The usual mantra of the salary-driven employee is Oga ta, oga o ta, owo alaaru a pe, meaning that whether or not the merchant makes sales, the porter’s wages will be complete.

When the vision-driven employee takes on a job, he is constantly thinking of how he can add value to it to make it better than it was before he got there.

The salary-driven employee on the other hand, is only interested in the pay packet and how soon the establishment plans to increase salaries whether or not it is breaking even.

COMMITTED vs. INVOLVED

A spaceholder is involved in the enterprise but a stakeholder is committed.

What is the difference?

I illustrate it with the analogy of the omelette and the bacon.

In the making of omelettes, the chicken is involved.

But in the making of bacons, the pig is committed. How? The chicken only contributes its eggs but the pig actually contributes its very life.

It is not about how long you work in an organization that matters but how well.

How many other businesses are you involved in apart from the one that pays you a salary?

I am an advocate of multiple streams of income but if your other commitments are adversely affecting the one that pays you a regular salary, you are not being fair.You are involved but not committed.

Those who are merely involved in the life enterprise have no hope of being world-changers.

If all you are concerned with is earning a salary at the end of the month and being an instrument of change is not one of your concerns, you do not have to read beyond this point.

How do we know commitment? Commitment is known by the choice you make when confronted with options.

We cannot test your commitment to our organization if we were the only ones who had enough pity on you to hire you! But if other organizations are dangling carrots of mouth-watering offers before you and you choose to stay with us, then we know you are committed.

We do not know how committed you are to your spouse until other people have made passes at you and you walked away.

Nobody can significantly succeed until he has found something to commit to.The reason for the success of the postage stamp is because it commits to the envelope.

And that pact between the envelope and the stamp is what guarantees the letter’s arrival at its destination.

WIN-WIN vs. WIN-LOSE

While a stakeholder recognizes that even if you win the rat race, you still end up as a rat, the spaceholder is always thinking of how to win and advance his interests at the expense of everyone else.

When a stakeholder is involved in any enterprise, he is always conscious of the fact that others in the enterprise are no less important. Consequently, he sees the need for all parties to have a sense of winning through their participation in the enterprise.

He is, therefore, willing to give up his own rights if need be just to see that others also get ahead.

Not so the space-holder.He wants to get all he can, no matter whose horse is gored. He is more than willing to ride on the back of others to get whatever he wants and has no qualms junking those very people as soon as he gets what he wants.

For him, it is either he wins or no one else does! In the mould of a mouse, even if he does not have the capacity to eat the beans, he can do a good job of spilling it so that no one else can eat it! Like the proverbial bull in a china shop, he outdoes Machiavelli by coining his own aphorism as “The end justifies the meanness!”

PARTNER vs. EMPLOYEE
No matter how briefly a stakeholder works in an enterprise, he does not see himself as a mere employee but thinks like one who owns a share of the business.

Consequently, he is always asking himself while working, “If I owned this business, how would I like to see things done?”

And when things are a little rough on the job, he asks himself, “What if I owned this enterprise, would I abandon it at this time?”

People who think and work this way are usually the last to be laid off when a company is in crisis. Space-holders on the other hand merely use their present job as a platform for seeking greener pastures.

Whatever they are paid now is just a bargaining power for their next port of call.

If their salary is delayed for a week, they are ready to go on the war path even without finding out why. And if that happens more than twice, they take it as a sign that things are no longer the same- an indication to move elsewhere!....continued.

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is