Your Mission: Help People

If you're running a company or starting one, or if you're working in a company and thinking about your career, I want you to understand something fundamental: your mission is to help people. Not yourself. Others.

This isn't about being walked on or being a doormat. This is about recognizing that your success—whether personal, professional, or financial—is entirely dependent on how well you serve others. Your money doesn't matter. Your status doesn't matter. Your comfort doesn't matter. What matters is the impact you have on the people around you.

Put Others First, Never Yourself

When I'm building a company or evaluating who I want to work with, I look for one thing above all else: do they put others first? This is the value I push forward in my company, and it's the standard I hold for everyone I work with.

People who put themselves first create toxic environments. They make decisions based on what's best for them, not what's best for the team, the customers, or the mission. They hoard information, take credit, avoid difficult conversations, and prioritize their own comfort over the success of others.

People who put others first? They're the ones who build lasting companies. They make decisions that might be harder for them personally but better for everyone else. They share knowledge freely, give credit where it's due, have the difficult conversations, and prioritize the success of others over their own comfort.

This Applies to Everything

It doesn't matter what you're doing:

• Building a company? How are you helping your employees grow? How are you helping your customers solve real problems? How are you helping your investors achieve their goals?
• Working in a company? How are you helping your teammates succeed? How are you helping your manager look good? How are you helping your customers get value?
• Raising a family? How are you helping your children become independent, capable adults? How are you helping your partner achieve their goals?
• Building a friend group? How are you helping your friends through their challenges? How are you making their lives better?

The context changes, but the mission doesn't: help others.

Be Smart, Not Selfish

This doesn't mean you should be a martyr or let people walk all over you. Being smart about your time and energy is actually part of helping others effectively.

If you burn yourself out trying to help everyone with everything, you won't be able to help anyone long-term. If you say yes to every request, you'll end up doing mediocre work for everyone instead of excellent work for the people who matter most.

The key is understanding that taking care of yourself is a means to helping others, not an end in itself. You need to maintain your capacity to help. You need to protect your time so you can focus on the highest-impact ways to serve others. You need to set boundaries not to protect yourself, but to ensure you can continue to be useful to others.

Long-Term Value Over Short-Term Help

Short-term help feels good. It's easy. You solve someone's immediate problem, they're grateful, you feel helpful. But it's often not the best way to actually help them.

Long-term help is harder. It requires thinking about what someone really needs, not just what they're asking for. It means having difficult conversations. It means sometimes saying no to what they want so you can help them get what they need.

When you're building a company, think about the long-term:

• Your employees: Years from now, will they look back and think you helped them grow, or that you used them? Will they be better off for having worked with you, or will they have just been a means to your success?
• Your customers: Years from now, will they think you genuinely helped them solve their problems, or that you just sold them something? Will they recommend you because you made their lives better, or because you were good at marketing?
• Your investors: Years from now, will they think you helped them achieve their goals, or that you just took their money? Will they want to work with you again because you delivered value, or because you were lucky?

The people who put others first think in these terms. They make decisions based on how they'll be remembered years from now, not how they'll be perceived today.

The Company You Build

If you're starting a company, this should be your foundation. Every decision should start with: "How does this help others?"

Not "How does this help me make money?" Not "How does this help me look good?" Not "How does this help me avoid conflict?"

How does this help: - Your customers solve their problems? - Your employees grow and succeed? - Your investors achieve their goals? - Your community become better?

When you build a company on this foundation, you attract people who share these values. You build a culture where putting others first is the norm, not the exception. You create something that lasts because it's built on genuine value creation, not self-interest.

The People You Work With

If you're working in a company, this should be your approach. Every day, ask yourself: "How can I help others today?"

Help your teammates solve their problems. Help your manager look good. Help your customers get value. Help your company succeed.

When you consistently put others first, people notice. They want to work with you. They trust you. They give you opportunities because they know you'll use them to help others, not just yourself.

This is the kind of person I want to work with. This is the kind of person who builds great companies. This is the kind of person who creates lasting value.

Your Mission

Your mission, whether you're building a company or working in one, is to help people. Put others first, always. Be smart about how you do it, but never lose sight of the fundamental truth: your success is measured by how well you serve others, not by how well you serve yourself.

Years from now, when people look back on their time with you, what will they think? Will they think you helped them? Will they think you made their lives better? Will they think you put them first?

That's what matters. That's your mission.