I recently posted on my blog, vcconfidential, a great piece from Aaron Levie, the founder and CEO of Box.net. In essence, he talks about the important of the purpose/reason of what you are doing. Without a sense of purpose beyond making money, flipping your company or being involved with a hip company, you will eventually come to dread your role/job.
"As I thought about it more, I realized it was the mission we were on that compelled me to keep at it...As best as I can tell, this is the most important factor – in addition to the people that you work with every day – that separates going into the office and dreading your job or having the time of your life."
Great companies come from great missions and sense of purpose.
The best missions, it would seem, are those keep you cranking day after day. They’re ambitious, improbable, and fundamentally thrilling. Some of the loftiest are missions that can never quite be fulfilled. Google’s famously is “to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Starbucks wants to “inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.” Whole Foods believes that“companies, like individuals, must assume their share of responsibility as tenants of Planet Earth.” -- Be on a Mission that Doesn't Suck (Levie)
What is your firm's mission (not something like being the best at selling xyz but something aspirational like the above)? If you don't have one/know it, time to get crackin'...
