investing in Uber was probably his worst mistake. After validating your ideas with different bright people, follow your gut. Do you have an epiphany? Do you feel that you are ready to jump with both feet? Go ahead and take the leap.
4. Balance purpose with profit (and vice versa) Change is what happens when we are busy making (action) plans. Elena Valentine, founder of Skill Scout has a dream: to make recruiting more human by providing tools for young and currently overlooked people to find a job that’s up to their true potential. “Your dreams should scare the s… out of you,” she told our team, “What keeps me awake at night is that I’m crazy enough to think that I can change the world”. While consulting with startups, I’ve experienced both sides of the spectrum: those who focus on achieving a greater purpose and those who simply want to make money. But finding the balance between having a big impact and economic viability is critical. John Wellehan said it best: “If you are not making money, it doesn’t matter what your goals are because you won’t be in business for too long.”
A good approach is to define your long-term purpose and then set quick wins. Don’t try to change the world all at once, focus on something specific that you can affect like a sub-segment or region. You don’t need to do it alone. Join forces with someone who desires a similar impact but has a different solution. Then go and change the world, one quick win at a time. Change is what happens when we are busy making (action) plans. Jump into it, do it, there’s always time for correcting the course. You don’t need to become an entrepreneur to behave like one.
I hope our learnings inspire you to become a change agent at your organization. At LAPIZ, we are always encouraging our team to have a “hacker mentality,” to take initiative to improve our workplace rather than simply being a spectator. As Elena Valentine said: “There’s no freer feeling than paving your own way. You are a pioneer of your own life. Now that’s awesome and something to be grateful for.”