Take Ownership

I had the great pleasure this afternoon of attending the meeting of a family-owned company in which two brothers who've been at it for thirty years sold their multi-million dollar firm back to the employees who helped them build an empire.

The younger of the two (now in his fifties) spoke specifically about the value of "taking ownership." All who stride into the ether hoping to create a business on the web can find value in his wisdom.

He made five solid points about ownership, what it means and why we need to take it seriously. Here is my interpretation of his thoughts:

1) It's my (the owner's) responsibility to grow my company. "If a company is not growing," he said, "it is going backward." It's true. There's no such thing as a plateau. It's more like flying an air plane. If you're not gaining air, you're falling out of the sky. Growth is essential and growth is always the responsibility of the owner. It can't be pawned off on hirelings. If you are the owner, then that's what you do! You own what you do and you do it therefore. You oversee growth and you oversee those who help you attain it.

2) Your company must be profitable. Without profit you are not growing. No gain means you are falling away from your customer support. Profit isn't there for pleasure. It allows you to acquire the necessary technology and equipment to stay abreast of fast changing times. Having a website is not enough. It's your responsibility in ownership to ensure profit to your venture.

3) Success is founded on customer service. Without it, you lose your customers. If you're an information byway on the information highway, you're not giving enough knowledge in your field. You've got to make it "click easy."

4) You have to provide a quality product. Let's face it. Surfers have far too many options where to go. Want them back? Give them what they came for in the first place and give them plenty of it. It's got to be quality: quick, easy and satisfying. Or they won't return.

5) Build a team. Let the players in. Give them a forum. Let them show their stuff too. Remember, you're the owner. Own what you do, but let your customers show who they are. Give them space and they'll return.

Passing the baton of ownership, this highly successful executive, his brother and his team took their company from ground zero to competitive national trade in the food industry with revenues surpassing $100 million annually. They did that from hands-on no money days in the beginning to wealth in the end because they took ownership.

An owner does what he is, male or female. The owner owns up to the task.

What do you think?

Five Strong Horses

On the human side, here's something for you to check out. The Gallup International Research and Development Center published a book recently titled, Now Discover Your Strengths. The authors, Donald Clifton and Marcus Buckingham, have created true influence with this book. It's ISBN is 0-7432-0114-0. It's worth ordering if you are into changing where you are to where you want to go or be.

Gallup's premise and the subject of their book is that people who discover their strengths and who then learn to stay within them, have the greatest chances of success in the world. The chosen direction doesn't matter as much as relying on the early-in-life imprint made on you, an impression that sets up who you are and how you react or proactively take part in your society, family and work environment. The premise of the book is based on millions of surveys taken on successful people over several years. The results are indeed very interesting. Clifton and Buckingham have narrowed the usable results of those studies (which continue now at an exponential rate) into thirty-some categories of human personality strengths. Much of the corporate world, especially in America, but abroad as well, has been influenced by this analysis.

My personal strengths are Maximizer, Strategy, Empathy, Ideation and Woo, in that order: my five strong horses.

I read it, took the assessment and have learned that the results predicted for me are absolutely right on! The more I observe these characteristics at work in me, at play or not at play in my relationship to the world, the more I've come to understand their importance. To better manage my life, I now find ways to manage these traits to my advantage. Doing so has made me far more effective and productive, even in the arts.

The drawing in this picture illustrates my five strong horses (my strengths) pulling the chariot of my life into battle. If I don't have the reins of discipline on them, they go every which way and I end up losing. If I try to use somebody else's horses to perform or interact, I lose as well. But because I understand that these traits are mine, and because I continue to look for greater understanding of how to utilize them best, I succeed in areas I never thought possible.

As an example for you, my use of a drawing such this to illustrate my need to manage my strengths is the application of ideation and strategy--two of my five strong horses. I stay away, as best I can, from using other people's horses (traits).

We are all uniquely who we are, after all.

Certainly there are many aspects to defining a person's success, but this one for me, added to other things I know about myself, has become a management tool of great value.

Buy the book and you can take the assessment free. They want you to read their analysis first, and that's a good idea.