Ownership Thinking: How to End Entitlement and Create a Culture of Accountability, Purpose, and Profit

Mission-Driven and Not-For-Profit Organizations

When working with not-for-profit organizations, I have found that my approach has to be different than with for-profit companies because the not-for-profits are quite often more mission driven than money driven (certainly at the employee level). The same applies when working with for-profit companies that are particularly mission driven. Examples of for-profit, mission-driven companies I’ve worked with include an elder care company, a healthy dog and cat food retail chain, and a company that provides nursing support to Medicare patients.

I’ll never forget the first time I implemented Ownership Thinking in an organization like this. It was a company in the health-care industry, and when I began talking ...