That, is a Bat

In Dutch and German, an Employee is “werknemer” and “arbeitnehmer”. A work taker. One of my pet peeves is when managers tell employees to “think like an owner”. It is like Nagel’s paper “What is it like to be a bat?”. You either are a bat, or you aren’t. You either are an owner, or you aren’t. If you are a work taker, you are paid for the work you are doing. If you are an owner, you have a share in the problem being solved. A rule of thumb for if something is a good business idea is “does it scale?”. Taking work doesn’t scale. Ownership does. We have limited time, energy, knowledge and skills. Capital has no such limits. Work gets a salary. A salary is a price. In a healthy economy prices come down and Capital grows. The way you become an owner, without needing permission, is by squeezing a gap between what you earn for taking work and what you spend. Then get your money a job. That, is thinking like an owner. That, is being an owner.