Employee Ownership: We Got Now

Ages ago, long before it was the focal point of either highlight reels or politically tinged controversies, the WNBA debuted in the late 90s with the tagline "We got next." If you've never played pickup basketball, those who are waiting for the court after the current game to 11 or 15 or (heaven forbid) 21 will say they "got next" to indicate they're playing the winners of the ongoing game.

I don't remember how long that tagline lasted, but its implication, of forever being in waiting for their time to shine, was eventually replaced with the perhaps clunkier but far more emphatic "we got now." And, though it took some time, it appears the WNBA does indeed have now, with bona fide stars like A'ja Wilson and promising upstarts like Paige Bueckers providing suburbanites fast approaching middle age (by which I mean me) with more hoops to round out the year alongside the NBA and college basketball.

Why am I going on in the NCEO blog about incremental changes in decades-old advertising copy for a professional sports league? Because, far-fetched though they may be, I see parallels in our two situations.

Ten years ago, when I first started at the NCEO, there was the sense that employee ownership was on the cusp of something big. We felt we had the solution to the economy's ills, and it seemed that both policy makers and the general public, aided by employee-owned companies that were household names like Publix, King Arthur Baking, and Bob's Red Mill, were finally catching on. Every year, those I talked to in the space said that it felt as if next year could be our year.

(On a separate note, another working title for this post was "There's Always This Year," which is, incidentally, the name of another basketball-related item.)

Well, at the risk of tempting fate, I again feel like next year could be our year. But instead of this being based on a hunch or premonition of some sort, it's because in many ways it feels like this year has been our year, too. Many of my NCEO teammates and I have been lucky enough to be invited to speak at a variety of events to educate business owners and community members about the benefits of employee ownership, from Matt Licina speaking at Boulder Startup Week, to Lindsay Isaac presenting alongside EOX executive director Steve Storkan and founder of ESOP- and women-owned Panagora Group Betsy Bassan at the Enterprising Women conference, to my presentation last week at the Great Game of Business's annual conference. We're seeing a marked increase in the number of event organizers who are eager for more employee ownership education. This is in addition to the construction industry trade publication articles we wrote last year, or the resources and booklets we're currently working on for other industries and sectors. Employee ownership is positively affecting real companies and real workers, and people are starting to take notice.

And this increase in activity isn't limited just to the NCEO. Our friends at EOX, DAWI, the various state centers for employee ownership, and more have made their presence felt at more conferences and in more publications, while one need only glance at the NCEO blog posts from the last two months to know that the work of ESCA, the ESOP Association, and the Lafayette Square Institute is showing up in important policy conversations. Project Equity has worked alongside Morehouse University on programming aimed at black-owned businesses and underserved communities, while two Morehouse alumni have created one of the most innovative projects to scale and increase employee ownership at Apis & Heritage. Following in the footsteps of UC San Diego, Rutgers University, and Kent State, universities from Iowa to Louisiana are embracing employee ownership. Expanding ESOPs has galvanized a broad coalition to spread employee ownership messages far and wide. Organizations like the Purpose Trust Ownership Network, the ICA Group, and the Tandem Center for Shared Business Success are ensuring that we're expansive in how we think about a better economic future for all.

And all of this barely scratches the surface. I could go on for many more paragraphs about the incredible people putting on thoughtful programming in service of employee ownership (and if I forgot your organization, it's not personal!).

Don't get me wrong; I'm not delusional. There's a very large hill to climb, and a lot we have to drag up that hill. But I am hopeful, and must remain hopeful, that we'll get there and that, as a result of all the work and effort of the NCEO and our allies, working people across the country can benefit from employee ownership to work, live, and retire with dignity and security.

There's too much at stake for us to "have next." We got now.