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An Idea That Works

This book is about a new idea-a new way of running a business. It's called open-book management.

After you read the book, I hope you think the idea is a good one. But the real test of a new idea, in business as in any other endeavor, isn't how it looks on paper. It's whether the idea works in practice.

Open-book management works.

Don't take my word for it; listen to the people who are using it, every day, in their companies.

"When employees understand the economics of business, they feel, think, and act like owners."

-Jim Schreiber, vice president forcustomer assurance andcorporate controller, Herman Miller

"Our commitment to open-book management is unwavering. It's the key to our competitive advantage in the market."

-Leslie Fishbein, president,Kacey Fine Furniture

"It allowed us to involve all our associates in the (previously) mystical world of financials. Now our people know what's at stake-and how they can make a real impact on the numbers."

-John D. Callahan, president,Allstate Business Insurance

"After years of being a skeptic, I would never manage any other way again."

-Eric Paulsen, president, Engines Plus

"The fundamental result of open-book management is this: Our people have become financial managers who understand how their day-to-day decisions affect the bottom line."

-David Zapatka, president, Z-Tech Companies

"By sharing our financial condition as well as our stock, we've greatly increased the bond between line workers and top management. The result: measurably increased owners' equity."

-Ed Zimmer, president,ECCO (Electronic Controls Co.)

"If business is truly a game, how can you expect to win when only a handful of players know the rules?"

-David R. Dwinell,Dwinell's Visual Systems

"Before, problems were the responsibility of me or my management team. Now, the responsibility is spread out over our entire organization."

-Bill Palmer, president,Commercial Casework

"Employees are more apt to concentrate on the numbers that will produce a small victory for them-and that will improve the likelihood of a big victory for everyone."

-Robert Woblesky, production department,Commercial Casework

"By opening the books and sharing financial information-both the good and the bad-we found that employees spend less time worrying about job security and more time helping the company grow and be profitable."

-Emma Lou Brent, president andemployee-owner, Phelps County Bank

"Open-book management has eliminated our company's self-imposed limitations."

-Samuel H. Smith, president,Smith & Company, Engineers

"We are looking at the future here. Ten years from now the majority of successful businesses will be using some form of open-book management."

-Joe E. Jenkins, co-owner,Jenkins Diesel Power

"Open-book management and all of its implications have provided the opportunity for our corporation to transform the health, the wealth, the lives of our people."

-Chuck Mayhew,president, Foldcraft

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Open-Book Management by John Case Copyright © 2003 by John Case
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.