You know what’s calling you

You are successful - the company you built is successful.  Now what?

Over the past decade, there have been many ideas in the zeitgeist that speak to the reality of the modern workplace as harm-causing, soul-sapping, under-utilising-of-human-potential places of frustration, high anxiety and toxicity.

Clearly, not all places. But interesting that even if you don’t work in ‘one of those companies’ the description still resonates. Since the Industrial Revolution, management, leadership, and ownership have been codified at the system level—and remain so stubbornly entrenched that they are as transparent as water; we can’t even see them.

The idea that humans in the systems are resources to be optimised for production and efficiency to benefit the owners, shareholders and investors is a truth that we have become wilfully blind to.  And, for the most part, it kind of works. That’s because not only is the system itself designed to support this, but so are all the second- and third-order scaffolding that perpetuate and hold fast our reality.

This isn’t an anti-capitalist rant. The challenge is to look at the reality of our systems and understand them enough to articulate their truth, so that we might have the awareness and discernment to make different choices.

Ownership used to be equivalent to land holding and ownership. In those times, the owners knew that part of maintaining that privilege and inheritance was to look after, or steward, the land. Over time, ownership has evolved (?) from stewarding something for posterity and future generations, to ownership of wealth itself, both literally and in the abstract.

The past decade has brought lots of management and leadership theory around organisational design and governance, phrases like ‘act like a boss’ - which is a nice theory, but fundamentally invalid.  Decentralised governance, self-organising, trauma-informed elements, which are all interesting and important, and aim to challenge POWER will never achieve their full potential without addressing the ultimate power - ownership and money.

This is nothing new, of course - co-ops and ESOPs have existed for many decades, and they are the right choice for some organisations.  However, they don’t get to the heart of the pattern that has emerged from the explorations of the past decade, which is that not everyone in the organisation wants to be an owner, or a boss, or hold the accountability and responsibility of a co-owner.

The new generations of financially successful entrepreneurs, as well as those facing up to reality of succession are taught that there are only a few options when you are a viable company, paying dividends, and profitable: sell, merge, bequest (to family, employees, etc) or close.

Another element in the zeitgeist this past decade, and popularised by books and even more mainstream business press like HBR, is that ‘purpose’ is the answer to every issue of every organisation; culture, employee engagement, retention, production, profits, etc.  And, like so many of these sweeping generalisations, they are true and important, and even work like they are supposed to, for some organisations.

The reality is that every organisation has a purpose - even if that purpose is to make as much money as possible. The interesting and more important question is - what is important to the owner?  When they started the organisation, what beyond succeeding, did they believe the business could do?  Because business has the power to do remarkable things.

Even if it wasn’t apparent at the beginning, something emerges, especially if the company is successful and making money. I am too much of an optimist not to believe that most people think about what good they can do with their money after they have accumulated enough to meet their personal needs and desires.

Whether you think about what you want your ownership to enable at the beginning, middle or end of your ownership journey, Stewards Ownership allows a way to ensure that you and your investors receive an appropriate (capped) return.  This is incredibly flexible in terms of the set-up, and safeguards the mission for as long as the company persists.

For the founders of Haferkater in Germany, this looks like a generous return for the first 10 years of ‘sweat equity’ as well as 10 years of capped retirement income.  They continue to work in and run the business, and to earn a commensurate salary, but they have locked in their remuneration to ensure they stay on mission and lead the way that is right for them.

The Patagonia story is legend - Yvon Choinard gave away his company so that it will be in service of the planet in perpetuity.

Ben and Jerry’s is in a desperate battle to be freed from the clutches of Unilever after the commitments to mission-lock made in the original acquisition were ignored by new leadership.

There is ever-increasing global support for Steward Ownership - as well as resources to help any owner consider it…will you?