The most important business lesson I ever learned happened in a bar -- but it had nothing to do with taking advantage of the 2-for-1 happy hour.

You see, I (Austin) worked at the bar, and it was always packed, thanks to some amazing food cranked out by a feisty little southerner we called Jimmy Jazz.

Now, ol' Jazz had a couple of other passions besides cooking -- and they all involved taking advantage of 2-for-1 happy hours. So, when the owner decided to open another bar, he had one major obstacle to overcome.

Some suggested he scare Jazz straight. Others suggested he bribe him. But in the end, he didn't give his star chef an ultimatum, a pay raise -- or even any money at all. Instead, he offered him a partial ownership stake in the new business.

Three years sober!
The food is better than ever, too. In business, the best way to ensure your "star players" really perform for you is to make sure that their interests are 100% aligned with yours.

That's why insider ownership should be a top concern any time you consider buying a stock. After all, if the people running the business don't own a share of it, what incentive do they have to make decisions that are in your best interest?

Recent debacles at Ford (NYSE: F), Citigroup (NYSE: C), and Merrill Lynch have proved that multimillion-dollar compensation packages, fleets of private jets, and offices decked out with $87,000 oriental rugs simply aren't enough to ensure that top brass will do what's best for shareholders.

Here's something else to consider ... stock option grants are not the same as inside ownership. They're dilutive to existing shareholders and carry zero downside risk to the option holder. Worse yet, if the stock tanks, shareholders lose real money -- but management's options will simply expire at no cost to them.

The only insider information you'll ever need
Motley Fool co-founder Tom Gardner goes so far as to say that insider ownership may be the single most important factor determining whether a stock is a long-run winner or loser. In fact, at a recent Fool member event, he told the audience:

If you forced me to shield myself from all but one factor and invest my capital for the rest of my life, only able to have a single-factor model as an investor, I wouldn't look for growth. I wouldn't look for a great balance sheet. What I would do is focus only on insider ownership.

So my Foolish colleague Matt and I recently sat down and did just that. If you'd like to follow along on your own, simply follow these steps:

Typically, this form will include a table showing the percentages of stock owned by the CEO, CFO, directors, and other top executives. You can also find updated information about insider transactions, including shares bought or sold and the latest accounts of an executive's holdings, on a company's Form 4 filings.

After running our screen, here's a list of companies we came up with that have significant insider ownership, plus have strong revenue and net income growth over the past five years, and high returns on equity -- all factors we think make for a compelling investment opportunity:

Stock

Insider Ownership

Revenue Growth*

Net Income Growth*

Return on Equity

Net Income Margin

Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM)

12%

74%

78%

38%

17%

Sohu.com (Nasdaq: SOHU)

11%

38%

41%

53%

40%

Netease.com (Nasdaq: NTES)

44%

39%

37%

37%

54%

Buckle (NYSE: BKE)

45%

14%

25%

31% Continued...