How to DAO Ownership 101: What Does It Mean to Be an Owner?
In last week’s essay on "Owners, Not Mercenaries", I wrote:
Many people will struggle with this mindset shift from employee to owner. In the coming years, I suspect that this will be one of the biggest points of discussion and differentiation within web3 organizations. And I'll bet my tokens that the DAOs that succeed are the ones whose contributors behave like owners, not mercenaries.
For DAO operators and leaders, the logical follow up question is: How do I develop an ownership mindset in myself and in others?
Finding, developing, and empowering owners within a DAO is the key to sustainable decentralization. This is essential to scaling a community without losing context or quality. But how do we do that?
In this essay, I cover the standards of ownership that I hold myself to, along with several examples of what ownership looks like in Cabin. I also cover my personal experiences with ownership.
I wrote this as a tactical, relatable field guide on what ownership looks like in a DAO setting. In writing this, I hope to light the way for more of us to step up and take ownership of our professional lives in web3.
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But before we get into the tactics, let's discuss...
What makes ownership hard?
Individuals who take ownership are hard to find. Developing a sense of ownership in others is challenging. But why?
First, school never trained us to think like owners. The academic system is notorious for hammering down the metaphorical nails that stick out, for leeching out the fun out of learning and the value out of creativity.
Then, upon entering the workforce, we're incentivized to do one thing well: be an obedient worker bee. Being an employee means we have the comfort of clocking out at 5:30 PM. It means being paid for a job, not being accountable for business results. These short term benefits keep us in our career comfort zones.
In contrast, taking ownership is a high risk, high reward endeavour. It means more public accountability. It means hardly ever turning our brain off. It means taking more responsibility – and having a higher likelihood of failure. But it also means capturing more of the upside in the long term.
To me, ownership feels like walking a tightrope. It means dealing with a low grade of fear and anxiety each day, because even without a boss, I have more eyes on me, my work, and my outputs.
For example, Cabin media guild contributors put in ~100 hours a week to create and distribute content. As the facilitator of this work, if I make a wrong judgement call, I waste a collective 140 hours, beyond my own workweek.
But fear aside, the rewards are worth it for me. Clear accountability incentivizes me to do my best work. It allows me to demonstrate my specific knowledge. It helps me build a platform of credibility in the DAO community. I amass leverage that no one can take from me. Down the road, that leverage will turn into wealth – businesses and assets that earn while I sleep.
Accountability and the fear of failure scare most people away from taking ownership. If you've weighed the risks with the rewards and you're still interested in being an owner at this point, then read on.
How to be an owner
Here are 4 standards I aspire to each day as an owner in Cabin:
Take accountability for outcomes, not inputs
Self-direct
Initiate and share the mental load
Be professional, respect your work, take your contribution seriously
Take accountability & responsibility for outcomes, not just inputs
Get projects out on time
Initiate meetings and check-ins with stakeholders
"Manage up" the chain and communicate with other teams and guilds
Fill gaps proactively (Ex. As a writer on a project, find designers for article header images, even if that's not technically your job)
Ownership can be felt in how folks dot their i's and cross their t's.
For example, marulli is the media guild's main designer for blog headers.
Under Cabin's publishing process, it's usually up to the writers to upload drafts for final publishing. As a designer, marulli isn't responsible for whether we use the correct image. He just has to give us the right one. But even though no one asked him to, he read through the draft after it was published. And of course, he spotted my mistake:
Self-direct
Figure out the definition of done for a project
Create a roadmap with a timeline for how you and your squad will get there
Regularly update stakeholders. Don't wait to be asked for updates (Ex. Implement a standup or begin sending out a Friday update)
Ownership isn't just about getting the job done. It's about getting the job done well.
For example, Ali is one of Cabin's top contributors and is our distribution queen. For Cabin's upcoming podcast launch, she knew our launch plan's definition of done: publishing our first 3 episodes. She then worked backwards to figure out the timeline and the marketing assets needed to do the launch well.
Initiate & share the mental load
Initiate meetings
Coordinate with other contributors and align the moving parts.
Don't wait for a core contributor to give you the mantle of leadership. Just take it.
Ownership doesn't have to be such a heavy lift. It can be as simple as sharing the mental load and answering questions that you already know the answers to.
For example, when I was OOO on a Monday for a Canadian holiday, Philippe — a new contributor to Cabin — jumped in to field questions to share his experience. I can imagine he felt some impostor syndrome typing out these answers, but even then, he saw a need and he filled it.
Be a professional, respect your work & take your contribution seriously
This was something I had to learn myself.
I initially viewed my contribution to Cabin as a hobby. It was supposed to be a stepping stone to a "real" job. As a result, I didn't bother to think about how I worked.
But after a month as a core contributor, I realized that working in Cabin was the real deal for me. The fact that my role felt like more like play and less like work didn't make it any less valuable, professional, or worthy of respect. So I started treating DAO work with the same level of professionalism and discipline that I approached my web2 jobs in the past.
I did a thoughtful makeover of my office setup. I got myself a new MacBook because my old one was frustratingly slow. I bought a a monitor lamp, a swivel arm for my mic, and a monitor stand to make my space neater and nicer.
I also became intentional about my schedule. I showed up for work everyday at regular hours. I batched all my meetings to Mondays and Thursdays and booked off Wednesdays as my thinking and writing days. I even reinstated my Sunday planning ritual to get ahead of the week — something I hadn't done since my university days.
I'm not saying don't have fun or be all web2 stuffy about your DAO contribution — I'm currently typing swiping this from my iPad while lying on the couch — but figure out what it takes for you to do your best work and respect that.
The media guild community call: An ownership case study
What do these principles look like put them together?
I can't think of a better example than Umar, another member of the media guild, who saw a need in our community and filled it, without waiting for my permission or for me to tell him what to do.
For context, Cabin's media guild is the most mature out of all our guilds, but it's the only one that doesn't have a weekly community call. Umar took it upon himself to initiate the call to get everyone on the same page and onboard new media guild contributors:
He initiated a poll to help us decide on a time:
He tagged folks to make sure they saw the event once it was scheduled into Discord:
He also came up with an agenda and a pulse survey to get feedback from everyone:
All I had to do was show up and share updates:
As a core contributor, I'm constantly making sure my contributors feel supported as they increase their responsibilities in the guild. I'm on call on our Discord to make sure everyone's unblocked and able to do their best work. I join as many calls in the guild and across the DAO as possible. I coach and work 1:1 with as many contributors as I can. Thanks to Umar's work, I can focus on these high leverage activities, knowing that the other needs in the guild are being taken care of.
Ownership is hard (but necessary)
There's an owner within every one of us. But making the shift to an ownership mentality is hard. It's risky and exhausting.
On some days, I find it easier to phone it in. I wait for people to tell me what to do, or procrastinate until an impending check-in forces me to work. On these days, I remind myself of this mantra:
"Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life."
I remember that choosing ownership is the hard choice that leads to a better life for myself, for other people in the DAO.
And while ownership of the internet is the great benefit of web3, I’ve observed too many people feel entitled to that privilege without feeling the need to earn it. Instead—to paraphrase John F. Kennedy—let's ask not what ownership of our online communities can do for us, but what ownership lets us do for our communities.