Ownership
Let’s say you work at Ford or some major auto manufacturer. You bust your ass designing and building (yeah, I know they’re not hand-built, work with me here) dozens of car models or maybe you work specifically on some internal aspect, maybe the engine itself. And, you are keeping abreast of new developments from your part suppliers, the people who design the smaller aspects of the engine, like the fuel injector, always knowing when great innovations happen that can make your over-all design and performance of the engine so much better. And, your engine is in several car models and running ok. But, you have no power to demand that your new engine designs get a priority in the test cycle or pushed to be included in the next year model of all the cars. All you can do is be the squeaky wheel and hope that people who can make the decisions listen. You would get a little tired of working on engines and feel a bit burnt out. — Instead, what if you owned one line/make/model and were in charge of the engine for that model. You were emotionally invested in it and had the power to decide if it should have an upgraded fuel injection. And, you had instant (well, as instant can be in the auto industry) gratification – your changes went out with every new model! You don’t have to wait for the political garbage to work through the system and allow your changes to happen. I’ve basically had this happen to me at work. I have the ability now to focus on one individual site and guarantee that it has the most kick-ass fuel injection system we have available. And, since I have a bit of ownership on the site, I can make the decision to do the improvement, I can do the actual work and I can catch hell for it if it goes wrong. I have the responsibility and ownership and thus, greater pride and satisfaction in my work. Instead of being in a position where I knew what was wrong but couldn’t do anything but talk about it in general — I can now take action and get results (at least in this one area). Net result – I leave the office Friday evening feeling happy and satisfied (and I’ll spend the weekend thinking about what else I can fix – maybe there’s a new revolution in brake pads that I don’t know about). Kick Ass. Have a great weekend, ya’ll.