Beauty Present
Ever hear of the quote, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?” Beauty takes many shapes and forms, just like water. With Valentine’s Day this Sunday, today we will explore beauty in business.
Shapes and Forms
If you are fortunate enough to be able to see a winter lake today, you might find a combination of water and ice. What you’re looking at is all the same thing, just in different shapes and forms. Recall water crystallizes a few degrees above zero. It has to do with an adjustment of the hydrogen bonds creating a crystal lattice, otherwise known as ice. This has the effect of ice being less dense than water. Hence it floats. The beauty is that if ice didn’t float, a frozen lake would have ice at its bottom, not on the surface, and you would never be present to it. At the same time there may be clouds in the sky. Guess what? That’s more water now transformed into shapes and forms in the air! Ever see beautiful clouds over a partially frozen lake at sunrise? Is this in the eye of the beholder or is beauty just there waiting to be appreciated?
Beauty in Business
Recently, I was on a client call as the client was presenting to a top tier Venture Capital group. Though I am not a fundraiser, I am fortunate enough to be able to make warm introductions from time to time. Relationships flow together, so to speak. By the end of this particular confluence of inventor and investor, I was moved to tears. I was present to something so beautiful, it took me time to fully grasp it.
My client consists of two highly educated and committed entrepreneurs who collectively have spent over a decade working on Wall Street pricing complex investment products and managing sales for a top tier SaaS company. The work they presented in their demonstration to the VC was exceptional and above and beyond any competitor's product. They grappled with and solved two major issues. First, the pricing of complex investment products has been mostly manual and takes many weeks to complete. Second, there have been moral hazards to bifurcate with no one incentivized to do so. This client recognized the shortcomings of an asset class and decided they were going to leave their high paying, highly respected jobs and create a technology company that addresses both issues elegantly. Risking it all, one of them studied machine learning at a top tier university so that he could develop this new product. You may be wondering, what’s so beautiful about giving up high paying jobs, going back to school, and risking your career on an innovative idea? Let me share with you where beauty comes in.
As the client was demonstrating the product, the passion, love, drive, and their commitment to their body of knowledge was palpable. I noticed myself melting. You ever see something and your immediate thought is, “What have I done with my life?” It was like that. What they built is a long awaited gift for the entire financial industry, not just their particular asset class. There is genius expressed here through their technology. That genius is so beautiful.
How did they do it? They demonstrated what is called DQ: decency quotient. We tend to get caught up with IQ and even EQ. This client is loaded with IQ and EQ. And, they came from gratitude, caring, respect, and a growth mindset for doing right by others. It took a team to build their innovative idea, and teams love leaders with DQ. So naturally they got key industry veterans to support their efforts. It goes to show nothing really extraordinary happens by working alone. Teamwork is beauty in action.
At the end of the presentation, I heard something from the VC that I thought was extraordinary: “This was inspiring.” I don’t think they say that often, and I know they see dozens of new ideas a week. They were clearly moved.
The Presence of Beauty
I often wonder what purpose the purpose of a business serves. Is it for money, fame, and glory? Is it to occupy our time on this planet? Is it to prove something to ourselves or others? Is it just to provide for our families? Is it truly for making a difference? I wonder if maybe the purpose is for our inner beauty to be expressed in the world through our creation. If we are fortunate, something truly inspiring and impactful for humanity gets created. Something of beauty becomes ubiquitous, like ice on a frozen lake at sunrise.
Presents can take many shapes and forms, just like water does, and just like a business can. Following your passions, keeping your eye on the ball for a long period of time, and doing whatever it takes to fulfill your dream may not be the highest probability route to success. If you are willing to take the risk, though, you may be surrounded by beauty the whole time. That beauty may be your own inner beauty. For you, beauty could be present in business and that may be a result worth having in and of itself. Beauty, a present you give yourself.
Here's to you and your awesome future.
Until then, keep your feet on the board and keep riding your wave!
Robert J. Khoury
CEO Agile Rainmakers