TL;DR: Jobs without real ownership drain your soul. But most people avoid taking full ownership because they can't blame others when things fail. Here's how to own your work without burning out from fear of failure: start with small ownership zones, treat failure as data collection, and build a "failure budget" mindset.
A Job Without Ownership Sucks
I spent 20 years in executive leadership. Led teams of 1,600+ people. Built systems that Apple and Google cited in patents.
But I remember the worst job I ever had.
It wasn't the hours. It wasn't the pay. It was the fact that I owned nothing from start to finish.
Every project? Handed off halfway. Every strategy? "Collaborative" to the point of being nobody's. Every decision? Required seventeen approvals.
I was a highly paid puppet. And it sucked.
Why Ownership Actually Matters
Here's the deal. When you own something end-to-end, your brain lights up differently. Research shows that job autonomy (the fancy term for ownership) directly reduces burnout and increases workplace wellbeing (Park et al., 2014). It's not just about feeling good. It's about survival.
Think about it like this. You're building a house, but someone else lays the foundation. Another person frames it. Someone else does the roof. You just paint one wall. Then the house collapses.
Who's responsible? Nobody knows. Who cares? Nobody does.
That's most corporate jobs. And it's killing people slowly.
The Fear That Keeps You Stuck
But here's what I've learned working with hundreds of leaders. Most people don't actually want full ownership. They say they do, but when you offer it, they back away like you just handed them a grenade.
Why?
Because ownership means you can't blame anyone else when it fails.
Research on perfectionism shows people avoid ownership specifically because they fear the personal failure that comes with it (Shafran & Mansell, 2001). If you own it and it tanks, that's on you. If you're just "contributing," you can always point fingers.
This is especially true for consultants and fractional leaders. You get hired to fix something, but if you don't actually own the outcome, you're just expensive window dressing.
Three Ways to Own It Without Burning Out
Let me give you three observations from my years running organizations and working with burned-out executives.
Start with a small ownership zone. Don't try to own everything at once. Pick one thing. One project. One initiative. Own it completely from concept to execution to postmortem. Build your ownership muscle slowly. When I started as CIO, I took full ownership of our disaster recovery plan. Just that. Not sexy, but it was mine. That success gave me the confidence to own bigger things.
Treat failure as data collection, not personal defeat. The people who burn out from ownership are the ones who tie their self-worth to every outcome. Stop doing that. When something fails, you didn't fail as a human. You collected data about what doesn't work. Research shows that low job autonomy correlates with burnout specifically because people feel powerless (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). But when you own something, you have the power to learn and adjust. Use it.
Build a "failure budget" into your ownership. Here's something nobody talks about. Before you take ownership of something, decide how many failures you're willing to accept. I usually budget for three major pivots on any new initiative. That means I expect to be wrong at least twice before I get it right. This removes the crushing pressure of needing immediate perfection.
The Burnout Connection
Lack of ownership is one of the top organizational risk factors for burnout (Maslach & Leiter, 2016). When you can't control your work environment or influence outcomes, your nervous system stays in a defensive state. You're constantly stressed but powerless to change anything. That's the express lane to burnout.
But here's the twist. Taking ownership without boundaries also leads to burnout. You end up owning everything, working 80-hour weeks, and burning yourself into the ground.
The sweet spot? Own one thing completely. Do it well. Then own another.
Take Action Today
Pick one thing at work right now. One project, one initiative, one problem. Go to your boss and say: "I want to own this completely. Give me the authority to make decisions, and I'll take responsibility for the outcome."
Then do it. Own it. Learn from it. Win or lose.
Because a job where you own nothing is a slow death. And you deserve better.
Want help figuring out what to own and how to do it without burning out? Let's talk. Book time at https://book.drdegnan.com
Until next week, my friend!
— Oliver
Wanna Geek Out?
Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2017). Job demands-resources theory: Taking stock and looking forward. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(3), 273-285. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000056
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience: Recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103-111. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20311
Park, H. I., Jacob, A. C., Wagner, S. H., & Baiden, M. (2014). Job control and burnout: A meta-analytic test of the conservation of resources model. Applied Psychology, 63(4), 607-642. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12008
Shafran, R., & Mansell, W. (2001). Perfectionism and psychopathology: A review of research and treatment. Clinical Psychology Review, 21(6), 879-906. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-7358(00)00072-6
