Mike Andes advocates for open-book management—sharing full financials (pricing, revenue, expenses, P&L) with the team—to build trust and a culture of togetherness. He argues transparency is valuable even when a business is not profitable, because secrecy allows employees to form false assumptions (e.g., equating visible purchases with profit), whereas shared information aligns expectations and encourages team cohesion.
Opening up your books is one of the most valuable things you can do in your business. Opening up your books simply means showing all the numbers to your team. How much you charge, what your revenues, your expenses, your profit and loss statement. Everything gets shown in the team. And I understand you might be concerned about, well, what if I'm not making any money? Well, if you're not making any money, I think there's actually a perfect time to open up the books to your team. Why? Because I can guarantee you they're looking for evidence in the business to prove why you are making a bunch of money. They'll see a brand new truck, or they'll see new equipment, and they just immediately think you're making money hand over fist. In reality, you know, there's a ton of debt, there's a ton of expenses, a bunch of fixed costs. You're spending tons of money on marketing. But they don't see that because you're not sharing the information with them. And that underdog ideology will usually bring out the best in your team and bring a culture of togetherness and trust.
