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How to keep employees in the game

Hosted by Neil Amato

Please note: This item is from our archives and was published in 2018. It is provided for historical reference. The content may be out of date and links may no longer function.

Finance leaders are sometimes challenged by how to convey financial information to nonfinancial employees in ways that resonate with those workers. Brandy Amidon, CPA, the CFO at South Carolina marketing and creative agency Brains on Fire, found a way to hold employees’ interest and get them to care more about the organization’s profitability. The company became interested in taking a new approach after discovering the work of Jack Stack, who formed a successful, employee-owned company in the early 1980s and wrote about that transformation in The Great Game of Business. The results of playing its adaptation of the game mentioned by Stack led to Brains on Fire having the most profitable year in its history.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

  • Why Brains on Fire felt a change was needed.
  • What type of goals the company emphasized in starting its adaptation of the game.
  • How the company prepared employees to take part in the game.
  • How the company rewarded employees for reaching goals.
  • What Amidon learned about giving away some control related to financial decision-making.

Play the episode below: