ARE YOU A BUSINESS OWNER OR AN EMPLOYEE?

Fundamentally, is there really a difference? What is the employee mindset? Let me illustrate what impact our thinking has on the organizations we are part of.

1. Employee mindset - we were hired to do a task/role. As such, we expect regular compensation (salaries and bonuses), fair performance appraisal (performance based compensation), clear success criteria (metrics and goals), opportunity for career progression (learning and development), expect good company culture (nice employees and open communication). The list goes on and on. You know what I mean. These are things we EXPECT out of our loyal servitude. If the organization fails to deliver on any of these expectations that are crucial to us, we tend to think about our alternatives. Places where we can get something better for what we bring to the table.

2. Business Owner mindset - the competitive landscape provides challenges we need to meet head on. To stay afloat, some considerations are to understand the competition (what they have compared to what we offer), develop brand loyalty (encourage loyalty within the customer base), plan for the future (prepare for the changing landscape and business requirements), manage operating cost (ensure high quality and maximum profitability), ensure smooth operations (correct company culture and efficient tools), maintain competitive advantage (cutting edge products and services). At the end of the day, almost all businesses (unless you are a non-profit of course) aim to make PROFIT. Very few people will put up a business not aiming to make money out of the effort.

So what am I leading to? I have been around employees that envy successful business owners. Drooling at the fact that they are masters of their world, can have almost anything they want and seemingly, have no care in the world. Employees that are too focused on their own performance metrics and goals that everything else is trivial. Employees that have no clue about where the industry is heading, how technology will impact the business landscape and the real life situations faced by our customers on a daily basis. Why you may ask? The common answer is WE ARE EMPLOYEES. We are meant to execute our functions as defined by our Business Owner. We have little to no ability in influencing change and even if we do, the reward for the effort exerted is seldom enough. It's more gratifying to focus on my performance metrics and deliver accordingly. Common employee saying that I disagree with... WE WORK TO LIVE AND NOT LIVE TO WORK. What is wrong with this you ask? What is wrong with exerting effort enough to meet what is expected, get compensated for it and enjoy the rest of the day? Everything is wrong with it.

Unless the Business Owner was born with a golden spoon, most of them had to exert effort to build what they have now. Look at the start-up companies, look at how agile they are and how willing they are to go the extra mile to build their portfolio. As employees, there was a stage in our career when we were this hungry. When we had no experience and wanted organizations to consider us. Back then we would say something like, "I am a fast learner" which as we advance in our career has been replaced with "I am proficient with.." sometimes more content in capitalizing on what we know over what we can still learn.

We focus on our metrics and forget why they were created in the first place. Sometimes not even caring to look beyond what goes towards a positive impact to our bottom line - our take home pay. How many of us understand how our stocks are trending? What the offerings the competition has or pay close attention to the market trends? How many of us truly care about how profitable our organization is or do we stop at looking at how much increase we get year-on-year? More importantly, how much appetite for change do we have or are we just content with "chilling" and doing what we have always done, producing the same results?

So what is the point of this rambling? (You can tell my friends, I woke up again mid-sleep and left wondering about things as I try to let sleep take over) The success of an organization is greatly dependent on its EMPLOYEES thinking like BUSINESS OWNERS. Genuinely thinking about the customer, laser focus on seamless execution at lowest possible cost with output that is truly world class, theorizing on how to push the envelope to move the business forward - trusting that our efforts will be rewarded in the long run. The return is not immediate, sometimes there is no return at all. Just like real Business Owners, not all their initiatives or strategies bear fruit. Some just implode for a multitude of factors and reasons, some may not even be logical. A Business Owner has no choice but to continue moving forward because his PROFIT IS NOT GUARANTEED. If he stops producing products and services that meet his customers present needs and prepare for future expectations, his business will be left in the dust. Pretty much like what is happening to so many traditional heavyweight corporations disrupted by technology. The employee, on the other hand, has GUARANTEED COMPENSATION FOR HIS EFFORTS. As long as metrics are met, compensation is expected. Heck even if they are not, employees are STILL paid for their time spent. Case in point, can a business owner DEMAND that customers pay/purchase his product/service just because it's there? I mean, there was cost in producing it and he needs to make a profit so the customer MUST COMPENSATE HIM ACCORDINGLY. This sounds absurd right? The customer CANNOT BE REQUIRED TO PAY for something that doesn't meet expectations. If it is a scenario of a long time customer patronizing the product/service or is under contract, I assure you that as soon as the obligation (contract) is done of the product/service and it has now evolved to being unable to meet expectations, that customer is lost. Now what about our employee? Does the business owner have the right to say... "YOUR PERFORMANCE IS BELOW PAR or the BUSINESS IS NOT PROFITABLE THEREFORE YOU WILL NOT BE PAID FOR YOUR SERVICES". I am sure that will be be a monumental labor battle that will lead to the demise of the business as EMPLOYEES ARE GUARANTEED COMPENSATION FOR WORK PROVIDED.

We are not mere pawns of the people running the business. Be game changers and advocates for innovation - evolve the business! You have more power and influence than you think. All you have to do is take your head out of the sand (yes you are not an ostrich) and aim to make a difference not just on the metrics but on the business and its customers. So think again and ask yourself about your value add to your organization. Better yet, I have an exercise for you. Look at the top leaders in your organization.. how many of them are Business Owners and how many are Employees? Have you stopped to think that most of the time, even our CEO IS ALSO AN EMPLOYEE? The secret sauce is, treat the business like it is your own and truly strive to make it better. My viewpoint as a change agent is this, I am blessed to be an EMPLOYEE thinking like a BUSINESS OWNER. Why you may ask? I can launch initiatives which are not backed up USING MY PERSONAL MONEY. If the initiative fails, well I still get paid. If the new process doesn't yield positive results, I still get credited for having the right mindset. Who absorbs the cost? THE BUSINESS OWNER.

#processexcellence #itsallinthemind #positiveattitude #growthmindset