What matters

Note: I wrote the following in an internal email to the team here at Sovrn.

A big perk of my job as CEO is I get to meet with all sorts of interesting people. Many of the people I meet are fellow entrepreneurs, CEOs, and aspiring company leaders.

A few weeks ago I saw this:

In other words, build something you're deeply passionate about that solves an important problem for someone else.  And as the tweet above points out... the critical piece here is that the motivation to attack a problem comes from within. This, I believe, is how you put yourself on the path to making a dent.

I read this article recently. It's well worth your time.

We each have a vision, passions, and interests of what we want to be true. These are the thoughts and ideas that matter most to each of us.  It's when we have the courage to act on those passions that we create the conditions necessary to make a dent in our universe. The dents we each make can range from developing a great new feature, to establishing a great design, to launching a whole new product, a new business model, or perhaps even a whole new business!

I couldn't imagine working as hard, or making the sacrifices necessary to make that dent, without the intrinsic motivation and drive that comes from true personal passion for the project.

When I talk with those entrepreneurs, CEOs, or aspiring company leaders, this is the #1 thing they all share.  The courage and conviction to pursue their passion. To identify an opportunity at the root of a problem, and then to have the courage and make the sacrifices necessary to make a dent. Yes you have to work hard. Yes you have to treat every setback as an opportunity to learn. Yes you have to push through the first level thinking to truly understand. Yes you have to operate with less time, less money, and less resources.

What we do here at Sovrn matters deeply to me.  I'm interested in what matters to you.