Building Your Business Grounded in Culture
Over the course of my career, I have had the pleasure of working for several good organizations. When I reflect to what differentiated between a good organization and a not so good organization, it boiled down to the people and culture. The great people were attracted to an organization with a strong and perhaps unique culture, and with those great people the strong culture was reinforced. Despite enjoying a positive experience and embracing the culture of each organization I had worked for, I always felt that not all aspects of the culture aligned with my personal beliefs and values. And that is not to say my personal beliefs and values were superior to that of the organization, they were just not always aligned. I suspect this might be the case with many folks.
Given where I am in the stage of my career, my priorities have changed. It is no longer about maximizing my personal wealth, seeking status, or trying to outrun impostor syndrome. It is about happiness and contentment. It is about changing the world. It is about leaving this planet a better place for my children and my children’s children. It is a vision for Canada.
When I decided to build Maverix Private Equity, I wrote a white paper espousing my core beliefs and how those beliefs would be at the root of building an organization from the ground up. Central to the white paper thesis are 5 Founding Principles which lay the foundation of how our investees, our employees, and our investors are to be treated. I was hoping that these 5 Founding Principles would form the bond or the “social contract” with which our employees would commit to one another and our stakeholders.
My challenge was — could we build an organization from culture up? Could we build an organization in which the principles that align with my personal beliefs and values align with other individuals who wanted to join our organization? It was not clear to me whether it was possible, but one thing is for sure, I was sure as heck going to try.
I always felt that for many organizations, culture is something that many of the leaders would say, but did they really mean it? In many cases, it is treated as an after-thought and shifts constantly depending on what is the flavour of the month. In particular, I do find it odd when management designates the responsibility for culture to a single individual and one that might not even have real influence or power in the organization. Culture is like the blockchain — it is not centrally owned and managed, but everyone on that chain has a responsibility to build it.
It has been 10 months since we officially launched Maverix Private Equity and I am pleased to report that it is in fact possible to build an organization from culture up. We are not ready to declare victory yet, nor is it easy. We are still at the stage of aligning our daily “norms” with our principles, but we have made tremendous progress. As a first step, each prospective employee of Maverix Private Equity was assessed against these principles, and we mutually determined if we are fully aligned at the outset. Once our team was formed, together we have commenced a journey to flesh out how we “live” the Founding Principles.
Here they are:
1. Entrepreneurs are our partners
· We think as big as the entrepreneurs with whom we engage
· We do the right thing and we do things right
· We are visibly passionate about our business and theirs
· We are robustly resilient
· We collaborate to win
2. Opportunity is generated by innovation
· We’re curious and hungry to know more
· We are principals — we make the hard decisions
· We see the bigger picture by connecting the dots
· We acknowledge and support ambiguity
· We make speed a priority
3. Challenging the status quo is grounded in our values
· We don’t hide — we encourage each other to be disruptors
· We are radically candid — if we see it, we say it
· We are not deferential to authority or position
· We are all-in all the time — every day is game day
· We are confident and humble in equal measure
4. Respect, transparency, and freedom from judgement
· We respect and celebrate each other for the diversity we bring at every level
· We walk our talk — we earn trust through consistent excellence
· We bring our whole selves to work — we’re authentic and fully expressed
· Our deep empathy plus radical candour equals a safe environment for constructive dissent
· We sustain discipline on every deal
5. Having fun!
· We relish the challenge — that’s why we signed up
· We have fun in up and down times
· We make it easy and exciting to work with us
· We take the work, not ourselves, seriously
· We’re at our best in the crunch moments
It is still a long road ahead of us, but as one sage Canadian has said “Life is a highway. I wanna ride it all night long. If you’re going my way, I wanna drive it all night long.”
John Ruffolo,
Founder & Managing Partner | Maverix Private Equity
