The story of Springfield Remanufacturing as told by Jack Stack is the stuff of legends. Stack and a group of employees decided to buy the company they worked for instead of letting the company shut down and send them packing. Problem was, the group had to borrow about 99% or money and figure out how to actually run a company no body else wanted.

I had a great visit with Stack on a recent edition of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast.

The entire story, including the incredible transformation, in chronicled in a book by Stack and co author Bo Burlingham titled the Great Game of Business. The great game that Stack and his counterparts created was what is now generally referred to as “Open Book Management.” Open book management is a management strategy that opens the financial books for all in the company to see, understand and take a stake in. While thought to be almost radical when Stack did it, it still scares folks in many a corporate suite.

Springfield Remanufacturing, now the wildly successful SRC Holdings, was so successful with their great game of open book management that, as word got out about it, folks started showing up from all around the world to see what was going there. Eventually the company created a formal training program and platform to teach the great game and allow others to teach it as well. Check out the Great Game

I had a great conversation with one of the nicest, most humble multi millionaires and business leaders you will even want to meet. If you’re ever in Springfield Missouri, stop on by and look Jack up. There’s a good chance he will be down on the shop floor teaching someone how to properly interpret a balance sheet.