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The Lion King | 41
imaginative energies about our
roles in the organization as well
contribute to the overall per-
formance of the company.
For the purpose of this piece,
let’s categorize staff into two-
the subordinate and the man-
ager. To me, these two levels
of staff are leaders irrespective
of their position or responsibil-
ity. John C. Maxwell, describes
leaders as people who influence
others. It is the ability to influ-
ence others. It is not positional
as we often view leadership to
be. Organizations with the best
working environment, rewarding
share price, impeccable per-
formance and good corporate
brand have more of owner-
subordinates and managers in
their staff mix. It is the presence,
thinking and the performance
of these owner-employees that
influenced the culture and the
company’s brand perceptions.
Thus, a company of owners will
always outperform a company
of employees.
The Owner-Subordinates
The characteristics of the owner-
subordinates are reinforcing.
These attributes are from their
belief to be the best all the time
and to be solutions to problems.
An owner thinking subordinate is
first a “believer” in his supervisor
and the company’s objectives.
He sees himself as a positive
contributor to his supervisor,
the process, people and the
customers. He takes ownership
for improving his work process,
product and people around
him. He is the subordinate who
makes his views known in the
decision process.
The owner-subordinate is pas-
sionate about his job and the
organization. A man with pas-
sion needs no motivation to do
well. He is self motivated. The
owner-subordinate takes risks
in the interest of the organiza-
tion. These are the volunteers
for projects, extra assignments
or take the risk moving to a new
area of the business. He often
suggests improvements to areas
outside his role. He uses other
abilities outside his job require-
ments for the organization.
He brainstorms more to learn.
He never limits his dreams in the
organization. He likes learning
from people. He is teachable
and easily relates all his action to
the impacts on the organization.
He is curious to finding reasons
behind every decision, bold to
provide more information to the
decision makers in the interest
of the system. He is consistently
adding value through process
improvements, best and timely
execution of transactions. He is
bothered by inefficiency.
An owner-subordinate acts as if
he has more stakes in the organi-
zation. He always sells the brand
at every opportunity and gives
feedback to the leaders.
The Owner-Managers
The owner-managers are the
image makers of the organiza-
tion. They manage people,
processes, and products. They
influence the company’s culture.
The effectiveness of these man-
agers determines the number of
the owner-subordinates and the
level of attrition in the company.
The first quality of the owner-
managers is what Jack Welch
described as the Generosity
Gene. It is the gene that produc-
es inspiration for helping people
to grow in capacity and leader-
ship. Owner-leaders identify their
top 20% staff; encourage the
next 70% to be in the first rank
and manage or exit the last 10%
with dignity.
He avoids politicizing the system
with his action. The level of the
office politics in an entity deter-
mines the culture it exhibits. The
owner-manager sees and does
things in the interest of the com-
pany. He treats staff with fairness
not sentiments. He maximizes
the opportunity side of his staff
and minimizes the threat side as
much as he could.
The Owner-Manager allows
initiatives; he practiced intuitive
listening and never discards ide-
as based on the subordinate’s
previous inputs. A bad thinker
can turn good overnight with a
new level of awareness.
The owner-leaders see decision-
making process as a mentoring
tool. He consciously wants his
subordinates to know the rea-
soning behind his decline or no
to requests. He uses this as learn-
ing points. Indeed, to simply
decline a request with reasons
is a sign of weak leadership and
lack of decision continuity.
The final attribute of the Owner-
Manager is an important one.
He is the midfielder or water-
carrier of the company. He acts
as the link between staff and
management. He is also bold
to make known the influencing
facts at the level below him to
the top managers. He is a leader
of people and a change agent
of the system.
Creating a world-class organiza-
tion is not totally a management
duty. It is a leadership responsi-
bility. We are all leaders of the
processes, products and risks we
manage or control. It is our duty
to add value to these processes
daily. The level of authority might
be unequal, but thinking like the
owner creates uniformity in our
services and customers’ experi-
ences. Ownership mentality is
a tool to keeping our customers
and improving our brand image.
Feature
To take ownership
of something is to
think like a leader,
it is to accept total
responsibility for
the outcome of
events in advance
and push for the
best possible
results.