The issue of pleasing stakeholders is a constant battle. Every significant decision you make is tied to the difficult calculus of pleasing the most people in the most important ways most of the time. Success with this task assumes that you 1) know who the stakeholders are, 2) understand those stakeholders’ real and felt needs, and 3) have the power and resources to meet those needs. Failure with this task is most often related to that first item – knowing who the stakeholders are. If you don’t know who the stakeholders are, you can’t possibly know their needs or address them.

I have asked countless businessmen and women, “Who are the stakeholders of your enterprise?” The answer is almost always, “The customers and the financial shareholders.” I counter with, “That’s all? Does anyone else have a stake in your business?” Then I get a look that can be accurately interpreted as, Apparently I don’t know something that I’m supposed to know. Sometimes I let them stew a bit, sometimes I help out with, “Does anyone else depend on the success of this company?” That helps. That’s when they start talking about the employees and occasionally the vendors, but rarely the community itself.

These are all stakeholders of a typical business. However, the question remains, “Who are the most important stakeholders of your organization?“

The usual answer to this question is either the customers or the financial shareholders. The answer I almost never hear is “the employees.” I have a two-point theory about these answers: 1) The customers and the shareholders hold the most power, so they are the most vocal. 2) The employees have the most to lose, so they are the least vocal. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, thus the vocal stakeholders get the attention.

Ironically, the employees are the most important stakeholders.

The argument for this position is rather simple. Let me