EO+WD | Employee Ownership + Workplace Democracy Interviews WORC’s CEO, Ellen G. Frank-Miller, PhD, on Creating an Ownership Culture

 “What companies do affects how employees think about the company. That mindset drives whether they act like owners. It’s not magic; it’s systems.”

— Ellen G. Frank-Miller, PhD, WORC

WORC’s Founder and CEO, Ellen G. Frank-Miller, PhD, was interviewed on EO+WD | Employee Ownership + Workplace Democracy on April 24, 2025. The interview, “Ownership Without Culture Change is Just Paperwork” covers the keys to understanding why employee-owned companies must create an ownership culture in order to drive better business outcomes, and how they can begin to do it.

Employee ownership has the potential to transform business outcomes, but it involves much more than simply changing ownership structure.

Ownership structure and ownership culture are distinct things. Ownership culture must be intentionally built through systematic changes to how companies operate. Simply put, there is no magical ownership culture fairy – if you want an ownership culture, you’ll have to work for it. And the payoff is worth it. 

The key is understanding that what companies do – operational and managerial practices – affects how employees think about the company and that determines the degree to which they’ll act like owners.

Traditional engagement tools aren’t meant to measure the determinants of ownership culture (they’re great at measuring engagement, but those are two different things).

WORC’s Ownership Impact Index® was developed through rigorous testing to measure two important indicators of ownership culture: 1) what companies do operationally and managerially that lead employees to think like owners, or “Mindset Igniters,” and 2) what employees do behaviorally, meaning whether or not they act like owners, or “Ownership Behaviors.”

Most leaders entering the employee ownership space do understand that “building an ownership culture is the lynchpin for achieving maximum benefit and reducing risk.” What they need to corporate to get there are resources and strategic, targeted support like the Ownership Impact Index®.

Read the full EO+WD article here.