Ownership and Rewarding Performance

Kekich Credo #15 - If it’s not proprietary, it won’t work. Pay only on performance. Proprietary interest is one of the most powerful forces ever known. Whatever you reinforce or reward, you get more of.

Notes from this statement.

1.  If it’s not proprietary, it won’t work.  This sentence had me googling the meaning of the word proprietary.  This is an adjective describing all the rights that the owner of property can exercise.  A proprietary process is one that others are forbidden to use.  A proprietary trademark is a name that only the owner can use. The owner’s rights are ensured by copyrights and patents. After a certain length of time, inventions and processes lose their legal protection and cease to be proprietary.  At this time they enter into the public domain, meaning that everyone can use them freely.

So this sentence says that in order for something to work, it must be proprietary.  In other words you need to own something and then protect it by getting a copyright or a patent.

Anything new, an innovation, starts with an idea. It is your idea.  You discover a problem to solve or a gap to fill.  Your idea begins to demand your attention and it wants to go places.  You decide that you are the one to take it there. This is known as intellectual property.  The products and inventions that we use every day all had their beginnings as IP.  IP is what you create, invent or develop as a result of your intellectual activity.  IP is something you own and it comes with legal rights. People discover new things every day.  As you develop your idea into something tangible, someone else might be doing the same thing.  Protecting your creation helps to protect your ability to reap the benefits of your hard work.  So make it proprietary.  

2.  Pay only on performance. Performance-based pay is compensation that is tied to the contributions an employee makes to a company.  This pay structure refers to company programs that pay employees based on how they perform their job.  Companies using pay-for-performance initiatives in most instances will provide guidelines that explain what behaviours or performances lead to increased pay.    

The credo statement encourages business owners to pay for performance.

3.  Proprietary interest is one of the most powerful forces ever known.  Here is the word proprietary again.  There are three main features to private property rights.  The owner has the right to determine the use of the property, the right to income or proceeds from the property and the right to delegate, sell, or rent any portion of the rights to the property.  

4.  Whatever you reinforce or reward, you get more of. Rewards are good positive reinforcements. They make you feel good about your achievements and they reinforce the behaviour and attitudes that led to those achievements.  Success in any endeavour requires that you identify and credit exceptional performance from yourself and others. When you reward performance you are reinforcing the level of productivity and the quality of the result you want. Knowing your achievements are noticed and appreciated, cause you to do even more.  It is a win/win situation.

Rewarding yourself and your team is important.  Also protect the processes and products you have created.  These are two main takeaways from this 15th Kekich Credo.  

# living life abundantly     # published author