Jeff Lebesch and Kim Jordan founded New Belgium Brewing in 1991. The company, which brews and distributes Fat Tire Amber Ale and five other beers in the western United States, now has over 280 employees. Early on, the company created a broad-based phantom stock program with a twist: all employees are eligible for phantom stock, provided that they are voted into the program by current participants. In 1999 the company established an ESOP, which now owns 32% of the company. New Belgium uses many ownership culture best practices, including open-book management and short-term incentives based on company performance, but a major piece of the company’s culture comes from something a bit harder to define or duplicate: a story... read ahead
