Uncommon Business Bulletin #4
What even is a Perpetual Purpose Trust? Should climate activists eat meat? The Sports Bra. Gen Z loves the office. Reading list recs. + more.
Uncommon Business Bulletin #4
The Uncommon Business Bulletin is a weekly roundup of ideas, news, links, and resources for mission-driven businesses, leaders, employees, entrepreneurs, and curious humans.
1. What is Perpetual Purpose Trust Ownership?
Imagine you have built a great company. It’s a place where people enjoy showing up to work. It’s an institution that is deeply embedded into it’s community. It has a culture in which people prioritize doing the right thing rather than the most profitable thing.
But now you’re getting older, and you are ready to work a little less. You want to spend more time with your grandkids. Play chess in the park. Museum hop around the world. Finally get around to weeding your garden. Whatever your thing is.
You love your company, and you care deeply about your people, but your financial reality is that 50% of your net worth is tied up in the value of your illiquid stock. You need that money to become liquid so that you can retire and ride into the sunset without worrying about whether your car is about to break down.
So you have a quandary.
How can you sell your company while still preserving all of the things that you care about: your employees, your company culture and independence, and your community roots?
It’s not an easy question to answer.
But, what if a buyer showed up at your door and said:
“Hi. I’d like to buy your company. Oh and by the way, here are my conditions:
I want it to stay independent forever
I never want to sell the company
I want the company to balance profit with purpose
I never want to take a distribution or a dividend.
In fact, I never want to personally extract any profit at all, because I want to give most of the profit back to the employees and use the rest for improving operations and focusing on sustainable growth.
I want you to be involved at the board or advisor level… but only if you want to be, and only for as long as you want.
Oh, and one more thing… I am immortal and I will never die.”
Well, that buyer exists. It is called a Perpetual Purpose Trust.
A Perpetual Purpose Trust (PPT) is a special type of trust in the US which, rather than being dedicated to a specific person or charity, is designed to benefit a purpose.
PPTs can own operating businesses and they are extremely flexible in their design and mandate. (By the way, Perpetual Purpose Trusts are also commonly referred to as “Employee Ownership Trusts” or “EOTs” which, from a legal perspective, are really just Perpetual Purpose Trusts focused on employee benefit.)
PPTs/EOTs are on the rise in the US. A decade ago there were only a handful. Now there are over 50. Within a decade, I predict there will be over 500.
Here at Lumo Group, we help companies explore and implement trust ownership. If you want to learn more, please reach out (hello@lumogroup.co) and ask for a complementary call.
2. Should climate change activists eat meat? It depends on who you ask.
In our Uncommon Business podcast episode with Cory Carman, the CEO of Carman Ranch, I asked her the following question: “Is vegetarianism/veganism in the name of climate change misguided?” Cory is someone who both raises cattle and sells meat and also someone who cares deeply about the earth, the climate, and the environment. You can listen to her answer to my question at around minute 30:00 of our podcast (but really, the whole episode is worth listening to.)
3. What should I ask Sports Bra Founder and CEO Jenny Nguyen?
In a few weeks I will be interviewing Jenny Nguyen, Founder/CEO of The Sports Bra, the country’s first sports bar dedicated to women’s sports. Earlier this year, The Sports Bra (or just “The Bra” as it’s known more colloquially) made waves when it announced plans to expand nationally, backed by an investment and partnership from Alexis Ohanian, the founder of Seven Seven Six, and the former co-founder of Reddit (who, despite his many accomplishments, is perhaps best known as Mr. Serena Williams.)
So - what do you want me to ask Jenny?
4. Worth Clicking
Gen Z is spending more time at the office. And they’re happy about it (Wall Street Journal, h/t 21 Hats)
Sidney Cooper, a self-described introvert, used to enjoy working remotely. But after a few months at home, the 26-year-old Evansville, Ind., marketing manager missed in-person interactions.
“It was lonely and depressing, and I wanted an in-office position,” Cooper says.
Five months into her current role, Cooper says she relishes going to the office and interacting with her co-workers. Her job entails her putting on a lot of events in the community, giving her more chances to interact with others. She makes TikToks about the small things that make her happy at work, like a great avocado-toast lunch or a midday Diet Coke.
Should Companies Be Owned by Their Workers? (Freakonomics Radio)
“The employee ownership movement is growing, and one of its biggest champions is also a private equity heavyweight. Is this meaningful change, or just window dressing?”
I thought this was a good episode and I am glad to see more mainstream media (Freakonomics is mainstream, right?) diving into the topic of employee ownership.
Colorado is becoming an employee ownership hub (Colorado Newsline)
“As Danielle Carre and Brad Burritt considered their retirement, they wanted to make sure the Colorado company they built stayed in town and continued to contribute to the economic fabric of rural Delta County…
Instead of selling the company or handpicking a new owner, however, the duo made an unconventional business choice and converted Empowered Energy Systems into a worker-owned cooperative, putting the company’s future into the hands of its employees…
More Colorado businesses are converting to employee-owned models with the direct support of an office within the state’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Experts say Colorado’s office is a model in how states can support businesses that want to explore or transition to employee ownership.”
5. Reading list - what recommendations do you have for us?
What are your favorite business/leadership/management/operations books? We are building out our internal “Lumo Group reading list” for 2025 and we your input.
Comment on this post or send us an email with your recommendations. We’ll share all the recs we get, as well as some of our favorites, in our next Uncommon Business Bulletin.
6. KYM - Know Your Memes
Sometimes, simpler is better.
That’s all for today folks.
Enjoy your week. Life is beautiful. Do good work. Etc.