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From panic attacks at work to life at the beach and soaking in onsen.

How living a location-independent digital nomad lifestyle helped me cope with my burnout.

I disclose the finances of my companies to everyone on my team.

It had a more significant impact than I first thought.

And there are no drawbacks to doing so.

The corporate world calls this practice open book management or open book business.

Many managers of big companies see it as a controversial or even stupid idea.

I think they're wrong.

Why Is Open Book Management Good For My Business?

I have five reasons for publicizing my business finances to my team.

Each of them clicks into the bigger picture of building better companies.

And the transparency that comes with it is fundamental to scaling a business.

1. Better Decision-Making

I need information to make solid decisions that drive my business forward.

If I don't base my decisions on data, this is called gambling.

No successful business owner gambles with their business opportunities.

Why would you?

So, sharing information is good, why would we silo this information in our businesses?

If my team has the same information about our finances, they often come to the same conclusions as I do.

They make the same decisions as I would.

This shortens discussions because there is nothing to discuss or fight about.

Everything is clear and in the open.

If they come to other conclusions, it is usually because I missed crucial information.

2. Increased Ownership and Accountability

I can only take ownership and be accountable for something if I have complete control over it.

If I'm missing information, how can I stand behind these decisions?

How can I own my decisions?

In the same way, I can't expect my team to take responsibility without giving them full ownership.

This includes financial information.

My goal is that my team doesn't depend on me or anyone else.

So, I need to find ways to delegate effectively.

I can only delegate effectively when I share all necessary information.

3. Higher Trust and Loyalty

I feel safe with a result or situation when I understand how it came to this point.

I can trust the decision-makers, including myself, and feel safer.

This trust comes from seeing the bigger picture.

The narrower my view, the less confident I feel.

Things feel out of control.

Trust is what breaks down barriers up and down the hierarchy.

Trust caused by this transparency also reduces me-against-you thinking.

In a lot of companies, there is a pandemic of me-against-the-company mindset.

I see no me-against-the-company mindsets in my teams because we have trust.

Employees don't leave companies but managers.

This is often due to a lack of trust, not feeling understood, or the employee thinking they were wronged.

4. Stronger Collaboration and Teams

Trust is integral to all collaboration.

Sharing my business's financial information reduced politics and infighting inside the company.

Politics appears when there is something gained by depriving someone else of information.

If everyone has the same information, we can focus on working towards the same goals.

People from different backgrounds collaborate with ease when they see the bigger picture.

It's like a common language.

The financial statements of a business are part of this bigger picture.

Thus, it is part of the team's common language.

Seeing the bigger picture also helps them to think more like entrepreneurs.

There is a major difference between the mindset of an employee and an entrepreneur.

I want to fill my company with entrepreneurs, not employees.

5. Higher Satisfaction and Performance

I feel the most satisfaction when I have ownership over my project and trust the people I work with.

Only then I am willing to give my 100% to this project.

Why would it be different for my team?

A happy team leads to a happy product.

A happy product leads to a happy customer.

And happy customers lead to a happy business.

Understanding business finances additionally improves the financial literacy of the whole team.

Financial literacy is critical to make better decisions in my personal life.

I can focus on performing at work if my personal life is better.

My Job as Business Leader

The key to making this work is to make information available to everyone.

This isn't done by accessing a spreadsheet with a million numbers.

The data needs to be presented in a way that others can understand.

We make it easy for our customers to understand us.

Why don't we do the same so our team can understand the company's financial situation?

As so often, founders and business leaders are experience designers.

It is my responsibility to provide an excellent work experience for my team.

This is my only job.

They will do the rest.

How are you implementing the open book method in your business?

Or do you think open books is a bullshit idea?

Please shoot me a message on LinkedIn either way. 😉

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Five Reasons I Share Financial Information With My Team