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Ownership not as a percentage of equity, but as a measure of your ability to change things for the better. In any company it is difficult to find ownership and

Ownership not as a percentage of equity, but as a measure of your ability to change things for the better. In any company it is difficult to find ownership and recognition at the lowest levels of the corporate hierarchy. If you only work for the company for less than a year, as the author proudly admits to, then you should not expect to be given substantial influence in the company. Influence and recognition must be earned, and that takes time and hard work. The bigger and more established the company, the more time this will take. If you're impatient, then you're going to have to work at a startup or start your own company. From my experience, the trick is to get engaged and routinely demonstrate that you care. If you begrudgingly implement or design every request that comes your way from the confines of your cubicle, of course you will burn out. If instead you ask your boss about the customer's needs or take the initiative to track down and talk to the sales person in charge of the account for some additional detail, you've effectively taken a small piece of ownership and showed some initiative. This rarely goes unnoticed, and definitely factors into decisions involved influence, ownership, and recognition in the future.

hasenj 16y ago
> If you're impatient, then you're going to have to work at a startup or start your own company. I think that's exactly the point of the article. > the trick is to get engaged and routinely demonstrate that you care It's hard to care when you don't have ownership. It's impossible to 'demonstrate that you care' when you don't actually care that much. > If instead you ask your boss about the customer's needs or take the initiative to track down and talk to the sales person in charge of the account for some additional detail, you've effectively taken a small piece of ownership and showed some initiative. I do that sometimes, but it often falls on deaf ears. The response is often: yeah the product sucks, our design sucks, but that's how it is, we know that and we're not gonna let you fix it; we need you to work on XYZ instead.
mgkimsal 16y ago
If you only work for the company for less than a year, as the author proudly admits to, then you should not expect to be given substantial influence in the company. ======================= Explain VPs and midlevel execs that come in and are given substantial influence on day 1. They've not worked at the company, yet are given staff, budgets, division and respoonsibility, sometimes (often?) before it's known if a) they're really competent and b) a good corporate fit. Seeing that sort of stuff happen can lead people like the OP to despair even more of being able to make any substantive impact.
trustfundbaby 16y ago
In any company it is difficult to find ownership and recognition at the lowest levels of the corporate hierarchy. If you only work for the company for less than a year, as the author proudly admits to, then you should not expect to be given substantial influence in the company. ------------------------------------------ Software developer interns at good companies like are routinely given serious work (consequential to the company) to do and left to figure it out largely by themselves, with help available if they need it. I don't see why it should take a year before anyone would extend that level of respect to a actual employee. People just want to feel like the work they do matters, and that they aren't micro managed to the finish line.
fadzlan 16y ago
While it is true that influence and recognition can be earned by hard work, it is also true that influence and recognition can be earned by being political and other sneaky means as well. When enough people do that, you will loathe yourself to no end. Staying would require a really big enough reason. I agree on your argument on the patient/impatient. However, I would argue that being impatient is not necessarily a bad trait in this case.

hasenj 16y ago

> If you're impatient, then you're going to have to work at a startup or start your own company. I think that's exactly the point of the article. > the trick is to get engaged and routinely demonstrate that you care It's hard to care when you don't have ownership. It's impossible to 'demonstrate that you care' when you don't actually care that much. > If instead you ask your boss about the customer's needs or take the initiative to track down and talk to the sales person in charge of the account for some additional detail, you've effectively taken a small piece of ownership and showed some initiative. I do that sometimes, but it often falls on deaf ears. The response is often: yeah the product sucks, our design sucks, but that's how it is, we know that and we're not gonna let you fix it; we need you to work on XYZ instead.

mgkimsal 16y ago

If you only work for the company for less than a year, as the author proudly admits to, then you should not expect to be given substantial influence in the company. ======================= Explain VPs and midlevel execs that come in and are given substantial influence on day 1. They've not worked at the company, yet are given staff, budgets, division and respoonsibility, sometimes (often?) before it's known if a) they're really competent and b) a good corporate fit. Seeing that sort of stuff happen can lead people like the OP to despair even more of being able to make any substantive impact.

trustfundbaby 16y ago

In any company it is difficult to find ownership and recognition at the lowest levels of the corporate hierarchy. If you only work for the company for less than a year, as the author proudly admits to, then you should not expect to be given substantial influence in the company. ------------------------------------------ Software developer interns at good companies like are routinely given serious work (consequential to the company) to do and left to figure it out largely by themselves, with help available if they need it. I don't see why it should take a year before anyone would extend that level of respect to a actual employee. People just want to feel like the work they do matters, and that they aren't micro managed to the finish line.

fadzlan 16y ago

While it is true that influence and recognition can be earned by hard work, it is also true that influence and recognition can be earned by being political and other sneaky means as well. When enough people do that, you will loathe yourself to no end. Staying would require a really big enough reason. I agree on your argument on the patient/impatient. However, I would argue that being impatient is not necessarily a bad trait in this case.