In leading others, we must first lead ourselves

At my son’s school the head teacher, Terry Macaluso, wrote in a recent article that their “mission is our north star – but what we do with it is our culture.”  And just like that she perfectly encapsulated the value of culture and its impact on the school’s success through its people.  Without the teachers, the administrative staff and the students, the school’s mission would just be another north star offering the sense of possibilities but delivering no value to its community beyond.  To bring life to the possibilities there must be a collective sense of purpose and engagement where all parties are aligned through the values espoused and lived by the example of the school’s population.

This underscores the importance of culture in bringing success to any endeavor of significance or impact.  At AstrumU, we are no different than any other startup aspirant wanting to find a path to success and sustainability.  We have our mission in wanting to “level the playing field” by quantifying the value of learning and working experiences to enable individuals to secure economic advancement.  It is a bold ambition, and we are asking people to join us on this mission knowing that it will take time, treasure, and talent to get us to the end destination.

Time and treasure are fixed items in the journey of a business.  You never have enough time and there is always a need to remain “frugal” in how we manage our treasure.  But, with talent, you have the magic.  This is the juice that can make the difference to literally touch the heavens in pursuit of our north star.  It is here that culture and our values have the greatest impact in shaping the team’s belief in the possibility of securing our mission’s objective.

Like many other companies, we talk about the value of our culture, and we look for ways to illustrate its impact in our daily activities, whether this is by “over communicating” with each other – directly or seeking the “scrapper mindset” within ourselves to punch above our weight class.  We expect it to be a part of the team’s DNA in helping us do more with less, while reaching for our north star despite the perceived impossibility of the outcome.

Our mission also comes with tremendous challenges and uncertainty in how we can overcome these obstacles.  That is the essence of the startup experience.  One that is fraught with ambiguity, conflicting priorities and, yes, not enough data!  We never sugar coat this fact of the work or the startup experience when we look to bring our culture to life on this journey.

This is the essence of AstrumU’s own leadership journey, where we emotionally and literally help our people process and progress from one place to another.  However, in leading others, we must first lead ourselves.  We cannot expect those around us to change if we are unable to look in the mirror and seek to change personally.  We will never be able to transform a team, organization, or an industry without transforming ourselves.  

We do this by living our cultural values where we place “employee’s first,” thereby developing “circles of trust” through our actions, while looking to them to develop a sense of “entrepreneurial ownership.”   We look to employees to own their outcomes with a “bias for action” that seeks to learn quickly from our mistakes so we can succeed faster.

As you read through the article, it will become apparent that culture is where our experiences and beliefs come together, so we can draw on them to hit the challenges head on and deliver on the promise we know exists with our business even though it is not clearly visible to us.  Together, at AstrumU, we can accomplish the impossible and change the world for everyone by quantifying the value of education and experience that will open possibilities for the many – truly an impact that is beyond measure as we enable everyone to find success in their economic mobility.  This can only come from what we do within our ability to live by our culture.

/ Kaj Pedersen, CTO

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