What Does “Own It” Mean?

I came across a very short video by Mr Niren Chaudhary, the CEO of Panera Bread. It looked like a short video he made on his phone. Nothing fancy but very deep. He explained one of the components of the Panera Bread culture was “own it”. He then went on and explained in very plain English what he thought it meant in four components,

1. Whatever you want in life, you must be willing to be it first. If you want honesty, be honest, if you want trust, be trustworthy, if you want friend, be a friend. If I can paraphrase what he said: you do not attract what you want, you attract what you are!
2. Focus on that you have control over. Everyone has concerns on many things but let us focus what we can control.
3. When you own it, you always talk in the language of solution. Many people can bring problems. When you own it, you would bring solutions along with the problem. Personally, Mr. Chaudhary emphasized that he was ok when people brought problems for the purpose of informing, discussing, brainstorming. But it is not advised to bring only problems if the focus is to simply complain. It is not only bad for business, it is bad for the emotion and culture. You become what you feed your mind with. Problem is about negativity while solution brings positivity.
4. Stand in front of the team when something goes wrong

Very well articulated and insightful message. Thanks, Mr Chaudhary!

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Leadership Book Update:

As I announced two weeks ago, I am working on a leadership book project and the website went live last Saturday. Response has been overwhelmingly positive. Here is a quick update:

• Over a thousand people from 65 countries around the world visited the site since it went live a week ago, with about 60% from the United States and 40% from the rest of the world.
• About one hundred people responded to the leadership survey during the first week and many shared very compelling personal leadership stories! Some of the stories will definitely be incorporated in the book. Thanks for all those who responded to the survey but I need to your support to get the responses up to about 500! Everyone counts.
• As part of the book project, I have interviewed twenty leaders or aspiring leaders around the world for their leadership insights and their leadership journeys.
• I have posted five excerpts from the book draft on the website including the most recent addition: Influence without Authority.
• Several people have asked me about the photos on the website. I have not had a chance yet but plan to add caption info for each of the 380 photos in the coming months.

Thanks for your support by visiting the website and take the five minutes leadership survey!

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