Assertive OWNERSHIP of who we are and where we are is one of the most critical links between current circumstances and who or where we COULD be /\ WANT to be. It’s the difference between letting life happen and making life happen … between mediocrity and magnificence … between winning and losing … between mere survival and achieving our highest potential /\ our truest Destiny.
What does “Ownership” mean, operationally?
An “Owner” is the designated prime mover to start the ball rolling and it’s the last bastion of defense where “the buck stops”. Ownership means willingly taking total responsibility for anything that needs to be done to build or enhance the health and wellbeing of the enterprise(s) in which one is engaged.
Differences in ownership orientation are why scientists prefer to have graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in their labs rather than legions of technicians: The grad students and postdocs are taking on “ownership” of advancing the methodologies, culture and investigational workings of the laboratory as part of their own life’s work whereas the technicians are merely passing through, putting in their time and applying themselves superficially to somebody else’s lifework. Technicians generally have to betold what to do, whereas graduate students and postdocs are expected not only to figure out what to do but how to do it … and, then, to teach the technicians.
This is not to say that technicians and tacticians can’t or won’t take up mantles of ownership. They should, and those committed to “making it” DO! Any employee who assumes ownership of the enterprise in which he or she is engaged carries a notable mark of distinction. Ownership at bench-level/street-level may mean any or all of the following:
- Is absolutely dependable and accountable
- Sometimes comes in early to get things going and stays late to tie everything down
- Refills copier paper trays after completing a large document feed
- Becomes the “Go To Person” for increasing numbers of corporate functions
- Acts unilaterally or calls in specialists, as necessary, to solve problems when something goes awry (i.e., rather than simply a) ignoring it, b) saying “That’s not my problem!” , or c) saying “Somebody should do something about that!”)
- Plans ahead: Anticipates potential problems and opportunities
- Prepares documents/correspondence/portfolios/presentations for supervisor
- Does quality control: double checks/carefully edits critical schedules, documents, products, benchmarks
- Familiarizes self about important regulatory issues
- Knows who to call for what kinds of needed services
- Cultivates collaborators/partners/clients/customers
- Has a “Can Do!” attitude
- Is a problem solver rather than a mere “sentinel”
- Functions as both a “Thinker” and a “Doer”
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Related Points to Ponder
Being in charge of our own Destiny requires constant revisioning. We start out life, and end up living most of the rest of it, as if somebody ELSE is in charge. Early on, they are. But each of us needs to raise our sights as far as we can above the shadow of external dependencies, and we need to keep rising. At some point, we need to completely “own” our own Destiny.
If not YOU, who?
If not YOU (being as “good” as you are), who BETTER?
We should, personally, have the largest “controlling ownership interest” in our personal wellbeing, in the enterprises with which we are associated, and in our future, with ownership of more stock than anyone else. And “Junk Bonds” won’t cut it!
Whereas “ownership” has always been a defining attribute of the overachiever, it’s now a requirement for all of us. Job security is dying, as noted in a recent Forbes article:
“[Organizations are now] … completely abandoning the concept of ‘managers’ in favor of completely employee-driven organizations.” http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorieclark/2014/09/18/job-security-is-dead-and-heres-why-thats-awesome/
And seniority is an increasing liability, as companies seek to reduce the “baggage” of senior staff salaries.
So we need to get “Charged” to come into our own:
… to own our own Dreams;
… to own our own Destiny.
You are now so “Charged”:
YOUR journey is now YOURS.
Your failures are now YOURS.
Your incompleteness is now YOURS.
Your possibilities are now YOURS.
Your Successes are now YOURS.
You now OWN all of it!
Make something magnificent of it with everything you’ve got!
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Fewer people have been criticized for taking total responsibility
than for taking total credit.
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An “owner” is generally the first onboard and the last to leave the ship – the first one “hired” and the last one fired.
Quartermaster
