The Lesson of Ownership

The Observation

There was a guy, observing work done by 2 men on the agricultural field.

One was digging a hole, the other was closing the hole in the field.

They kept doing it repeatedly all over the field for a few hours and came out of the field.

The Confusion

The person who is observing this from the outside was confused.

He asked those two men, why did they waste their energy and time in such a way one's work nullifies the other's work.

The Response

Their response was there is this third guy who is supposed to sow the seed once the hole was dug and he was on leave today.

The Moral

The moral of the story is even though these two men did the job to which they are entitled, the net effect was zero since they failed to take up ownership.

If either of the men took ownership and sowed the seed in the meantime, the net effect would have been greater.

The Takeaway

Doing more than what is assigned to you is not the point but doing enough to have an impact even if it is someone else's responsibility.