EP26 - Employee Ownership Month Special Announcement

In this podcast episode, Jason announces a special release schedule for Employee Ownership Month. For the month of October, the podcast will feature special guests, educational resources, and ESOP insights. Be sure to return each Friday for the next installment! 

Transcript

[0:12] Welcome to the journey to an ESOP and Beyond podcast I'm your host Jason Miller and this is a special announcement for employee ownership month. So October is designated as employee ownership month and we are going to be sharing a very special series with you. Designed as a resource for business owners leaders and anyone curious about how employee ownership works over the next few weeks you'll hear stories that and insights that explain the fundamentals. Dispel myths and show what life is like on the inside of an employee owned company.

[0:51] Why why does this matter why does employee ownership month matterit's not a new ideain fact. Benjamin Franklin experimented with a version of it back in the 1700s giving Journeymen the chance to run their own printing shops and eventually own the equipment themselves. We fast forward a couple hundred years to 1956 when Lewis Kelso created the first formal ESOP structure for a California newspaperhis vision was simple but powerful. Employees should be able to share in the wealth they help create even if they don't have the capital to buy in upfront. Then in 1974 the passage of odisha the employee retirement income Security Act gave esops their Legal Foundation and protections to make them viable and scalable. And in 1982 the first employee ownership week was celebrated thanks to the National Center for employee ownership that week eventually expanded into a full month of education and celebration with companies hosting events local leaders issuing proclamations and organizations like the nceo and the ESOP Association working to spread awareness.

[2:08] Today millions of employees across the US are owners in their companies and esops have over a trillion dollars in assets. That's why October is so importantit's a time to highlight the history the impact and the future of employee ownership. So this October we've put together a 4-part series in part 1 we're going to cover what is employee ownershipI sit down with Corey Rosen from the nceo and walk through the story of a fictional owner and explain the fundamentals of esops. In part 2 you're going to hear real owners share their own voices and candid lessons. What they wish they knew and their encouragement for others to explore employee ownershipin part 3 we get an inside view Kimberly mccourtney from the nceo joins me to discuss what employee ownership looks like from inside the company and you'll hear directly from her on what that feels like after an ESOP transaction and the success that their culture had and finally in part 4 employee ownership as a growth engine where we're going to have a really interesting conversation uh with the CEO of an ESOP holding company on how ownership drives strategy and the future of work.

[3:29] Each episode is designed to be educational pract practical and sharablesomething that you can return to or pass along to other owners leaders who are interested parties.

[3:41] So here's my invitation to you listen each week to these episodes as they're released share them with someone you know who's asking questions about succession or the future of their company. By the end of this month you'll not only understand what employee ownership is you'll have heard directly from the people living it and see why it's such a powerful path forward.

[4:01] Thank you for listening in to this special special message as we kick off employee ownership month thank you and we will see you next week with part 1.