“That’s mine. I’ve got it.”

Welcome to the 131st edition of “In Touch”. As always, I would love to continue the conversation so please hit reply and let me know what you think.

Story of the Week: “That’s mine. I’ve got it.”

Last week I had lunch with Miltos Michaelas, the Managing Director of Alpha Bank Cyprus. We spoke about culture, values, and what really makes organisations consistently excellent. And in the middle of the conversation, he said something so clear and practical that I wrote it down on the spot: “Ownership is the determinant of success for all other values.”

Miltos sees ownership as the activator of everything else. You can have values like respect, service, teamwork, integrity but if people don’t take ownership, those values remain words. And when words remain words, something always happens… a gap appears. And sooner or later, the customer falls into that gap.

He gave me an example I loved because it’s so simple. In his organisation, the ATM doesn’t belong to “a department” the way it used to in the past. It belongs to Popi. Not on paper… in mindset. Meaning: if something isn’t right, Popi doesn’t wait for another team, another email, another approval. She acts. Because in her mind, that ATM is hers.

That level of ownership didn’t happen overnight. It took years to cultivate. And it reminded me of something basic: customers don’t experience departments… they experience outcomes. They don’t care who was “responsible.” They care who owned it and, if something went wrong, who owned up to it.

So the million-euro question becomes: How do you create ownership in others? You can’t force it. Responsibility can be assigned… ownership cannot. It’s internal. The only thing leaders can do is create the conditions: empower and trust people, give clarity, praise initiative, stop punishing honest mistakes… and make it normal for someone to say: “That’s mine. I’ve got it.”

Words of Wisdom

“When a team takes ownership of its problems, the problem gets solved.” Jocko Willink.

A Question to Ponder, dear friend.

What is one positive result you’ve seen from an ownership mindset in your organisation?