Act like an owner!

Call to Arms by Sasha Dichter



The secret of fortune is joy in our hands. – Ralph Waldo Emerson


What if today, right now, no jokes at all, you were actually in charge, the boss, the Head Honcho. Write the “call to arms” note you’re sending to everyone (staff, customers, suppliers, Board) charting the path ahead for the next 12 months and the next 5 years. Now take this manifesto, print it out somewhere you can see, preferably in big letters you can read from your chair.


You’re just written your own job description. You know what you have to do. Go!


(bonus: send it to the CEO with the title “The things we absolutely have to get right – nothing else matters.”)
 
I have been the CEO and boss for 16 years now.  This call to action is in fact the call that everyone who works should heed.  What would I do if I were boss?  Many people don't do this because of a fear of making a mistake.  Some people simply like to arm chair quarterback and they become a victim in their life to their surroundings.  There becomes a cry for earlier days when it was possible, when in fact it has always been the same, the cry is to avoid the guilt felt by those who do not enter into the arena.
 
The fact is most people think they need authority in order to be the boss, when in fact the only truly great way to accomplish things is by influence.  I have to influence people all day long.  Sometimes it influence them to be motivated, other times it is to influence them to see a situation differently.  Influence them to have grace for another employee, influence them to treat a customer differently.  This leading by influence is available to everyone.  You don't have to have an external source of power to have this influence, and you don't have to be a victim.
 
So I encourage everyone, regardless of the position they hold in a workplace setting to begin behaving like an owner and try to lead by influence.  Begin to think like an owner would, to value things that will help the company, to have a passion to do things right, to not be afraid to tell the boss or anyone else a different opinion, if that opinion is the one you would hold as a boss.  As you do this, watch out, good things will happen.