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Sharing credit publicly
As mayor, Michael Bloomberg showed up at every announcement and ribbon cutting, said a few words, and stepped back to highlight the good work of other people.
Success has many fathers
Visibility still counts. Success has many fathers and failure is an orphan, so people line up for credit once a risk pays off. Updates on what a division is doing keep a contribution in view, and a review is a place to raise the issue directly.
Pay versus recognition
Pay is a different matter, because agreements are already in place. Money follows what the people involved signed, with perhaps a chance to adjust up or down. A person who isn't recognized in compensation or opportunities may be in a culture that isn't a fit.
Why do people overestimate their own contributions?
Psychologists Michael Ross and Fiore Sicoly documented this in 1979 and called it egocentric bias. In their study, married couples each estimated their share of household tasks, and the percentages from the two partners added up to more than 100. People remember their own effort more vividly than other people's, because they were there for every moment of it. The same pattern shows up in teams, where each member recalls their own work most clearly.
Why is failure called an orphan?
The saying is often traced to Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italy's foreign minister under Mussolini, who wrote in his 1942 diary that victory has a hundred fathers while defeat is an orphan. President John F. Kennedy used a version of it after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. The image is of paternity: everyone claims a successful child and nobody claims one that went wrong. Versions of the proverb appear in several languages.
Why do ceremonies matter to the work behind them?
Ribbon cuttings and announcements give public recognition to work that can take years to complete. Researchers who study organizations find that recognition from leaders is among the strongest motivators for employees, often ranking close to pay in surveys. A leader who names who did the work also tells the rest of the organization what kind of work gets noticed. That signal shapes which projects people volunteer for next.
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