Who are you working for after all?

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Dr. Wayne Dyer.

Storyline:

Once upon a time, during a corporate training seminar on creativity, a wise old teacher asked his students: “How many of you here are working for someone else?” Everyone raised their hand.

Then the instructor said, "Let's ponder this from a different point of view. Instead of considering yourself an employee, what if you consider yourself as the owner of a business; and this business is what you are doing in your current job? How would you manage your 'job' then?"

The eager students responded with a few good points to ponder:

1. A business can not survive long without continuous improvement, and without introducing new products and services. If my job is my business, I have to keep on learning new skills to increase my value.
   
   
2. If my job were my own business, anyone who receives my work output is no longer a fellow employee; he/she is my customer.  I cannot expect to survive long without happy customers.
   
   
3. The most important business relations are personal ones. When I go to meetings or conferences, it is not only to discuss the subject at hand, but also to build new relationships that can open up new opportunities.
   
   
4. Since this is my own business, I must seize new opportunities outside of my current job description.  Instead of "this is not my job", the predominant thought becomes "this is my moment to grow the business."
   
   
5. Since money comes from my wallet, every minute of time matters, and every cent of spending goes to the bottom line. I can’t afford to waste precious time debating irrelevant issues, postpone important decisions, or defer responsibility to someone else.
   
   
6. My attitude changes from "This is just a job" to "This is my livelihood".  Since my performance is judged by my customers/investors in the value chain, I have to offer them the best return on investment ... or I cease to exsist!
   
   

Reflection:

If you take this attitude about your job, a whole new world opens up. Your sense of security and confidence builds: because you are continuously growing, trying new things, meeting many people, building relationships, and improving your business acumen.

It's no longer just work, it becomes your way of life; and you will come to realize that the world is very big, and there will always be room at the top for your talents.

Comments

[Stephanie]

One thing to mention is the amazing creativity and new ideas that can come from abandoning standard job description and procedures and "acting like the CEO".

One example from my experience is a new junior software person who's sole job was to maintain some legacy applications for one specific business group.

The previous guy got fired for constantly complaining about how bad the code quality was and demanding that it be completely rewritten (at great expense of resources).

This new girl did some benchmarking and found out that a similar group in the company was using a very similar software application already. She proposed "sharing" this application between groups and pooling resources ... a brave move since any PHB would see this as a great opportunity to put the maintenance person out of a job!

Instead, turns out the managers were so impressed by her presentation about how much time and money would be saved to the company, that they put her in charge of improving other business systems ... with the corresponding salary hike in the next review!

[Jonas]

If you embrace "not-in-my-job-description" tasks you could end up slaving without thanks, so make sure your efforts are recognised and rewarded or you're not doing yourself a favour.

[Tracie Byers]

Wow! What a way to look at your job? Am I really an engineer or from now on a busiess woman enganged in the businss of managing engineering? Tomorrow I could be managing a totally different field with this thinking....Let me practice this for a few months and get back to you..Thanks T

[Ramon M]

"If you change the way we look at things, things we look at change" This is really profound...I think you messed up my big weekend.

[Anthony]

Awesome article. I have been looking at my job like this for the last 3-4 years. I have to say that I have gained a lot in that time. I go promoted twice last year alone and I gained 7,000 dollars more in pay. I also completely switched my career path to Application development with no college degree.

Really, from a business standpoint I think I could do better. That is the beauty of this point of view.

I call this trancending your company. When you do you are no longer afraid of being fired. You realize the connection between your skills, your job and your opportunities. Plus it very well may prepare you for starting your own business one day.

[Ben]

While this is good advice, it has to compete with some very strong arguments against this worldview.

The reason most employees do not already have this mentality is because they are hired to be cogs in a machine. They are expected to execute upon predictable inputs as part of a defined process. Rewards and punishments are passed down from management based on the overall company or project, and not the employee's individual contribution.

This creates a degree of learned helplessness, a serious psychological issue, and describes the majority of blue and white collar employees today.

Adopting this perspective in that sort of environment leads to paranoia, fear, and mistrust - as you try harder, take on more, and are still rewarded and punished randomly. Thus, the employee is less likely to try harder next time.

Additionally, many may argue that employees should not act in this manner, precisely because their efforts will not bring any degree of ownership. They will still walk away from the job without owning anything, regardless of how much they built. A salary is never the same as equity.

I'm not saying any of these views are correct, but some may be more or less beneficial in various circumstances.