Ryan Stemen, MBA

Why taking ownership of your skills, mindset, and outcomes changes everything

There’s value in taking ownership.

Often we go to down the hall to ask the in-house Oracle of all knowledge. The man or woman who knows how to get things done around the office.

However, when was the last time you took on the ownership and figured out the tricky issue yourself?

Why can’t you be the Oracle of unique knowledge in the office or even in your own life? The doer, the achiever, and the teacher who helps others because you’ve tackled the thorny tasks that no one wants to handle.

Looking inward at your own skills, talents, and abilities.

Radical self-reliance isn’t about going it alone; it’s about building a foundation within yourself so strong that every external influence becomes a choice, not a crutch. It’s the difference between reacting to circumstances and responding to them with intention. And it’s a mindset I’ve leaned into both in the marathon of tax tech and the marathon of life.

Early in my career—navigating complex tax audits or rolling out new tax provision software within Fortune 1,000 companies at scale—I learned that no one else would move the needle for me. Sure, success often comes hand-in-hand with others, but only if you first set your own agenda. That meant mastering the core tools, understanding the system’s mechanics, and stepping into the unknown before someone else had to push me. This kind of proactive ownership turned big, ambiguous projects into predictable outcomes and in turn enhancement my unique niche knowledge within tax, software, and ERP systems.

Sometimes that meant failure and setbacks too. You’d go into situations with nothing but your own fortitude and willpower but not a manager in sight to back you up if the going got tough. Often the going got tough during weekend busy seasons and late night projects – it came down to you against the clock. In those tough stretches your will power is test, but so is your resolve to be self reliant.

Radical self-reliance starts with your own strengths and gaps. What are you truly good at? And just as importantly, where do you need to learn? I’ve always leaned on structured learning—whether an MBA course or a deep dive into automation techniques taught by industry leaders—to close those gaps. The goal isn’t perfection, but clarity of outcomes. When you know your operating system inside and out, you stop outsourcing your confidence, and start trusting your own capacity and compounded experiences on the job.

This mindset also redefines risk. If you’re accountable to yourself first, failing becomes a data point—not a verdict.

In leadership, I encourage teams to embrace intelligent risk: test a new process, pilot a tool, challenge convention, or use AI to enhance a process. But before you do, you own the outcome. Radical self-reliance is about building that muscle: “I’ll try it. I’ll learn from it. I’ll adjust.” It’s a lesson as true in tax technology as it is in marathon training.

When I volunteer on nonprofit boards or mentor students, the value of self-reliance becomes clear. People gravitate to those who show up prepared, show up often, who don’t wait for someone else to define the work, who understand the scope and do the hard thinking upfront with leader and stakeholders in mind. That’s not being a lone wolf; that’s being dependable. When you take ownership, others—from teammates to stakeholders—have the freedom to do high-impact work too.

So where does one start? Here are three practical steps:

1. Audit your toolkit: What skills and knowledge do you rely on daily? What’s missing?

2. Create a learning backlog: Set quarterly goals to build what’s missing—courses, mentors, experiments.

3. Own the outcome: Before tackling a project or challenge, define what success looks like—and accept responsibility before others cheer.

Ultimately, radical self-reliance isn’t a solo journey—it’s the compass within every collaboration, team, and system. It’s the reason you’re not just an actor in your industry—you’re a builder of new possibilities. Whether automating tax workflows, leading remote teams, or crossing the finish line of your 17th marathon, it starts with one question: “Can I show up as the person I want to be?” Answer that with ownership—and everything else follows.

What I’ve learned is that self-reliance isn’t the rejection of help—it’s the ability to stand strong before you ask for it. It’s the foundation that lets you partner, lead, and grow without dependence. And it’s liberating. You start to move through the world with less fear and more focus. You trust yourself to adapt. To learn. To lead from wherever you stand.

So the next time you feel stuck—at work, in leadership, or in life—don’t look around. Look within.

Can you swiftly resolve this problem rather than recreating the wheeling and involving the entire department?

What can you do today to move forward without permission?

What knowledge, skill, or mindset can you build that will serve you no matter the system or team?

That’s the heart of radical self-reliance. And once you cultivate it, you never walk into a room unsure of your value again.