Lessons learned at Founders
I had the opportunity to attend a conference hosted by David Senra of Founders podcast. of founders, owners, & investors with an obsession of reading biographies this week. Talking to a bunch of biography nerds for two days was incredible.
Here are my top 5 takeaways.
BEAUTY OF REPETITION:
“Repetition doesn’t spoil the prayer.” Repetition is the mother of learning. It’s our job as leaders to share the values & the vision constantly in different ways. Harry Quadracci (Quad Graphics founder): “tell it a thousand times, a thousand different ways, to a thousand different people.”
David Senra shared: “Brains are forgetting machines.” We need to constantly remind ourselves and our teammates.
Whatever is deemed important must be repeated.
Founder of AG1 (“Athletic Greens”) – Chris Ashenden
Chris had a long journey to creating the AG1 going from eviction & bankruptcy to the company endorsed by Tim Ferriss, Andrew Hubermann, etc.
His advice to his younger self:
Be more bold
Master leadership
Focus on recruiting
The above three tenets go hand-in-hand to achieving a big vision that Century has.
Bold - We only get 4,000 weeks to lean into our God given potential.
Leadership – walk alongside each other to get where we need to go.
Recruiting – find incredible people to join the journey.
COMPOUND TRUST
Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger were strong believers in the power of compounding. Einstein coined the term: “Compounding is the 8th wonder of the world.”
Warren Buffett realized 23 years into his journey of building Berkshire Hathaway that he needed to be more discerning in the people he interacted with and how he interacted. Buffett wrote in his 1985 shareholder letter that he would “work with people that he liked, trusted, & admired.” Life’s too short to compromise.
Buffett’s partner, Munger, affirmed his focus on trust: “Trust is the greatest economic force in the world.” Trust is the foundation for any team or partnership to be effective.
Imagine building an organization with a focus on COMPOUNDING TRUST. I think that looks like a team that is aligned, discussing real issues, and willing to run through a brick wall for each other.
ROLES OF CAPTIAL
The beauty of a family business is that capital can be viewed through a lens that shows depth. Capital can be viewed from a generational perspective rather than quarterly.
Most companies look at capital solely through a financial lens: MONEY.
The full list of Capital:
FINANCIAL Capital (money)
HUMAN Capital (talent)
EMOTIONAL Capital (relationships)
SPIRITUAL Capital (peace)
PHYSICAL Capital (health)
When capital is fully appreciated and allocated appropriately… the FINANCIAL Capital intentionally fuels the rest of the types capital (arguably the more important forms).
LIFE’S WORK
Picasso stated: “the meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”
It is so important to put context around how we spend our time at work. Life is meant to be shared. I believe the common thread of our gifts are in service to others.
As leaders, we are given an extraordinary opportunity to uplift our teammates. We technically have at least 40x more opportunities than a pastor might have to influence a person. (1 hour at church vs. 40+ hours at work.)
Taking time to reflect on our gifts and our opportunities to infuse meaning into how we show up in our career can lead to magic.
Leaning into our life’s work creates passion. “Passion is infectious.”
With passion, comes quality. “The thing you can’t unsee is quality.”
Quality always wins in the long run.
Thank you for allowing me to do my life’s work alongside you.
Onward,
Matt