Building a successful business involves trial and error. Fortunately, there are plenty of books about entrepreneurship that can help you further. In The golden reading tip, entrepreneurs talk about the book that has brought them the most. This week Iwein Fuld, who founded software company Squads.
- Entrepreneur: Iwein Fuld
- Businesses: Squads and Food Forest Gnomes
- Reading tip: Peace is every step by Thich Nhat Hanha
The tipping point came when he once again got stuck in a traffic jam. Iwein Fuld had been a software consultant for years and was stuck on the A2. All around he saw only cars, mostly with one person and a laptop bag in them. He thought it incomprehensible that we transport data in this way. This can only be done via fiberglass.
Fuld quit his job and started his own business. Since then, he has only worked from home, managing teams of software developers from all over the world. At Squads, those teams also determine themselves what they get paid.
Why did you choose Thich Nhat Hanh’s book as a golden reading tip?
“I once had a discussion with a colleague in India about the background of meditation. I thought it was too little in-depth and he recommended this book to me. It helped me implement the ideas I had for my business even better. .”
“Basically, the book is about living from love, instead of fear and greed. We are often brought up in such a way that we think that everyone acts from selfishness and self-preservation. That is not the case. If you approach people from love and equality, you get you get very different outcomes.”
How have you applied that insight to your business?
“I already wanted a sociocratic company, where teams manage themselves and are jointly responsible for major business decisions. When we take on a project, everyone can indicate his or her contribution in a file. At the end we discuss whether this is a fair distribution and present we bill to the customer.”
Won’t you then become unaffordable?
“When people are responsible together, you can rest assured that they will not take more than they need. Because our employees live all over the world, there are big differences in living costs. Employees in India and Bangladesh need much less money to pay the rent than someone in Canada. They let that be reflected in the pay. So it may be that the employee in Canada earns twice as much as teammates who agree.”
“I don’t want to be a wise dad who decides everything but leave everything to the teams as much as possible.”
Iwein Fuld
Would you have handled this differently without the book?
“I think the model would have become much more measurable then, with hourly rates and livelihood figures in different countries. Now people just decide for themselves. I don’t want to be a wise dad who decides everything but leave everything to the teams as much as possible.”
Who would you recommend the book to?
“To everyone who decides every day about actions that affect others or nature. We live with a lot of people on a planet that sometimes seems too small. If everyone who thinks about that would read this book first, some problems would already be solved. be less. The book helps you behave more lovingly and less harmfully.”