At the latest TechTO, Integrate.ai founder spoke on the ways founders could put some ‘soul’ into their businesses.
Just as no one can declare themselves “cool,” Irvine said that no one can declare that their business has soul. The former Facebook executive said he spends the majority of his time now defining what his business is going to be about. To him, the concept around “business soul” is what you do when no one is looking, together with what you do when everyone is looking.
Irvine explained the building blocks for bringing soul into a business, which include an understanding of mission, vision, values, and beliefs.
The mission is why the business exists and the ambition behind the goal, while the vision is how to get to that mission in a unique way.
“The values and beliefs are how you are going to operate when you get there. This is how you expect everybody to operate in the business on your journey to accomplish the mission,” said Irvine. When these building blocks are clearly articulated, people will want to join.
He stressed the importance of investing in the mission and values early, since young entrepreneurs especially seem to disregard these building blocks.
“I get the impression that some of this stuff seems fluffy and soft. And they [entrepreneurs] want to be shipping stuff and they want to be out pitching and they want to be making sales,” said Irvine. “This is the stuff that’s gonna have people gravitate to your business and want to stay with you on this journey.”
Watch the full presentation below:
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