Doing the Impossible

Jack Stack
SRC Holdings Corp

Rather than watch his colleagues lose their manufacturing jobs at International Harvester during the bleakest days of the 1980s, Stack came up with a crazy idea: Why not lead a worker buyout of his division of the company? Stack vowed that if given the chance, he’d create a transparent workplace where the financials were not only open to inspection, but a mandatory part of employee training.

It took years for the new company, SRC Holdings, to get on its feet but by creating a strong culture around his model of Open-Book Management, Stack was able to create a sustainable business. His employees understand, and are invested in, helping make the company as profitable as possible. His technique is one that many Evergreen business leaders will want to embrace.