Extreme ownership

When I started at Launchpad, bp’s scale-up factory, I worked with a pretty fly guy from McKinsey. He claimed not to be a consultant; he was a “business builder”. The business builder, let’s call him Wolfgang, opened my eyes to many things about working for a corporate, but one that really stuck concerned ownership.

In bp, we were obsessive about single points of accountability and decision rights, and yet you’ve never seen such slopey shoulders. On me too! At our daily standups I proudly announced having shipped my ticket from the previous day. Anticipating thunderous applause, I paused for effect. Giving just enough time for someone to ask, “Did HR ok that?”

But such a common answer in a corporate where you’re all split into neat functions, each with their own tasks and powers. So much is out of your hands - and in other people’s.

Ownership is also about looking inside yourself when something hasn’t worked as expected. Not being content to blame HR (there’s maybe a pattern emerging). But to ask what could I have done differently? Was I clear enough? I found this kind of self-flagellation in Wolfgang and his colleagues uncomfortable to say the least.

Until I was given “Extreme Ownership: How US Navy Seals Lead and Win” as holiday reading. I can’t say stories about soldiers killing other soldiers are my thing, but these autobiographical accounts of campaigns in Iraq couldn’t fail to impress on me the link between success and ownership (to the bitter end).

And that’s the point, when you see a problem as (even partially) someone else’s to solve, there’s a tendency to disconnect part of yourself from the outcome (unless it’s a wild success and then you’re all in).

This observation about ownership had quite an effect on me: a wakeup call to my powerlessness. Did I ever deliver anything myself? Was my job only about shuffling things between one part of the company and another?

It was most definitely part of my drive to start up on my own. To be in control. To hold myself to account. To look myself in the mirror and say “that was your doing”. For better or worse.

And now a couple of months in I feel ownership. I can’t blame anyone else if my business ventures fail. It feels like I’ve pushed myself forward out from a line up of soldiers, and now I am exposed, away from the safety of the crowd, and much more vulnerable.

The V word. Something I avoided in corporate life, due to its associations with weakness, but something I quite recently began to see as a strength, and closely linked to ownership.

Here are a few ways I have been adapting to an increased sense of ownership over my post-corporate future and the accompanying vulnerability:

1. Extreme ownership doesn’t mean you’re on your own – you may well find more useful resources to help you grow your business than you’d have found in your old job. And you will definitely find people wanting to help.

2. Take pride in the number of things you are sorting for yourself – without having to “go through someone else”. Submitting your own invoice. The satisfaction of paying another small business owner. Building a website. Challenging a contract because you’ve actually bothered reading it, because now it matters.

3. Don’t confuse ownership with doing everything yourself – your time is precious.  It may be better used elsewhere, or specialist skills may be required. Ownership is about making sure what’s needed is done, including what you’ve delegated or outsourced.

4. When someone doesn’t deliver as you expect, look first to yourself, instead of seeking someone to blame. Are you the root cause of the failure? Even unconsciously? This is a tough one, but it can be powerful for building long term relationships - and improving yourself.

5. When you have extreme ownership, you become more vulnerable. You find yourself admitting your faults, taking more responsibility, better understanding (but not excusing) others. Weak people may try to take advantage; strong people are drawn to you and want you part of their squad. Ask those Navy Seals.

You believe you can make money independently, not because you’re contractually due a pay check. Feel really good about it!

It’s extreme ownership, with only you to fall back on. If it’s enough to make a Navy Seal vulnerable, it will make you too. But that vulnerability will also make you stronger and take actions that will surprise you and others – and help you build a business you are proud to own.

Contact me at adam@gofamiliarize.com if you have ideas what you want me to write about next. Or if you are feeling a bit discombobulated about escaping your corporate life. Find me each day on instagram at instagram.com/corporateescapologist/.