EP8 - How Every Employee Can Create Enterprise Value in an ESOP

In this episode, Makenzie and Jason explore how any employee—regardless of title or department—can contribute to creating enterprise value in an employee-owned company. They break down practical strategies to drive growth, increase profitability, and contribute to long-term company value. Whether you’re in sales, accounting, operations, or any other department, learn how your role connects to the bigger financial picture. Discover how ESOP employees can leverage their strengths, act like owners, and impact the company’s bottom line. This conversation will challenge you to think and act like an owner.

Transcript

How Every Employee Can Create Enterprise Value in an ESOP

Episode Summary

In this episode, Makenzie and Jason explore how any employee—regardless of title or department—can contribute to creating enterprise value in an employee-owned company. They break down practical strategies to drive growth, increase profitability, and contribute to long-term company value. Whether you’re in sales, accounting, operations, or any other department, learn how your role connects to the bigger financial picture. Discover how ESOP employees can leverage their strengths, act like owners, and impact the company’s bottom line. This conversation will challenge you to think and act like an owner.

Key Topics Covered 

• Creating enterprise value from any role.
• Sales and non-sales contributions to company growth.
• Performance vs. production across departments.
• Service quality and departmental systems impact enterprise value.
• ESOP alignment and ownership mindset.

Transcript

Editorial note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and readability while preserving the original meaning of the conversation.

Introduction & Episode Overview

Makenzie Wirth: Hi, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Journey to an ESOP & Beyond, where we discuss all things ESOP to provide an accessible and understandable resource. I'm your co-host today, Makenzie Wirth. 

Jason Miller: I'm Jason Miller. Today, we’ll be diving into a topic regarding how to create Enterprise Value from any seat—any role within the company. 

Makenzie Wirth: Often, when you think of creating Enterprise Value or growth for the company, we immediately think of anyone in a revenue-producing role—maybe that’s primarily a sales role. However, every role can create Enterprise Value, even if you are not in a revenue-producing role. What do you think about that, Jason?

Sales & Accounting Perspectives

Jason Miller: This is one of my favorite topics. McKenzie, I’m going to put you on the spot a little bit—as an accountant and experienced CPA—if I told you we were going to talk about sales and that you were going to be selling, what’s your gut reaction?

Makenzie Wirth: Nervous, for sure. That is not why I went into accounting. I think most people know accountants are typically introverts—not exactly the typical salesperson type—so yes, that makes me uncomfortable.

Jason Miller: Let’s talk about those sales personalities a bit. I would venture to say it’s at least an 80/20 rule—not a 90/10—but most people have the same reaction if leadership came to them and said, “You now have a sales role.”

Revenue & Value Creation

Jason Miller: Sales does lead to or contribute to value. All of our listeners know that as business owners, you have to have revenue—and all the things related to it. Revenue is the lifeblood of any business. Revenue comes from sales, regardless of the method your business uses. But not everyone is designed to be a salesperson. With that idea of being a producer, the first thing I’d like to say is this: every job is a performance job.

Performance vs. Production

Jason Miller: But every job can also be a producing job, and producing is definitely different from sales—even though often cultures mix those two things up.

So, what qualities of a salesperson came to mind when I asked you about that? You mentioned one of the inverses—like accountants are typically introverts.

Makenzie Wirth: I’d say salespeople are typically extroverted—they’re outgoing and don’t mind walking into a room of people they don’t know and striking up a conversation. As the primary speakers, those are the qualities that come to mind. Not to mention, the ability to sell, persuade, and negotiate—these elements are key for people with an outsized responsibility for producing new revenue.

Organizational Structure & Sales Support

Jason Miller: Traditionally, everyone in an organization is designed around supporting sales, because we want them to sell our product or service, which creates the revenue that pays everyone down the chain. I think that’s the mindset many people have. If we pull down underneath that, is there really a two-tier system—salespeople first and everyone else underneath? Or is it something different?

Departmental Systems & Contribution

Makenzie Wirth: I think that’s generally fair. Everyone else supports the producer. Taking the results of that revenue—whether in accounting or inventory—they need to manage what’s being sold and what sales are coming in. Everything trickles down from the producers in that sales aspect. Each department has its own function that must operate optimally. And again, looking at a revenue-centric model—not because every organization is set up that way, but because revenue is the lifeblood—each department must function efficiently.

Creating Enterprise Value Beyond Sales

Makenzie Wirth: This ties into our point that you’re not just a salesperson. You’re not the only one producing Enterprise Value. You may be producing an actual sale, but others within the company contribute to the entire Enterprise Value. For example, if your inventory department or manager makes errors, doesn’t have enough inventory on hand, or has obsolete stock, you may create issues that affect whatever gets delivered to the end customer, which impacts Enterprise Value. That’s why these departmental systems matter. 

Service Quality & Reputation

Makenzie Wirth: Beyond the tangible product being sold and the systems to ensure execution, consider service quality. If you’re in a business where your product is your service, sales are important—but beyond that, what is the quality of service? How does that impact your reputation? All of that drives and contributes to Enterprise Value.

Performance & Efficiency

Jason Miller: I changed my mind before I said anything—let me back up a little. I was headed in a different direction about a new person starting on day one, and systems/documentation. Here, we’re focusing on creating value and where it comes from. Every role is a performance function. Every job is a performance job.

Systems & Documentation

Makenzie Wirth: So why is that important? We’ve redefined what it means to produce and how that creates value, especially for growth and scaling.

Onboarding & Knowledge Transfer

Jason Miller: How can you make that person more capable in the role you hired them for with as little friction as possible?

Anticipation as Production

Makenzie Wirth: Our next topic regarding value creation is anticipation as a form of production.

Example: Building a Vision

Jason Miller: I’ll give you an example—we can walk through this together. I want to build a building…

Employee Contribution Across Roles

Jason Miller: Every employee, in every seat across every organization, contributes to Enterprise Value.

Delegation & Scalability

Jason Miller: This allows for delegation, which in turn drives growth.

Enterprise Thinking vs. Task Thinking

Makenzie Wirth: I was going to say that—it’s actually the next phrase, so yes.

Structure & Clarity

Jason Miller: Mental capacity and general overwhelm matter. If every part of your business, every role, isn’t structured, it adds clutter and slows progress.

ESOP Alignment & Motivation

Jason Miller: That’s part of the magic of an ESOP company.

Applying Sales Goals to All Roles

Jason Miller: If you gave every person in your organization a sales goal, you would go back to where we started.

Awareness & Intentionality

Makenzie Wirth: This ties back into intentionality and awareness across all roles.

Summary: Awareness Over Title

Jason Miller: And that’s super valuable in an employee-owned company.

Closing & Listener Engagement

Jason Miller: I don’t know that I can take credit for this idea, but over the course of my career, I’ve realized everyone has to perform in their role—everyone has to meet expectations.

 Final Takeaways (3 to 5 bullet points) 

•  Every role contributes to enterprise value, not just sales.
• Performance and anticipation are critical across all functions.
• Departmental systems and service quality directly impact overall value.
• Delegation and structured processes enable scalable growth.
• ESOP alignment fosters ownership mindset and intentionality. 

Resources & Next Steps

· Explore additional Journey to an ESOP & Beyond episodes.

· Interact with the team at www.JourneyToAnESOP.com.

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