A major reason why good businesses fail, or professional careers get stuck, is outsourced ownership: The reliance on external factors for business or personal success.
Recently, I was working with a client to develop a new business strategy. It became clear that a major part of their success would rely on the acceptance of a new product by a key customer.
This, of course is a major red flag. After all, the number one is the most dangerous number in business: If you are dependent on one client, one vendor, one product, one key employee, etc., your business resembles a game of Russian roulette.
Thus, we asked a better question: What can we do differently to take back ownership of the success of our new product? This question triggered the strategy team to develop a portfolio of creative options to exert much more control, such as working with multiple clients and creating multiple new products.
Where have you allowed outsourced ownership to determine the fate of your organization or career?