Bret Keisling describes the Owner to Owner podcast hosted by Jesse Tyler and includes a clip of Jesse’s conversation with Adam Gibney, shift brewer for Mass. Bay Brewing Co., a.k.a Harpoon Brewery.
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Mini-cast 168 Transcript
[00:00:00] Bret Keisling: Welcome to the ESOP Mini-cast. Thank you so much for listening. My name is Bret Keisling, and as it says on my business cards, I'm a passionate advocate for employee ownership. In September 2021, my team launched the EO Podcast Network and along with the EO/ESOP Podcast and the ESOP Mini-cast, we've added the Owner to Owner podcast hosted by Jesse Tyler.
[00:00:30] In his day job, Jesse's responsible for onboarding new associates at Hypertherm, a 1,900-strong employee-owned company. Employee ownership is his passion and his expertise, and both come through loud and clear on the Owner to Owner podcast.
[00:00:45] Jesse primarily features conversations with what we refer to as the essential workers in employee ownership, the rank and file. The employee owners who make the stuff, deliver the stuff, install the stuff; the folks who are out customer facing and are the lifeblood of almost all the companies that we talk about.
[00:01:03] The format is breathtakingly simple. Jesse's guests are asked what employee ownership means to them, how they describe employee ownership to family and friends, and how they talk about EO to complete strangers.
[00:01:15] They also share what they think their own companies do right regarding the culture of employee ownership and every guest is given the opportunity to share why people should come work for their company. And as is my tradition on my podcasts, Jesse asks all of his guests their EO A-ha Moment; that moment when they realized that employee ownership could be transformative.
[00:01:36] The magic comes from the answers to these basic questions. It's really powerful to hear actual employee owners talking about what employee ownership means to them. They speak with passion, joy, and great emotion. And some of the experiences are so personal to the speaker that you can't help but feel moved.
[00:01:53] For me, I find the episodes very powerful because at the end of the day, the work I do and the work so many EO advocates, is for the employee owner. They're the purpose and, to my knowledge, the Owner to Owner podcast is the only vehicle where owners consistently are talking to other owners about the issues that matter to them.
[00:02:12] I really hope you'll check out the Owner to Owner podcast. For today's episode, I wanted to bring you a brief clip from Episode 009, which is the most recent episode. Jesse's guest is Adam Gibney who is a brewer with the Mass. Bay Brewing Company, which you probably know as Harpoon Brewery.
[00:02:27] Adam answers all of the questions that I just shared. In addition, he does talk a little bit about the brewing process. So, if you like employee ownership or you like beer, this is an episode for you. In this clip, Adam shares his EO A-ha Moment when he realized that employee ownership was going to transform his life.
[00:02:46] Enjoy this clip.
[00:02:48] Jesse Tyler: We ask all of our guests to share your EO A-ha Moment, that personal moment to you, that ownership became something you thought would be impactful, amazing. What was that moment for you, where you really started to look at ownership differently?
[00:03:04] Adam Gibney: Yeah. I hate to repeat myself, but it was that first company meeting that I discussed.
[00:03:10] Again, I'm only a month into this employment. It's a new employee and I moved to a new city. So, I knew no one in this room. And, you know, everyone's having pints, they're gathering around, they're chitchatting and then the presentation starts, and I thought it would just be... you know, I didn't even know what to expect, to be honest. Every time I've been pulled into a large company meeting, it's always very whitewashed. It's always very surface level information. And to have our CEO, Dan Kenary, just start going into the financial tribulations and troubles that we're having and then how we're going to pull ourselves out and what direction he sees us going in and just laying out the groundwork for the next six months of the obstacles we as a company face and how we plan on overcoming them and welcoming people's feedback. Saying, you know, if you guys have opinion on the matter, like let's hear it. Because, you know, this is us as a company. We're going to jump over these hurdles and we're going to get to the finish line one way or another.
[00:04:13] That was a real eye-opening experience because not only is he being very forthright with his information, but he's welcoming you to share your opinions and ideas.
[00:04:22] You don't find that in every place you work. I mean, I'm a brewer. What kind of financial advice can I give our CFO? I mean, that maybe they'll turn to me and be like, hey, do you know of any new beer brands you want to brew that could be wildly successful and popular out in the trade? But I mean it was right then and there I could come up with, if I had any thoughts, I could go online, I could submit one of our ideas on our ideas program and it would be read by someone, and we would work together as a team to implement it and make it successful.
[00:04:57] So, that was a big A-ha Moment for me. Where it wasn't just, you know, I'm here and yeah, I'm employee owned. That's a great HR benefit where they're giving me some stock in the company. It's like, no, I'm here. I'm employee owned and I've shown up to work. So, put up or shut up. It was just a... it was that moment where you think to yourself, wow, this isn't just something that's being given to me. It's I'm actually being asked to participate and be a working member of this group of people who all have a vested interest in seeing this company succeed.
[00:05:31] That was a fantastic feeling.
[00:05:32] Jesse Tyler: That's great. I appreciate your sharing it and sharing the depth of that and what it meant to you.
[00:05:36] Bret Keisling: You can find Jesse's entire conversation with Adam Gibney as well as, again, all of the episodes of the Owner to Owner podcast at www.ownertoownerpodcast.com.
[00:05:48] I hope you'll join us Tuesday for our primary EO/ESOP Podcast. We're back with new content each week and I'm grateful for each and every listener we have. Thank you so much for listening. This is Bret Keisling. Be well.
[00:06:02] Bitsy McCann: We'd love to hear from you! To contact us, find us on Facebook at KEISOP, LLC and on Twitter @ESOPPodcast. To reach Bret, with one "T", email Bret@KEISOP.com, on LinkedIn at Bret Keisling, and most actively on Twitter at @EO_Bret. Again, that's one "T". This podcast has been produced by The KEISOP Group, technical assistance provided by Third Circle, Inc. and BitsyPlus Design. Original music composed by Max Keisling, archival podcast material edited and produced by Brian Keisling, and I'm Bitsy McCann.
Standard Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are my own and don't represent those of my own firms or the organizations to which I belong. Nothing in the podcast should be construed as guidance or advice of any kind in any field and the fact that I mentioned an organizational website or an advocate or a company on a podcast does not reflect an endorsement, but if you've heard your name or your group's name mentioned on this podcast, I'd love to have you come on and talk about it yourself.
A note on the transcript: This transcript was produced by Descript, an automated transcription service. While it has been reviewed by The EsOp Podcast, we can not guarantee the accuracy of the transcription. Please refer to the original audio when citing sources.