Transformative change. It's been a popular business phrase for a very long time. Transformative means...
causing a marked change in someone or something
I guess folks mean something substantial. Something that sticks and has a big impact.

One reason this podcast is entitled Grow Great is that I view growth as the goal. Maybe it stems from my early career in the consumer electronics business when Japan ruled the day. Constant improvement was the popular business banter. The Japanese call it Kaizen. Pure and simple - it's figuring it out and growing all along the way. Getting better every day.

People want to be part of something bigger. Something monumental. Something challenging.

We want a cause. Some of us crave it more than others, but I've never encountered a high-achiever or an aspiring high-achiever who didn't fully embrace joining a movement, a cause.

That's why when I first read of a man from Springfield, Missouri who opened the books of a new company in 1983 resonated with me. A decade later, in 1993, John Case of Inc. magazine was credited with coining the phrase, open-book management. But Jack Stack and SRC Holdings created it. In 1992 Stack wrote the book, The Great Game Of Business.

Jack was running a plant for International Harvester when word came down, "we're closing your plant." Stunned, thinking they'd been doing good work, Stack dove into finding out what went wrong. How can our plant close when we're doing what's asked of us? He taught himself by asking great questions. He learned about business and along the way, grew a resolve to buy the plant and keep it going. Rejected time and time again for loans he and 13 employees cobbled together about $100,000 and finally got loans in excess of $8M. Along the way, Jack knew the employees needed to understand what they had never understood before - how companies make money and what's required for businesses to be sustainable. That meant Jack had to open the books and share key numbers with employees. It worked so magnificently that within 5 years (by 1988) the company was worth in excess of $40M and they had saved over 100 jobs. And as they say, "the rest is history."

Jack Stack created a revolution. He created a movement - a cause. Admittedly, it was a big cause - "let's save our jobs, let's save our plant." Does every movement have to be that dramatic? Or that enormous? No. Movements can be positive and they come in all shapes and sizes.

Many years ago I learned what Jack Stack discovered. Ironically, it was about the same time, too. The early 1980s. Jack's success eclipsed mine big time, but the lessons learned were similar - people need a game to play.

More specifically, people need to see where they fit and how their work makes a difference. As a teenage employee, I learned very quickly the importance of congruency. I once worked for a boss who said one thing but did something different. His actions were rarely congruent with what he preached. I learned firsthand the negative impact that had on employees and the culture. We struggled because none of us had any clue how we made a difference. We were just working for our paycheck and our commission.

Let's learn some things together from all this. Let's create a movement and get people energized by understanding how their work makes a positive impact on the company.

Step 1 - Give People A Story

Storytellers focus in part of the characters. The story is all about the characters and how they behave. Well, your company is filled with characters - employees, team members.

What's their story? I don't mean you dive into their personal lives. I mean, what's their story in the context of why they're holding their role in your company? Have you told them the story and shared with them how they affect the outcomes for your company?...