About the webinar
What if your team understood the numbers as well as the design?
The Business Edge: Why Open Books Build Stronger Teams explores how open book management can transform firm culture, strengthen financial performance, and prepare the next generation of leaders. Before diving into specific systems like the Great Game of Business (GGOB), this session grounds the conversation in a broader principle: transparency creates alignment, and alignment fuels growth.
Certified GGOB coach Anne-Claire Broughton joins lighting designers and leaders, Katherine Stekr and Ketryna Fares. to share both strategy and lived experience from implementing open book practices inside a creative firm.
Through candid lessons — including early skepticism, cultural shifts, and navigating crisis with resilience — the panel will show how employees can begin thinking like owners, reducing micromanagement and strengthening trust across roles.
What outcomes will you achieve from this webinar?
• Understand open book management fundamentals
• Build team alignment through financial transparency
• Implement practical tools for cultural and profit growth
Who is this for?
This session is designed for owners, principals, studio directors, and emerging leaders who want to align creativity with business strategy — and build firms that are both profitable and empowering places to work.
About the speakers
Anne-Claire Broughton - Principal, Broughton Consulting, LLC
Anne-Claire Broughton is Principal of Broughton Consulting, LLC, a certified B Corporation which helps organizations engage employees at all levels for business success through transparency, employee ownership, and healthy organizational cultures. Broughton is an open book management coach with The Great Game of Business, empowering teams at businesses across the world to understand and influence the most important numbers. She has spent more than 12 years assisting business owners with succession planning via employee ownership. The founder and former executive director of the North Carolina Employee Ownership Center, Broughton is a co-author of Using an Employee Ownership Trust for Business Transition published by the National Center For Employee Ownership. She previously spent more than 13 years advising early-stage businesses as Co-Founder and Senior Director of SJF Institutea.
Katherine Stekr - Founder + Principal, Stek Design Co
With nearly two decades of experience in the lighting design industry, Katherine brings depth of knowledge and resources to her clients. More than just a lighting designer, she is your trusted partner, dedicated to creating award-winning lighting designs while helping manufacturers develop cutting-edge products. Her deep understanding of industry challenges, combined with creative problem-solving skills and a collaborative approach, ensures that your lighting projects are executed flawlessly. Katherine’s commitment to sustainable design and her dedication to creating inspiring spaces make her an invaluable asset to any project.
Ketryna Fares - Studio Director, CM KLING + ASSOCIATES
With over a decade of experience in the architectural lighting industry, Ketryna Fares brings both creative expertise and strategic insight to every project she supports at CM Kling + Associates. Her work spans luxury hospitality, residential, cultural, corporate, and aviation environments, contributing to award-winning projects recognized by leading industry institutions.
More than a designer, Ketryna understands that exceptional creative work requires strong business foundations. She is passionate about transparency, operational clarity, and empowering designers to engage with the financial and strategic side of practice. She believes the future of the creative industry is dependent on bridging design excellence with business awareness
