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Profit Cannot Be the Purpose
Leadership / Advice
Profit is oxygen, not the reason to breathe.
The Idea
A company needs profit to survive, just like a person needs oxygen. But no one's purpose in life is to breathe.
Companies that exist only to make money:
- Struggle to attract mission-driven talent.
- Make short-term decisions that hurt long-term value.
- Have no compass for hard choices.
- Feel hollow to work at.
What Purpose Does
- Guides decisions when trade-offs arise.
- Attracts people who believe in the mission.
- Creates resilience during hard times.
- Gives meaning to daily work.
For Engineering Leaders
- Connect engineering work to user impact, not revenue.
- "We're building this to help X" is more motivating than "we need to hit Y revenue."
- Purpose doesn't mean ignoring business reality - it means business reality serves a bigger goal.
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