On my May 12 posting, I told a story of how my father helped me understand ownership by figuring out how to feed a pig. This posting expands on those lessons and shows how they work in many situations.
Teaching me how to feed a pig embodies some of my favorite images of my father. In more than 3 decades of professional work to help people become empowered, I have not encountered a better example of building ownership. He not only got me to willingly participate in the family economic system, but he also made me in investor; now I had a visible stake in the farm's overall success. This, I deem, is the key to developing people’s ownership for a goal or a project, and I have applied it over and over in working with communities, organizations, and businesses.
Freedom Fest ’76 was a sterling example of the ownership principle at work. It was part of the United States bicentennial in 1976. While the nation was celebrating 200 years of political and individual liberty, Minnesota would honor freedom from bondage to alcohol and other drugs. It was to be a celebration of sobriety. Working with the planners, I was asked to help build an event that would fill Metropolitan Stadium with thousands of Minnesotans and others to celebrate recovery — no small undertaking in light of the strong emphasis of many recovering people on anonymity. We called a meeting of influential recovering people throughout the state — a kind of summit meeting of the recovering community. We asked for help in shaping an event that would accomplish these goals. They agreed that this should be a public festival to honor chemical freedom; we would take the anonymous out of recovery.
In June, ’76, people thronged to the Met for Freedom Fest. There were activities all day, in the hockey stadium and parking lot: seminars, films, games, treatment center reunions, food, fun . . . culminating in a baseball stadium gala, with 30 thousand participants — despite a tornado warning — joining Dick Van Dyke, Gary Moore, Art Linkletter, Hubert Humphrey, Virginia Satir, Swami Rama, Senator Harold Hughs and others in a celebration of sobriety.
Many were wary that we would be able to attract a large attendance for Freedom Fest, but the ownership principle played a vital role in our success: momentum for the event was built by inviting treatment centers, substance abuse agencies, recovering groups — everyone with a stake in recovery — to host their own event in connection with Freedom Fest. Treatment programs invited their alumni to reunions; agencies publicized their seminars; recovery groups sponsored activities. It was a diverse collection of activities and participants. Each group contributed to the total event by sponsoring their own activity.
Wheelock Whitney, Minnesota philanthropist who exhibited his mastery of ownership principles as leader of Freedom Fest, tells a story about baseball man Branch Rickey, celebrated owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the heyday of New York baseball. Mr. Rickey received a lot of (often unsolicited) advice regarding his handling of the team, and he had a policy of always expressing appreciation for the advice. He resisted the temptation to respond that he had gotten the same suggestion many times, or that it had already been tried, or wouldn’t work. A result was that, for almost any decision he made, there might be dozens or hundreds of fans who could tell their friends: “I gave Mr. Rickey that idea”. This may help explain the legendary loyalty of Brooklyn Dodgers fans.
In 40 years of working with groups and organizations, I have seen hundreds of examples where a focus on building ownership by aligning individual and organizational self interests can produce amazing results. A recent global survey of employee engagement found that organizations with high levels of employee engagement show 52% greater operating income and 5.7% improved operating profit (Compared to organizations with low employee engagement. Towers Perrin, 2008). Watch for more examples of this in coming postings.
For me, it started as a lesson from the farm.
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Sam, I remember Mike Groh had a poster of this event in his "office" that I admired. I also remember his Freedom Fest 76 coffee mug that he took on our trips over the years. That, and his infamous black cooking pot I'll always remember. I never did hear the full story of what Freedom Fest was all about. Thanks for filling me in.
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