Summary:
- Concept of company maturity.
- Most founders, when they start a company, start it because they see some kind of economical opportunity, a way to make money for themselves, and a business is a sensible way to structure this.
- As the opportunity grows, business grows, they will bring other people in, and structure the business accordingly – but at that point it’s still about making money for the founders/shareholders.
- Such a strong idea, that it’s been enshrined in law in some parts of the world.
- But there is another step to take: to think of the business not just as a money-making operation, but as something that has a life of its own.
- Laloux mentions that if you really think of the company as a living organisation, the idea of “ownership” starts to feel alien.
- Ownership is still relevant, but less clear, more ambiguous.
- This is a transformation we’re going through in GrantTree at the moment.
- GrantTree hasn’t been about making money for Paulina and I for quite a while now, but it’s starting to be more clear, more explicit, that this company needs to include all the people who work there in determining its direction. This can’t happen without the input of the people who will be driving it there.
- This has been happening for example in a currently ongoing discussion in the company about what “fair pay” is.
- In most small businesses, there is this huge tension between the owners/shareholders and the people running/working in the company. The owners are trying to minimise the pay, the people working there are trying to maximise it. This causes a never-ending tug-of-war.
- If you look at the way more mature companies function, they should not be about a constant conflict between those two sides, but about everyone working together to try and figure out how we can make the most out of this business together.
- Very difficult idea to get across. I probably still need to spend some time thinking about. I do find it fascinating though, so I thought I’d share it.
- Do you have any thoughts, anything else you think I should talk about? Please let me know via Twitter, email or otherwise!