Entrepreneurs often don’t like to think of themselves as “owners.” For the author, this is a powerful motivation.
What does it mean to “possess” something? Merriam-Webster puts it this way: «Belonging to oneself or to oneself» either “to have power or dominion over”These definitions conjure up a powerful image of control and responsibility: If you own a car, it’s yours to do with as you please, but it’s also yours to take care of. You, and only you, determine whether your car is washed and maintained regularly or whether it becomes a rusty, clinging-to-life wreck.
Founders often don’t like to think of themselves as “owners.” Cars have owners, to go back to the example above. Small corner stores have owners. Pets have owners. The term “owner” can feel diminished, too inconsequential to what a founder wants to accomplish.
And yet, the concept of ownership is key to our sense of satisfaction and well-being. Here’s why.
The effects of property have been the subject of philosophical debate for hundreds of years. According to Aristotle, the motivation to own things is so powerful that he even attributed it to the formation of rational and productive members of society. As early as the 4th century, he argued
“When everyone has an interest of his own, men will not complain about each other and will progress more, because each will attend to his own affairs.”
The drive to own may seem like it implies greed or possessiveness, but research actually shows the opposite. Feelings of ownership are associated with higher self-esteem, which drives prosocial behavior. Plus, our involvement increases when we’ve put effort into something. You may have heard of the IKEA effect, where people value an object more if it’s made (or, in the case of the Swedish retailer, assembled) themselves.
In other words, we value the things we own, but we value them even more if we put effort into creating them.
Given the above, I think the founders’ aversion to considering themselves “owners” is misplaced.
For solopreneurs like myself, there’s nothing more motivating than knowing that my success is a direct result of my own work. Had I raised outside funding or worked with a co-founder, I doubt I’d be as proud of Jotform’s accomplishments, or as motivated to work as hard every day to take it to the next level. Still, this isn’t the advice you typically hear from the startup gurus of the world, who relentlessly preach the importance of having a co-founder. Starting a business on your own is too hard, too lonely, too much for one person. A co-founder can bring experience you lack, offer valuable perspective, and serve as a source of strength when things get tough.
At least, that’s the idea. The reality is often not so rosy.
I have a friend, let’s call him Isaac, who had a co-founder we’ll call Greg. Isaac was struggling – Greg wasn’t pulling his weight. Isaac was doing most of the work, and any success the business achieved was a result of Isaac’s efforts, while Greg sat back and reaped the benefits.
The business was becoming more and more successful, which should have made Isaac feel good. But it didn’t. It made him feel resentful and also fearful: as long as Greg owned 50% of the company, he would continue to collect 50% of the profits. As a result, Isaac felt his motivation waning.
In the end, Isaac chose to end the partnership and continue on his own, despite the almost omnipresent advice that being a solo founder is unsustainable. But Isaac had the opposite experience. Without having to bear Greg’s burden, he found that his interest in the business had been reinvigorated and his desire to succeed stronger than ever. As scary as it was for Isaac, the power of full ownership far outweighed the risks.
It’s one thing for founders to feel ownership of their company – after all, they’re the ones who built it. But it’s just as important to make sure that each employee feels ownership of their work, too.
I’ve already mentioned the impact psychological ownership has on performance. But how can you make your team feel “bought in” by an organization when they don’t technically own it?
One way is to allow them to work on projects that they find challenging and rewarding. Remember the IKEA effect? It doesn’t just apply to objects. The same philosophy can be applied to the workplace. As Dan Cable writes for Harvard Business Review, no one wants to spend their day performing pre-programmed tasks over and over again.
“Employees want to be valued for the unique skills and perspectives they bring, and the more you can reinforce this, and remind them of their role in the broader company, the better.”
This doesn’t require a wholesale reimagining of anyone’s job description, either: Some companies, Cable explains, simply let their employees create their own titles. Such a move costs the company nothing, but can have a powerful effect on an employee’s sense of ownership over their role and the work they do there.
At Jotform, our cross-functional teams have a great deal of flexibility and independence to work in the way that works best for them. This freedom fosters their creativity and, in turn, helps them produce their best work.
But an important aspect of that freedom is the sense of ownership over their work. They contribute to the company’s overall goals, yes, but they also work on projects they can feel proud of. Feeling ownership is a fundamental drive of human nature. Whether founders like to think of themselves as “owners” or not, we are motivated by the fact that what we build is ours; that its success or failure is our responsibility.
As Brené Brown said:
“If you own this story, you can write the ending.”
