Sense of Ownership...

Last week, I got into a bit of a "flame war" with some folks in Microsoft who hadn't bothered to upgrade their PC's to Vista yet.

They are a distinct minority, but they basically felt that the time it would require (a few hours, granted) would take them away from the more serious work of "fixing bugs" and "testing" etc. They wanted to be convinced, as a customer would, that it was "worth their time."

I disagreed vehemently...hence the flame war.

My point was...as an employee (and an owner through stock), you've got to make that investment..to understand what the product does to 1. make it better and 2. help sell it.

I may have a different attitude than most...I co-founded a company...and remember distinctly the feeling of ownership.

Today, I spend Microsoft's money the same way I spent my company's money...the same way I spend my own money. For the time being, I am an owner of Microsoft and, as a result, have certain responsibilities and obligations.

Some of these folks, it seems to me, were along for the ride.

I'm not here to beat on them, what I'm here to ask is:

how do you foster a sense of ownership in anything?

How do you do it in a 70,000 person organization?

How do you do it in a synagogue or church?

Or a civic organization?

When you feel like an owner, you behave differently (better, I think), than someone collecting a paycheck or just taking advantages of services.