Why" Closing the Gap Between the Haves & Have-Nots](https://www-greatgame-com.sandbox.hs-sites.com/the-why-change-the-game?hsLang=en#bt3) The best-seller, *The Great Game of Business, *started a business revolution by introducing the world to open-book management, a new way of running a business that creates unprecedented profit and employee engagement. ### The Great Game of Business #### The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company By Jack Stack with Bo Burlingham The revised and updated edition of The Great Game of Business lays out an entirely different way of running a company. It wasn’t dreamed up in an executive think tank or an Ivy League business school or around the conference table by big-time consultants. It was forged on the factory floors of the heartland by ordinary folks hoping to figure out how to save their jobs when their parent company, International Harvester, went down the tubes. What these workers created was a revolutionary approach to management that has proven itself in every industry around the world for the past thirty years—an approach that is perhaps the last, best hope for reviving the American Dream. [![Buy-Now-Button](https://www.greatgame.com/hubfs/Templates-2019/BookLPs/Buy-Now-Button.png)](https://ggob.myshopify.com/products/the-great-game-of-business-20th-anniversary-edition) ![](https://www.greatgame.com/hubfs/Templates-2019/BookLPs/Book-Top-Quote-Bar.png) **“The whole concept of The Great Game of Business is beautiful –consistency, alignment, and transparency, infused with core values and brought to life with powerful mechanisms. It is inspired and inspiring, a classic.”** -Jim Collins, author of Good to Great --- **“The Great Game of Business is one of the top 10 most important business books for all growth-minded company leaders to read.  Why?  It details how to create the critically important “line of sight” every employee needs to be fully engaged and driving toward a common goal.  And Jack’s book details how to get everyone in your company focused with one eye on the financial impact of their decisions.  Then watch profits and cash soar.”** -Verne Harnish, CEO of Gazelles and author of *The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time* ![](https://www.greatgame.com/hubfs/Templates-2019/BookLPs/Book-Bottom-Quote-Bar.png) ![Jack-Stack](https://www.greatgame.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Templates-2019/BookLPs/Jack-Stack.jpg?width=390&name=Jack-Stack.jpg) #### About Jack Stack: Jack Stack is Founder, President and CEO of SRC Holdings Corporation. Jack has been called the [“smartest strategist in America”](http://www.inc.com/magazine/20011201/23727.html) by Inc. Magazine and one of the [“top 10 minds in small business”](http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2001/12/01/315130/) by Fortune Magazine. A pioneer of the leadership model known as [open-book management](https://www.greatgame.com/the-fundamentals/open-book-management?hsLang=en), Stack is the author of two books on the subject, *The Great Game of Business* and *A Stake in the Outcome*. His expertise in using the open-book model has helped SRC Holdings Corporation start, acquire, and own over 60 businesses and created thousands of jobs since 1983. Along the way, SRC’s stock value has increased 360,000%. Jack has served as a world judge for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Institute and as an advisor for this group since 1998. Jack designed the first ever United Way Entrepreneurial Fund to encourage innovation within the non-profit community. He has also served as a contributor for Inc. Magazine and The New York Times and has addressed thousands of audiences on the topic of open-book management. Jack is the father of five children and grandfather of six. SRC Holdings Corporation is a 100% Employee-Owned Company employing over 1,200 people, with sales of over $450,000,000 located in Springfield, Missouri. While SRC’s chief business is remanufacturing, the company is best known for being the birthplace of open-book management. Once a failing division of International Harvester, SRC made national headlines when CEO, Jack Stack, used unconventional measures to turn the company around. Under Stack’s leadership, employees started playing The Great Game of Business®. The Game was a way to teach employees how business worked in a way that was unintimidating and would make sense to everyone: using the analogy of a game. Using this method, SRC became one of the biggest turn-around stories of its time. Thirty years later, SRC Holdings Corporation operates 31 business units including joint ventures with John Deere, Case New Holland and Navistar, and maintains two venture capital incubator funds. SRC Holdings Corporation has received international recognition because of its success, including the Top 100 Companies to Work for in America, WorldBlu Most Democratic Workplaces, the National Business Ethics Award and the Business Enterprise Trust Award.   ![Bo-Burlingham](https://www.greatgame.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Templates-2019/BookLPs/Bo-Burlingham.jpg?width=390&name=Bo-Burlingham.jpg) #### About Bo Burlingham: BO BURLINGHAM is editor-at-large—and former executive editor—of Inc. magazine and chairman of the Small Giants Community (www.smallgiants.org). His book Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big was a finalist for the 2006 Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year award. His most recent book, co-authored with Norm Brodsky, is Street Smarts: An All-Purpose Tool Kit for Entrepreneurs. He has also written two books with Jack Stack. The first, The Great Game of Business, was named one of 100 best business books of all time. The second, A Stake in the Outcome, has been called “the first management classic of the new millennium.” Burlingham is currently working on a book about exits. He lives in Oakland, CA, with his wife of 41 years, Lisa. They have two children and three grandchildren. [![Buy-Now-Button](https://www.greatgame.com/hubfs/Templates-2019/BookLPs/Buy-Now-Button.png)](https://ggob.myshopify.com/products/the-great-game-of-business-20th-anniversary-edition) [![GGOB Logo Footer](https://www.greatgame.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Templates-2018/Home/temp/GGOB_Logo_Footer.png?width=465&name=GGOB_Logo_Footer.png "GGOB Logo Footer")](https://www.greatgame.com/?hsLang=en) [Terms of Use ](https://www.greatgame.com/terms?hsLang=en) | [Privacy Policy](https://www.greatgame.com/privacy?hsLang=en) All trademarks, trade names or logos mentioned or used herein are the property of their respective owners.  Reference to any product or service by manufacturer, trade name, trademark or otherwise does not reflect any affiliation with the manufacturer or its endorsement of the products or services.  |  COPYRIGHT © 2021 THE GREAT GAME OF BUSINESS, INC.  All rights reserved. For over 40 years, The Great Game of Business® has helped organizations reach their highest potential and value. Tapping into the universal human need to win, GGOB educates your people in the rules of business, rallies them around a common goal, empowers them to see and improve the score, and engages them by giving them a stake in the outcome. #### Quick Links #### The Great Game of Business 2401 E. Sunshine St. Springfield, MO 65804 [800.386.2752](tel:18003862752) [info@ggob.com](mailto:info@ggob.com) [**](https://www.facebook.com/greatgameofbusiness/) [**](https://twitter.com/Gr8GameBusiness) [**](https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-great-game-of-business/) [**](https://www.youtube.com/user/GreatGameofBusiness) [**](https://www.instagram.com/thegreatgameofbusiness/) ![](https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=263477480705198&ev=PageView&noscript=1) ![](https://px.ads.linkedin.com/collect/?pid=2040065&fmt=gif)