Ownership

 "And whoso is found a faithful, a just, and a wise steward shall enter into the joy of his Lord, and shall inherit eternal life." -Doctrine and Covenants 51:19

I love the idea of stewardship. I love the idea of understanding that you have the responsibility to take care of something. 

One of my favorite illustrations of stewardship comes in WALL-E. The humans have lived an easy, boring life for hundreds of years, and there is really no reason for them to change. But the captain learns more about Earth and realizes, "We have to go back." They need to go back because it is their responsibility to take care of the Earth. And then, in the credits, you get to watch them taking care of the Earth. It's so neat.

It's hard to explain the empowerment that comes from feeling a sense of stewardship. I felt it a bit when Kevin was the building coordinator of our church building in Michigan. In that temporary calling, he was in charge of making sure people knew how to clean the building. I also became a bit more familiar with the building. It was just little things like learning how to replace paper towels in the bathroom or what to do with cleaning supplies, but it still felt so good to take care of the building we loved so much. One time I heard people complaining about a clock with dead batteries. The next time I had a chance, I changed the batteries. It's silly, but I felt such a thrill in being able to do that. You act differently when you have a sense of ownership.

Stewardship extends beyond ownership of tangible things. I've become interested recently in the idea of ownership of ideas. 

For example, if you have kids, there's a good chance you'll end up with one that doesn't like to take orders. I've had friends describe it as "I throw an idea into the air and hope they catch it and think they came up with the idea themselves." When someone thinks an idea belongs to them, they're a lot more likely to believe it's a good idea.

Several weeks ago, I read "The Power of Lift" by Melinda Gates. The part that interested me most was how the positive changes could actually happen. I mean, from my perspective, a society where women work 17 hours a day and men work 6 should probably change. But how do you actually make that happen? There aren't many people who appreciate an outsider coming in and bossing them around. What Melinda had to learn was that the men had to come up with the solution themselves. Once they felt ownership of the solution, they were able to encourage each other to lighten their wives' burdens. The message no longer relied on the imperfect messenger.

So how can you help someone take ownership of what you think is a good idea? It's hard. Honestly, most of the time when I read something intended to be persuasive, I think, "You are writing something that is convincing to you, but it is not convincing to me." True persuasion takes a great deal of understanding, goodwill, humility, creativity, and patience. I think that is why most of us give up and find people who agree with us.

But it is not impossible. And when people truly feel like an idea belongs to them, they will do great things with it.