Dear Tino,
Homothumadon.
This is a word I first heard about eight years ago when I was still relatively new to the startup world. The previous CEO at Flipp, as you may remember, was a bit of a military nut. He loved using military stories and references to reinforce the startup culture he was trying to build at the time.
“Homothumadon” means to “rush along” and “in unison”. As the ex-CEO used to tell it during our company all-hands, it is a mentality instilled in many special forces around the world to remind them that to achieve their objectives, they must move forward as one unit and, perhaps more importantly, to never leave anyone behind.
At this point, our readers might be thinking “Jeez that’s intense for a Monday morning company meeting!” It was, but it also resonated with me deeply not only because it is a fun word to say (along with “Toblerone”), but also the sentiment of building camaraderie and working hard to maintain it is one I think we need to be constantly reminded of.
The companies and their leadership teams remind their employees often to work together to achieve goals — sales targets, product metrics, financial outcomes. Having been in leadership positions for the past nine-plus years, I’m not going to pretend that’s not true. Of course it is. We all have a financial incentive for our companies to do well. Many of us, and I’d like to think especially those of us who signed up for the pre-IPO startup jobs, did it for a big payday in the end. Let’s be honest, we all want to make bank and go home, don’t we?
And there’s nothing wrong with that. But money is a reason to take a job. It’s rarely the reason you stay.
The more I do this, I’m actually finding what’s giving me joy and energy is the people around me. It’s the partnerships and camaraderie building that makes going to work and doing what I do more fulfilling. Yes it’s about the work, and helping the business. I love what I do. But at some point, it’s starting to be less about me and doing it for me, and more about doing it and showing up for others. It’s for my work bestie who I know would do the same for me, for my boss who I respect and admire, for the colleagues that are in the trenches with me day in and day out, and for my teams whose wellbeing I now feel a sense of personal responsibility over.
Because at the end of the day, as we continue to face the dizzying speed of change thanks to the onslaught of AI tools, it’s the people who matter that matter.
So to answer the question you asked at the end of your letter “Is there someone in your life that you want to show up for in a better way?”
For each other.
From trying to spell “camaraderie” without spellcheck,
Dave
P.S. As if she knew what this letter was going to be about, my good friend Leya texted me this clip over the weekend. Invest in the relationship. Build the camaraderie. Learn to be a friend.