Where did this pervasive sense of entitlement in our culture come from? I’ve written about this before, but I was surprised again recently at a conference for startups when a couple of entrepreneurs started berating investors for their low rate of funding for early-stage startups. It sounded a bit like other special interest groups crying for their entitled government programs.
As a society, we seem to think we’ve evolved to the point where we can fashion a large portion of existence according to how we wish it to be. We notice what we like and what we dislike, so we work to make society match our dreams. Somehow, these dreams and wishes have morphed in many people’s mind to an entitlement.
In later-stage businesses, entitlement is evident when employees treat customers with indifference or feel they are entitled to their job by merely “showing up for work.” Here are some examples of people rationalizing their entitlements, especially when the fantasy serves to owe them money or power:
- “I put in more hours than most of the people here, so I expect a bonus.” A bonus should be all about results, not time worked. We all know people who seem to be always present and always working, but don’t produce results. People with entitlement expect bonuses because it is bonus time, not because recipients earned them.
- “We deserve our high pay since it was the other division that failed.” We heard this from many of the Wall Street groups that survived a couple of years ago only with government bail-outs. A company succeeds only if all the teams succeed. That’s the way capitalism works. Being really good at what you do doesn’t matter if your firm is broke.
- “The pay seems to be the same whether I work hard or not.” No business can afford to reward mediocrity or less. Watch for the signs of entitlement and let it be known that the behaviors associated with entitlement will not be tolerated. Executives need to show up be the model, communicate the model, and enforce the model.
- “I did my job, so don’t expect me to jump when customers complain.” Employees don’t see a connection between how the experience a customer receives today influences their feelings about buying from the company in the future. Make sure they understand the sense of urgency to address customer satisfaction and market needs.
- “I give my all to this company, so I deserve better healthcare coverage.” Health care is a need, like water or food, and not a right. And like water or food, it isn’t free. Every company needs to promote equity among all employee levels, and relate benefit levels to profit levels. But demanding benefits that sink the company is not the answer.
- “Someday this business will be mine anyway.” How many family businesses have met their demise because of this entitlement view? When heirs grow up believing that no matter how they act, the business will be theirs to run, they often end up with no business to run. Furthermore, once that seed is planted, it’s very difficult to stop it.
Entitlement beliefs that are left unchecked lead to selfish, even more entitled expectations. Most psychologists believe that entitlement comes from a deep inner belief that the world is not fair. In Gen-Y, this feeling seems even more common, perhaps derived from a life where their parents gave them everything, and they now expect the world of business to do the same.
We’ve got to remind everyone – employees and company executives – that true success and leadership is built on a foundation of personal responsibility and self-discipline. Companies which feel entitled about their position in the marketplace will lose, and entitled employees will kill a company.
Few things frustrate me more than dealing with people who feel they are entitled. No one is entitled to be entitled. Everyone shares the challenge of changing our culture of entitlement into a culture of merit. I do believe everyone is entitled to pursue success. But success itself, or even funding for your startup, is not an entitlement. But good luck does often come from hard work. Try it.