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PROFILE
Choosing unity: Jerrod Hogan CEO of OWN, Inc. (Springfield, MO), an engineering firm that unleashes the power of true, 100 percent employee ownership.
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
E xciting things are happening at OWN including a somewhat recent name change from Anderson Engineering. According to Hogan, the company has enjoyed its former name since 1977, but a firm evolution led to a brand that is now one part actual and one part aspirational. The business has been 100 percent employee-owned since 1998 and as it has continued to embrace its love, passion, and commitment to employee ownership, they knew it was time to rebrand and lean into OWNership – to create a brand that lived up to its incredible OWNers. Hogan says as they grew and expanded they wanted a name that could grow with them too. “Our employees OWN their projects, their relationships, their future, and their company,” he says. To truly OWN this, the company developed five new principles too: 1. Owners do it better. 2. Responsiveness is a superpower.
3. Success is not a limited resource. 4. Fun matters. 5. People are at the center of it all.
OWN IT PEOPLE! As a people-first company, when OWN couples its principle of “people are at the center of it all” with “success is not a limited resource,” empowerment to work hard for win-win-wins in work prevails. Hogan admits that some changes had to be made to legacy handbook policies that previously put company first; staff called them out. Changes were made to quickly align with the principles. “We value employee feedback as a gift and we are proud when we can hear tangible ways that we can do and be better,” he says.
See CHOOSING UNITY, page 10
THE ZWEIG LETTER JULY 15, 2024, ISSUE 1545
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