Every business needs a strong mission. A purpose beyond profit. A reason for being. A reason for leaders to push the boundaries of what’s possible and something that makes their employees want to get up in the morning to go to work.
In my experience, when a company has a mission that’s untainted by bias and self-interest, great things happen. Likeminded employees respond to this shared purpose that unifies them; it motivates them and increases their resolve. Having a clearly stated and shared mission has helped us grow our company and steer it in the way we dreamed of from the outset.
We established our business with the explicit mission to find new ways to use technology to improve humanity. Specifically, we wanted to help curb the scourge of fraud and the exploitation of the vulnerable people it impacts.
But thanks to technological advancements, today, perpetrators of organized crime fraud have shiny new sets of digital tools at their immediate disposal – requiring an even more unified approach in order to fight it.
Fraud and its Many Faces
Often, when people think of fraud, they think of financial loss. A forged check. A stolen vehicle. And while that is fraud and it is terrible and a crime, it’s also essentially transactional.
Once you start scratching below the surface of fraud in its broadest sense, things quickly become significantly darker. Once people truly learn what fraud is connected to and the depth and breadth of its reach, it’s alarming.
Often, fraud isn’t just a dishonest individual trying to make a quick buck. Fraud is highly organized, it’s well-funded, and these dark operations operate even more efficiently than a well-oiled corporate machine.
The tentacles of organized financial fraud reach into the underworlds of drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and, most concerningly, human trafficking. You just need to read the news or talk to friends and acquaintances to understand that fraud is alive and well in your city, in your neighborhood, and in your workplace.
MORE FOR YOU
The Fragility of Identity
At our company, we are all deeply driven to find new ways to protect and secure people’s identities through the use of technology. In some ways, it’s a sad reflection on our society that identity protection is such a concern. After all, as humans, isn’t our unique, personal identity the one thing that’s sacred and untouchable – or should be?
Sadly, that’s no longer the case. Today, people’s identities are at risk and, in some cases, even being held hostage or for ransom. Fraud is infiltrating every aspect of society. It’s real and ubiquitous. And the more this truth hits home, the more people feel vulnerable. Today, the ultimate casualty of rampant digital transformation is public trust.
Aligning my personal moral compass and my business ambitions has led me to this – finding ways to reinstate or repair this ruptured trust. But to succeed, we know we need to hire people who share our belief in and passion for stamping out fraud in all its many guises. People who see beyond the numbers on a paycheck towards something greater and far more important. And while we do pay our people well, that’s not why we all get up in the morning wanting to come to work. We are fighting for and defending something greater than ourselves, and that alone provides the motivation to continue on.
Mission Drives Momentum
Over the years, it’s been a wonderful thing to see how our shared, mission-driven purpose of using technology for good has delivered a degree of success and momentum that no investment or funding could buy. Our identity as a business and a team is rooted in stopping exploitation in its tracks. This common purpose of fighting for and protecting vulnerable people is what unifies, inspires, and energizes every one of us every day.
It also provides the standard for recruitment of the right caliber of like-minded candidates.
I believe that inherently, most people are wired to reject injustice and exploitation; people want to catch the bad guys. If they’re offered a chance to play a meaningful role in doing just that, in my experience, they’ll jump at it and excel at it.
I believe that right now, the world needs more selflessness than ever. We need people who want to protect those who need protection the most. And what better way to do so than by making it your career? Working to make a difference and potentially save someone’s life is a life-changing decision. A mission-driven career will always far out-succeed a selfishly driven one, and a mission-driven person will always have a greater impact and create a significant legacy.
