I’m 52, and I think I’ve finally decided what I want to do with the rest of my working life.
First of all, I will continue building my company to outlive me. More importantly, I want our work ethics, based on fairness, inclusivity, respect, adequate salaries, and #sustainability, to positively influence other companies of any kind. Technology, vision, purpose, and knowledge provide us with the tools to finally move beyond the era where muscular, life-depriving, consumeristic work ethics were the dominant mentality.
1) We aim to do our part to leave a better world behind us. This includes respecting our workers’ physical and mental health, creating inclusive, accessible products, using carbon-neutral technologies to develop our work, and being fair to the people we work for while being honest with their users. As small as we may be, we take full responsibility for the consequences of our actions.
2) The toxic #consumerist culture of “it’s for tomorrow” exists because we allow it. 90% of problems and burnouts occur due to meaningless deadlines.
3) If you want to work with us, it’s about how you work, not who you are: you can be a mother, a migrant, straight, queer, asexual, anyone. The only thing we will judge is the quality of your work.
4) Working 24/7 is merely a consequence of poor project management and is highly discouraged in our company, where everyone stops at 17:00 no matter what.
5) There are no bosses, no rockstars, no egos in the office. I consult my workers all the time before making decisions: that’s realism. My mantra is asking, “Is what I’m saying making any sense?”
6) We pay for our workers’ education, or we provide it during regular working hours: asking your employees to study in their personal time for your own profit is evil.
7) We don’t have a “company WhatsApp group” because it “kinda feels faster”. We use Slack, and our workers are not allowed to use it outside of working hours. If you have a WhatsApp group with your workers, you’re invading their time.
8 ) We avoid fake team-building corporate happiness nonsense like the plague: when we thought about having a pre-Christmas lunch (lunch, not dinner, because you surely have relatives or friends you prefer more than us), we held an anonymous poll on Slack. Enjoy your time as you wish, you’ve well earned it.
9) We protect our workers’ privacy. We fired a very famous customer when we discovered he was trying to contact one of our workers to get things done “without telling us”.
10) I might be the most important asset of my company. I surely am its highest point of failure.
Always seek advice from people better than you. It can only improve things.
Where do I see myself in ten years from now? I honestly hope that by then, Ensoul will have a far better CEO than me and I will still be part of it in a different role. If your grand plan is just being THE BOSS, your dreams look pretty childish to me.
It’s our time to shape the future and to make this world a healthier place.
