You Will Die Someday

According to the Population Reference Bureau, there have been 108,988,552,251 people who have died since the beginning of time.

My favourite Twitter account tweets the same message once a day, every day: “You will die someday.”

Steve Jobs reflected on death in his famous Stanford commencement speech. Shortly before the presentation, Jobs had received the news that he had pancreatic cancer.

“Death is very likely the single best invention of Life - it is Life's change agent,” said Jobs.

Jobs died six years later, but his legacy lives on. Steve Jobs provided an incredible template of doing good business (even though he was also a bit of a dick at times). To this day, his company obsesses on creating products that are ‘insanely great’. Jobs was convinced that focusing on quality would pay off.

It did, and then some. Apple’s share price went from $4 to $400 from 2001 to 2011 while he was CEO. Even after his death, the share price increased by 1200% under his chosen successor Tim Cook.

This month, Heavy Chef is focusing on values and why they’re so important to success. It’s no longer just good enough to be just good enough.

In these confusing times, we have to define what we value, create valuable things and share value with the people we serve.

The capitalist economist Milton Friedman posited in the 1960s and 70s that the aim of businesses is to create shareholder value. His maxims kicked off the ‘Greed is good’ era during the 80s and 90s. His principles are still deployed in business strategies around the world.

It’s becoming clear that Friedman’s 'wealth-creation uber alles’ philosophy is not so relevant anymore. In a fragile world, it is increasingly apparent that we need to create stakeholder value.

Our stakeholders are our customers, our team and our society.

It is hard to do that. It means forgoing short-term profit for long-term value. It means avoiding shortcuts and distractions. It means being intentional about that which you value. These days, it means aligning your values with doing good.

I understand this may sound like idealistic thinking. It is also not always feasible.

However, I’m convinced that it is good business to do good business.

It takes time. Sometimes, it will take the rest of your life. It’s the kind of work that becomes your life’s work. Your vocation. Your calling.

It’s the type of work that will sustain you until you die.

To be clear, this does not mean forgoing profits altogether. You may be surprised how quickly you can create an asset of value by defining your values.

Just ask Robyn Smith, speaker at Heavy Chef’s October entrepreneur event. Robyn started the e-commerce platform Faithful to Nature based upon values-based business. Faithful to Nature is an incredible South African success story. Robyn will tell you that defining worthy values is the best way to do business.

Just ask Ian Fuhr, founder of Sorbet. Just ask Luvuyo Rani, founder of Silulo. Just ask Marlon Parker, founder of RLabs. Just ask Robbie Brozin, founder of Nandos. Just ask Adrian and Barry, founders of Discovery. And so on.

Side note: Check out Robyn’s recipe on Values Based Businesses, on the Heavy Chef learning platform (for Heavy Chef members only) to learn how she built Faithful to Nature. Not a member? Sign up here.

All these business folks showed optimism and the courage to stick to their principles. It has paid off pretty well for them so far.

The psychologist Carl Jung called life a ‘luminous pause between two mysteries’.

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche referred to life as a blip on a ‘recurring, infinite timeline’.

My brother at our sister organisation Heavy Chef Foundation, Louis Janse van Rensburg, refers to life as a ‘time for childlike wonder’.

In other words, the time we spend on this pale blue dot is short, but significant.

We may as well spend that time being a little idealistic, doing stuff that’s valuable, - and that adds value.

You will die someday.

Peace -