Leave it, it’s none of your business – the entrepreneur’s point of view
Have you ever heard anything like it, right? It might as well be a slogan for frustrated (or frustrating) employees. If something is not mine, I can leave it as it is, never mind. We don’t need any improvements either, because that would be working for someone else, not for ourselves. The entrepreneur is the enemy, to whom we have to give everything, but get nothing in return. And the manager is his agent, who should be in solidarity with us, but only serves the owner. Therefore we do no more than we have to, because we have rights. This is what a dysfunctional collective and a dysfunctional company look like. If you don’t want to tolerate something like that, the problem is not with you. But above all: leave it, it’s none of your business, and that goes for the problem is!
Some people are eternally dissatisfied and you just can’t please them. If they got a 10% pay rise, then 11 would have been the ideal and stingy company. If you were promoting them, it should have been earlier. They are quite simply unable to see the positive side of things, but can still be very useful members of a team. The problem starts when this attitude is passed on to the majority, because then the business starts to function as a Bitters’ Club. Eventually the negative spiral buries the whole community. Think of the decline in the form of sports teams. Many times they fail to get out of it because they don’t believe it’s possible. I don’t want to put this post on a spiritual plane, but our belief systems have a serious impact on our performance (too)!
The Titanic and the case of the musicians
In the old joke, on the sinking Titanic, one musician panics while another tells him that he has nothing to worry about, because he doesn’t own the ship. Well, something similar can be found in the life of many companies. This attitude is most often the result of a lack of information and a misalignment of objectives. Also, it is an old anecdote that even the cleaners at NASA, when asked what their job is, reply that we are going into space together. If you can identify with the goals of the company on that level, that’s great, we call it identification. I define myself as employee Y of company X. If you’re not building your own business, you should ask yourself this question. After all, if you’re only in a very many places (i.e. you don’t have a vocation, you have a job), you might not be in the best place.
Where am I in this story?
Many companies advertise that all employees are replaceable. “If you quit today, I’ll find someone happy to replace you”. And that makes it hard to build. My individual goals disappear alongside the big organisational goals, and perhaps the organisation’s goal is to dissolve me into the big picture. If at such times my frustrated colleague sitting next to me, who has been waiting all day for the end of the working day, tells me to leave it, it’s not your job, I let it go more easily. And if I let it go today because it’s not important, why shouldn’t I do the same tomorrow? And if the organisation is big enough, the presence of one or two stowaways may not be noticed for years. This is exactly what an entrepreneur cannot afford. Although, perhaps, this example is also copied from the managers.
What about entrepreneurs?
One of the most important characteristics of entrepreneurs is that they always want more. You could say they are ambitious or restless. But it’s more of a mindset of how they can achieve more and build their own empire. Other people take different paths. They complain, suffer and later – a painful and strong judgment, but true – achieve nothing. The reason is simple too: achievement precedes work only in the dictionary, nowhere else. A week ago we were talking about proactivity, this continues now because your approach is crucial. Of course, I’m sure if you’ve got this far, you’ll never say leave it, it’s none of your business.
Am I responsible?
I think that the question of responsibility plays a major role in this issue. Leave it, it’s none of your business. I could interpret it as saying that if I don’t get involved, I have no responsibility. I wasn’t there either. If it doesn’t work, you can’t blame me. And that’s a classic fail-safe. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that. But most entrepreneurs don’t operate that way. They don’t want to avoid defeat, they go to the field to win. And they want to win big. But you can’t win alone. That’s why it’s important that if you recognise these signs in yourself, you know that you’re putting your own future success at risk. If you are an entrepreneur, know that you are also responsible for your team, as you need to align your vision and goals with theirs. You need to make everyone feel ownership of the company and therefore of the goals. They want to achieve their career goals here and not look for another job for a few hundred euros. And if you’re even thinking about moving on, build on a solid foundation.
Every word gets you somewhere
Do you know why I started with that phrase? Because you might not be an entrepreneur yet, you just hear these words every day. Maybe you don’t agree with them and you’re planning something else. A lot of times, new entrepreneurs are triggered by the fact that they’re fed up. Not their colleagues, not the people, but the attitude. Often people who were known to be dour and to themselves become active, enthusiastic and excellent company in a new place. The personality of entrepreneurs or future entrepreneurs does not tolerate a negative, repressive attitude. I know someone who has continually hit walls when he wanted more, then got bored and stood on his own two feet. So we can be grateful to colleagues with this attitude! Running a business is hard, deciding to become an entrepreneur is even harder. But they help you with that, and there is another way. There are always applications for membership of the Bittersweet Club. There you can shout at the top of your voice: “Leave it, it’s none of your business!
Good vs. Bad?
Are they bad people? No, they’re not. They just think differently, they have a different outlook. Work is not a vision, a goal or anything like that for them. Just a legal way to earn money. Nothing more, nothing less. They can still be important members of teams, excellent professionals and great friends. Quite simply, their fuel is completely different. They have no world-changing ideas in them. The important thing is that the business and the entrepreneur can provide the right environment for them. Make them feel important and give them the opportunity to feel useful. From there, there is no more bitterness. If you think otherwise, you’re not weird yet. Maybe you’re just out of place. In this situation it can be true, let it be, it’s none of your business – to stay.
