The Great Game of Business
Jack Stack with Bo Burlingham

Book Review

The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack with Bo Burlingham - Buy Now From Amazon

Reviewed by Harlan Geiser, CEO, Integrity Technology Solutions

Over the past year, we've embarked on an endeavor of holding a book club with the employees of our company.  We've read and discussed some good books; Good to Great, Made to Stick, & Now, Discover your Strengths to name a few.  Our discussions of the books and the topics that they each addressed were always insightful, but none of them made as much of an impact as The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack with Bo Burlingham. 

The book is about Open-Book Management.  The premise is that if you arm your employees with the financial knowledge and awareness of how your business operates, your business will benefit and your employees will exceed your expectations.

To adapt the concepts of The Game into your company you must first live with integrity. Secondly, you must decide that it is okay to share financial information and numbers with your employees as a way to improve performance.  That brings you back to the first step - you must live with integrity.  Your employees need to know that you are showing them the real numbers, that there isn't another set of books behind the scenes.  In this Open-Book Management approach, you are empowering your employees to think like an owner with every decision and action they make, and providing them with the numbers they need to make these decisions.

The Game is centered on The Critical Number for your company.  This number is an operational or financial issue that is converted into a measurable number and can be tracked throughout the game.  Where's your greatest weakness - revenue, margin, shipments, something else?  What's the one thing that you can improve that would drive profit to your bottom line?  That is your critical number. Your critical number may change as your business changes, and many companies reevaluate their critical number on an annual basis. To play the Game, a goal is set for improving this Critical Number and incentives are directly tied to the improvement.

The Great Game of Business works off of the philosophy that 'when employees think, act and feel like owners, everybody wins.' To get your employees to this point you need to:

1. Know and teach the rules (think like an owner)

2. Follow the action and keep score (act like an owner)

3. Provide a stake in the outcome (feel like an owner)

Knowing and teaching the rules is not telling your employees what your goals are, it's teaching them how the business works, what's critical to the success of the business and how to really understand the financials of the business. This means starting a financial literacy program to educate your employees on how profitability is driven, how their actions have an impact on the company's success and how taking responsibility for their job can contribute to the financial success of the business and themselves.  Once they have a good understanding of the financials of the company they will be able to accurately forecast all areas of the business, right down to the office supply expenses. 

Following the action and keeping score is about keeping the numbers in front of your employees.  They need to see on a weekly basis how the business is doing and how their decisions and actions have impacted the financials.  They need to see how the delay in getting a shipment out the door has impacted the numbers for the week.  Weekly huddles take place to communicate the numbers and to update the scoreboard of The Game. These huddles provide a great opportunity to evaluate the game stats and plan the next play to positively impact the score.

Providing a stake in the outcome is providing an opportunity for your employees to benefit from the success of the company.  This is a financial stake in the outcome of The Game and through your huddles and scorecard, your employee's will be able to see each week how their actions impact their stake in The Game.  This annual bonus is tied to the improvement of the Critical Number and throughout the year your employees will be able to work together to achieve the bonus.  In addition to the bonus, mini-games are a key element of The Game.  Mini-games are used to keep involvement high and allow your employees many opportunities to win.  Mini-games are run on a shorter time frame and focus on improving one weakness of the business, often a driver of the Critical Number. Just like the overall Game, there is a goal, a scoreboard and a reward for winning. 

The book stresses that this is not a quick fix for your business.  It is a 12 to 24 month cultural transformation that filters through the attitudes and operating style of the entire workplace. Reading this book will enable your employees to ‘connect the dots' as you begin the process of setting up The Game at your business.  As a company, we are beginning this transformation and have found the book to be a great resource.  In addition, The Great Game Seminar in Springfield, MO is an excellent program which provides you with an awareness of The Rules of The Great Game of Business.

"If Everybody learns, and Everybody plays, then Everybody wins!"

Harlan Geiser is the CEO Integrity Technology Solutions, a Bloomington-based, business technology company providing customized Information Technology (IT) solutions to the business community since 1993.  Harlan is passionate about helping clients better their businesses and their bottom lines through the creative use and effective management of technology. He is a devoted community leader and currently serves as Board Chairman for the American Red Cross of the Heartland and Vice Chair for the Economic Development Council of Bloomington-Normal.  He can be reached at hgeiser@integrityts.com