After starting my sports business in my teens, and my second business effort in my early twenties, which was focused on online media and technology (specifically Linux and Open Source), I decided to work for a few companies after graduating from my university. One of the things I learned was that knowledge workers are often are treated like widgets, even when they are the life blood of companies. Part of that I believe is historical.

As we changed from an industrial to post-industrial economy in the U.S., a lot of the managers who were older and in charge, tried to apply old world thinking to new world business. So, you see cubicles and anti-thought activities like open office plans, which seem to save you money per square foot but are documented in books like Peopleware to cost you money in productivity per employee.

I have been fortunate in that most of my career I have had an influential position in the businesses I've been a part of. But in the businesses I worked for, even though I tried to change managers' thoughts about how knowledge workers need to be treated, I wasn't successful fast enough. The good news is that in at least one of the places I worked, they did change their behaviors to help knowledge workers work better; alas, I had left before that change occurred.

The difficulty in being an entrepreneur is that it can be hard to feel at peace when you aren't in the thick of things. The best way to have an impact on the world is to have some control and stake over the end products. It gives you mental ownership but also the chance for both reward and failure. What I saw when I worked for others was I had the illusion of control and ownership; for the time I worked on things, it seemed I was able to make decisions and "own" the work. But the reality is that it has only been true when I have been an actual owner or founder at the companies. People can take away things if you don't have a real say in the process.

That isn't to say that for all people the illusion isn't good enough. That ultimately is one of the differences between entrepreneurs and everyone else. To have a chance at real control over your life you have to be willing to risk the chance you will end up without anything or as much as you started. Of course, not everyone may want to take a chance, and there is nothing wrong with that. In the technology business, you can have a great life just by getting raises and being good at what you do. You just aren't likely to have true control and a true chance at great wealth.

My title is "Love what you do." You need to. You need to love what you do if you are an entrepreneur, employee, or retired and doing things you always wanted. If you end up in a job or activity where you are looking at the clock waiting for the day to end, you need to think about finding something else to do. Sometimes the issue is that you don't think you deserve to be treated better or are afraid of changing because that seems risky.

If you aren't enjoying your work or your activities, then the real risk is the cost of not doing something worthwhile with your limited time versus inaction and having things stay the same and feeling "safe."

But I believe those that will weather this economic storm the best will be those that care about their work because most companies will see that and want to protect those people. Those that care tend to be those that do. It's the doers that will drive things forward. That is true for entrepreneurs, employees and everyone else.

As a last note; because companies that want to have explosive growth have to have people that are passionate about their work, we take a huge amount of effort to make sure people fit (see my Hiring 101 article) both from a skill set point of view but also from attitude and cultural aspects. If it our company's founders or the employees, we want everyone to love what they are doing and it is the company's responsibility and the employees to help that be the case.

Note: Updated 4/22/2009-4/23/2009