After being away from my blogging desk for the last several months doing what accountants do this time of year, I’m ready to get back on my keyboard to continue my mission of singing the praises of Employee Stock Ownership Plans in general, ours in particular.
Gibson’s employee stock ownership plan (the GESOP) definitely makes an impact on all of our employee-owners and our corporate culture. Culture is a tough thing to define – it’s kind of like when you find your soul mate, and you’re asked why you feel so strongly about that person. It’s often squishy and somewhat hard to label – but you know it when you feel it. Culture is the same way for me. I just know a positive culture when I see it – it just feels right.
That’s what we have here at Gibson. We’re proud of our culture, but I find it challenging to say what exactly “IT” is that’s so wonderful. But yet, I know it is just that – a great and powerful culture.
Not coincidentally, our culture has continued to get better and better after we formed the GESOP. As I’ve reflected on why that might be the case, I’ve come up with the following that I think is the most significant single reason:
A feeling of owning part of something special completely changes your perspective. The ‘give a you-know-what factor’ is just higher.
Why? Ownership feeds passion. You take better care of the house you own vs. the house you rent. If you own part of the business, it is your client, not “theirs”. If it’s your business, you care about being a good steward of the firm’s resources and you don’t want to waste those resources – because they’re yours.
When you have a great culture and are surrounded by people with great passion, you don’t want to screw it up. When we hire, when we spend, when we communicate – each time it’s an opportunity to reinforce that special thing we have going here at Gibson. It’s a serious responsibility, and we treat it as such.
This past weekend, I attended a fundraiser for a great cause and I got the opportunity to chat with a lot of really nice people. But the funny thing is, when I asked “what do you do?” or “where do you work?”, in most cases there was a noticeable difference in their facial expression when they started to tell me about their jobs. In some cases, it was subtle; in others, not so much. I didn’t detect the same excitement in their employment that our owners have. It was hard to put your finger on it, but it was real.
We’re thrilled with the power of our GESOP to make a measurable difference in our employee-owners’ lives, their standard of living when they retire, and the culture at our firm.
Next month, I’ll be writing about our annual GESOP meeting. I can’t wait to tell you how it goes. The Gibson GESOP has been great for our culture – maybe an ESOP would be great for yours?
