Ownership means your next chapter does not require unanimous cooperation.

If your next step requires everyone to agree, cooperate, or come around, you have made your future contingent on a vote that may never pass. Taking ownership means finding the version of forward that you can do without unanimous approval. It is usually a smaller step and an actual one.

Ask what part of your plan depends on other people’s consent and what part does not. Start with the part that does not. Momentum tends to change other people’s positions more effectively than persuasion does.