Freddie and Rick are constantly teaching employees about the meaning of ownership. They run formal classes and informal on-the-spot sessions.

Topic for Discussion: What does Meeko know because she is being taught as an employee-owner?

Answer: She knows everything. There is open-book management plus many rules that are to be followed by those in leadership. As the manager of her location, Meeko has to measure results and turn those numbers into the main office. Meeko has been taught the meaning behind the numbers which is why the requirement to do the work does not feel heavy-handed. It feels right. If you own a business, you need to know your cost of labor, your cost of raw materials and understand that when the total sales are added up at the end of each day, the thing that counts is not sales but profit.

We know that a learning company is a growing company and that great business owners are teachers. We heard a futurist say that today there is no difference between working and learning.

Too often the easy road is taken and an employee is simply taught a task. This is short-term thinking. Employees need to be taught how to do their job but they need so much more.

Ray explained that there are rights and there are responsibilities within the ESOP citizenship. It is real work to teach this.

Just to know and explain the financials is a challenge, and do strategic planning, too! If employee-owners have such rights, then the founder/owners have the inverse responsibilities.

That's a real educational challenge -- for both student and teacher! Most of us do not look at ourselves as teachers. However, in the best run businesses that we have studied here, the founders/CEO's were great teachers and mentors.

And what better role for a founder/owner in their twilight years (50 to 70 years old) to begin developing and teaching people about the succession plan and one's exit strategy.

Topic for Discussion: There is a risk in assuming the role of a teacher or mentor. We think we have to be the expert, know the subject in detail. But is that the role we are being asked to take?

Answer: No. Know-it-alls have never been attractive to anybody at any age, and that is mostly because the attitude is hiding behind an insecurity for knowing very little. The Socratic method of asking questions and exploring possible answers together is the role we are being asked to take. Remember when you were in your 20's you had all the answers, and now that you are older, you have all the questions.* Explore answers to the questions that are asked by our bankers, suppliers, customers, and prospective customers. All the questions and answers become part of your working document (business plan). That working document is a pre-cursor for a formal ESOP, some kind of employee stock ownership plan, or even a SCOR.

You think about it: What do your employees need to know about how the business works from the inside out?