How do I get my employees more vested in my business?

I'm Jim Bouchard, and I'm here to help you think like a black belt in your business. The other day I was talking to a business person, a friend of mine, who asked this question: What can I do to motivate someone to be more vested in my business? I didn't really have a good answer for her. I mean, sell them part of your business? Why would an employee be vested in your business? You've decided you're going to pay X amount of compensation in exchange for certain responsibilities and certain performance, and that's it. That's where the obligation ends. Now, if I'm talking to your employees, I'm singing a little bit different tune. If you're an employee, your obligation to yourself is to be fully vested in your job. Treat your job as your business. It is your business. It's a very competitive job market, and most people are still— and I'm puzzled about this— but they're still satisfied with being average. Nothing in the world wrong with being average. That's just not how a black belt thinks. We're always thinking about excellence, and it has very little to do with talent. It has to do with how disciplined you are, how focused you are, how much you're willing to do to make yourself better in your job. You do that and you're going to become much more valuable, and your employer is either going to recognize it, or you're going to have the skills, the experience, and the good resume to move on to a better position. Now, as an employer, there are some things you can do. What you can do is you can provide the training and the opportunity for these people to become better at their jobs. And then, through that training, watch who takes advantage of it, watch who dedicates themselves to excellence, and watch who is satisfied with being average. You wanna keep the people who embrace excellence, and you want to move the people out who accept being average. You continually do that, and you're going to move your business ahead. If you have a question, just send it in: jim@jimbouchard.org, or connect with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.