Why does your business exist? Is it to make money? Or is there a higher motive? The answer will define its culture and longevity.
This key question was the focus of episode 28 of the Traction Heroes podcast. It was prompted by the following fragment from Beyond the Book, an essay by Tim O’Reilly:
I like to compare business (or life for that matter) to an extended road trip. Say you want to travel America by the back roads. You need gas for your car, food and water for your body Especially before heading across Death Valley or the Utah salt flats, you’d better be darn sure that you have enough gas in your tank. But you certainly don’t think of your trip as a tour of gas stations! What’s the real purpose behind what you do?
Why then do so many companies think that they are just in the business of making money? At O’Reilly, our products aren’t just books, conferences, and web sites: they are tools for conveying critical information to people who are changing the world. Our product is also the lives of the people who work for us, the customers who are changed as a result of interacting with us, and all the “downstream effects” of what we do.
When I started the company, my stated business goal was a simple one: “Interesting work for interesting people.” Above all, we wanted to be useful. Our financial goals were just to keep afloat while doing something worthwhile.
This metaphor of a business as something more than a “tour of gas stations” has influenced my life and career. But I suspect many people see gas as an end in itself. I wanted Harry’s take, and our conversation didn’t disappoint. (Turns out Harry worked at O’Reilly!)
We’re probing our deepest values through the show. I hope these conversations are as valuable to you as they are to me. (If they are, please leave a review in your favorite podcast app — it helps the show!)