My pending fiscal conflict

I own a small (very small) portion of the company I work for. However minute, I'm of the mindset of asking a simple question when making a capital decision: if this was my money (which a percentage of it is) would I make the same decision?

This question is important because it's my belief companies are wasting millions, if not billions, of dollars on capital decisions that leaders would otherwise avoid making if they were spending their own money. I think business professors call this a fiscally influenced moral conflict (or something like that).

I'm bringing this up because next week I'm going to be given an assignment that as a capital owner, I feel conflicted about. That is, I'm going to be asked to spend time on a task that I don't feel is beneficial to me as an owner. It's going to be a waste of money.

But I've got to do it (or most likely one of my colleagues will) because our leadership expects it. And they expect it because it's politically sensitive, not because it's beneficial to the company.

Look around you and ask yourself, "if this was my company, with my money, would I recommend doing all the things we're doing?"