2010 12 People You Need to Know: Rich Armstrong

For most graduates fresh out of college, the first job is a place to start before launching to better gigs at different companies.

Rich Armstrong's first gig turned out to be the one that fit. Nineteen years later, Armstrong remains with his first employer's parent, SRC Holdings Corp., now serving as president of The Great Game of Business.

"It was a very good fit for me ... because I really enjoyed everything (SRC was) about," Armstrong says of his customer service job for Springfield Remanufacturing Corp., adding that he probably learned more about business in his first six months with SRC than he did in all the years studying for his business degree.

That education is integral to the open-book management philosophy of SRC, and proclaiming that model to others is Armstrong's mission at Great Game.

After years in sales and marketing and honing his leadership skills while running SRC Power Systems, Armstrong accepted CEO Jack Stack's offer to head Great Game in 2005.

"I really felt like it was a challenge because we had not really been able to expand (Great Game) for a while," Armstrong says. "I felt like, heck, I had 15-plus years doing this internally and I'd seen the effects. I felt that I was at a point that I could go out and teach others to do this."

The Great Game model teaches employees to think and act like owners, partly by playing games to meet financial and statistical goals.

Armstrong has since traveled the world, teaching companies about the Great Game, which is now practiced by companies across America, Europe, Australia, Japan and South Africa.

In addition to teaching others about Great Game, Armstrong expends a lot of energy promoting the idea of employee ownership. Armstrong is a member of the board of directors for the National Center for Employee Ownership and the Ownership Culture development committee for the Employee Stock Ownership Plan Association.

"We strongly believe in sharing the wealth with those who help create the wealth," Armstrong adds.

Great Game is expanding in a new direction as it ventures into a new licensing program designed to increase the number of coaches and consultants around the country. The idea is to grow slowly, Armstrong says.

"We have two new franchises that are Great Game coaches in St. Louis and Phoenix," he says. "We're adding two more next year."

The current economy has been an eye-opener for many businesses, Armstrong says, so he suspects more companies may be open to exploring new philosophies.

"I think this economy has opened up a lot of people's eyes," he says. "What we do may have another growth spurt because of people's ways of looking at things."