I was a stockholder in a privately owned business a few years ago. I owned 1,000 shares of common stock in the business and served on its board of directors. One thing really hit home. I came to appreciate firsthand that we (the stockholders) had a lot of money invested, and we expected the business to do well with our money. We could have invested our money elsewhere and received interest income or earned some other type of return on our alternative investment. Management was very much awae that their responsibility was to improve the value of our stock shares over time, which would require that the business earn a good return on our investment. (more…)
