You Gotta Wanna

OWNERSHIP RULE #2

A COMPANY
ISN’T WORTH
ANYTHING IF
NOBODY ELSE
WANTS TO OWN
IT.

To build value in a company, you have to look at it
from the outside in. Look at it like an investor does
- coldly, objectively, without any sentimental attach-
ments to people, buildings, products, services, histo-
ry, or culture. Why? Because people don’t put money
into a business unless they feel it’s a good investment.

6

EVERYONE WINS!

We know when our employees win, the company wins. We
want our people to think and act like owners. We want their
brains as well as their skills to help build a great company.
Our success is due to our open-book management system
called the Great Game of Business (GGOB). The basic premise
is to teach employees to think and act like owners, sharing
with them the rewards of great performance as well as the
agony of missed opportunities.
We openly share financials, regularly communicate informa-
tion, and reward performance. GGOB’s backbone is a culture
of continuous financial discipline, which teaches everyone
to make business decisions based on what makes their lives
stronger.

5

OWNERSHIP RULE #1

THE COMPANY
IS THE
PRODUCT.

People have to understand that they have a direct role
to play in creating the kind of company they want, and
creating such a company is their responsibility and
the ultimate goal of the business. It is the end result
of all their efforts.

4

Why you Gotta Wanna?

“If I’ve learned anything in this journey, it’s that you make your
own destiny in this world. You determine your own outcomes.
If you have the will, there’s almost always a way. It may not be
the most direct route. You’ll have to overcome some obstacles.
But you’ll get there eventually.”

Jack Stack, CEO of SRC Holdings, and Father of Open-Book
Management

OWNERSHIP RULE #14

YOU
gotta
wanna

You gotta wanna. It’s one of the higher laws of business from
the first Great Game of Business book, and a fundamental rule
of ownership. People only get beyond work when their mo-
tivation is coming from the inside. Whatever goal you have -
saving jobs, owning your own company, meeting this month’s
profit target - if you don’t have it inside of you, it ain’t gonna
happen.

3

why ownership?

In 1992, Jack Stack wrote the first Great Game of Business
book to explain our management system for teaching em-
ployees to think and act like owners. Interest was so great,
a subsidiary company was actually created to host seminars/
conferences and handle inquiries.

Then in 2002, Jack wrote a follow-up book, Stake in the Out-
come, detailing the motivation and lessons learned in giving
employees a piece of the action through company stock. The
Rules of Ownership listed in this booklet were introduced in
that book.

We use stock ownership through
ESOP and selected stock offer-
ings as a vehicle to drive change
in behavior and promote stra-
tegic thinking. That, in turn, in-
creases the value of our compa-
ny, which drives the stock price
up, which improves the quality of
life and financial security for our
employees.

Ownership is a core value for our
company. We can’t imagine life
without skin in the game. A com-
pany of owners will outperform a
company of employees any day
of the week. More importantly,
our employee owners know they
can and do make a difference in
the success of SRC.

2

Who is SRC®and THE Great
Game of Business®?

ORIGINAL PIONEERS OF OPEN-BOOK MANAGEMENT

In 1983, Jack Stack and 12 managers scraped together
$100,000 in cash, borrowed $8.9 million and transformed a
failing division of International Harvester into one of the most
successful and competitive companies in America.

Under Stack’s leadership and open-book management ap-
proach (later coined the Great Game of Business), this once
failing company in Springfield, Missouri, has now become SRC
Holdings Corporation, a thriving company of 1,600+ engaged
employees operating business units across a variety of indus-
tries, and producing more than $600 million in annual consol-
idated sales. The company has increased its value from 10
cents per share in 1983 to over $612 (pre-split) in 2018.

As a result, the Great Game of Business (GGOB) has become
a celebrated approach to open-book management – and a
well-proven strategy based on the powerful belief that “the
most efficient, most profitable way to operate a business is
to educate everyone on how the business works, give them
a voice in how the company is run, and provide them with a
stake in the financial outcome, good or bad.”

It requires understanding how profitability is driven, assets
are used, cash is generated, and how all of their day-to-day ac-
tions and decisions can make or break the business. We want
our employees to think and act like owners, because they are
owners through our Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).
As of July 2018, ESOP owns 100% of SRC.

1

“WHEN YOU OPEN YOUR BOOKS
- REALLY OPEN THEM -

YOU ALSO OPEN YOUR MIND,
AND NEITHER YOUR MIND

NOR YOUR BOOKS
WILL BE CLOSED AGAIN.”

jack stack
A stake in the outcome

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Dedicated to Jack Stack, Bo Burlingham, and
The Employee Owners of SRC Holdings Corporation

Special Thanks to the GGOB Team Who Produced This Book:

Denise Bredfeldt
Charlotte Eckley

Steve Baker
Darren Dahl
Rich Armstrong

To order additional copies of You Gotta Wanna or for
more information on other Great Game of Business® re-

sources and initiatives, please contact us at:

1.800.386.2752

or visit us online at

greatgame.com

You Gotta Wanna: Inspiring a Culture of Ownership
Copyright ©2018 by The Great Game of Business, Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
use of any information-storage or retrieval system, for any purpose without
express written permission of The Great Game of Business, Inc.
The Great Game of Business®, Great Game®, A Stake in the Outcome® and The
Great Game of Education® are registered trademarks and Critical Number™,
MiniGames™, Know & Teach the Rules™, Follow the Action & Keep Score™ are
trademarks of The Great Game of Business, Inc. All rights reserved.
Registered and/or pending trademarks of The Great Game of Business in the
United States and international countries are used throughout this work. Use
of the trademark symbols are limited to one or two prominent trademark uses
for each mark. Any trademark or service mark of any third party mentioned
in this document is for illustration or explanatory purposes only and is not
intended to suggest or imply any endorsement by the owner of such marks.
The 10 Higher Laws of Business, drawn from The Great Game of Business® by
Jack Stack and Bo Burlingham
The Ownership Rules, drawn from A Stake in the Outcome® by Jack Stack and
Bo Burlingham

YOU
gotta
wanna

INSPIRING A CULTURE
OF OWNERSHIP

14 Ownership rules DRAWN FROM A STAKE IN THE OUTCOME®
BY JACK STACK AND BO BURLINGHAM







“These principles broaden the definition of ownership. The premise of
ownership should be to increase the general well being of humanity

where everyone can flourish and prosper. I wish someone told me these
things when I was kid.”

JACK STACK, CEO of SRC Holdings, and Father of Open-Book Management

YOU
gotta
wanna

INSPIRING A CULTURE
OF OWNERSHIP

14 Ownership rules DRAWN FROM A STAKE IN THE OUTCOME®

BY JACK STACK AND BO BURLINGHAM