The Goal Of Something Isn't To Stop Doing It
Thoughts on why we shouldn't always focus on the exit and trying to end with more than we started
“There’s a rule they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School. It is: If anything is worth doing, it’s worth doing in excess.”
— Edwin Land
Dietrich Mateschitz took 20 semesters to graduate, graduating college at 28 years old, an unconventional path with most graduating within eight semesters and entering the professional world around 22. Some might call him a late bloomer, but he graduated with a degree in marketing and started his corporate career at Unilever, one of the world's largest consumer packaged goods companies.
He ascended the corporate ladder becoming a marketing director for an international subsidiary of Unilever called Blendax, a manufacturer of hygiene products and toothpaste. Traveling became a constant for his work. He traveled across Asia for three to four months out of the year. Discontent began to build. He began to resent the life of a frequent flyer and yearned for a sense of normalcy rooted in being home. He sought independence. He didn't want his life overflowing with travel but a life chasing his passions.
At 41, he decides to try his hand at entering the energy drink market. He was spending time in Thailand and noticed that locals gravitated towards a non-carbonated tonic, Krating Daeng. Mateschitz enjoyed the drink himself, noticing it injects him with energy and cures his jet lag, but he didn't want to try and mass market a product that was already born. He sought to introduce the drink to the world with one difference: it would be carbonated.
It came to life a few years later, and some of you may have heard of it, Red Bull.
Red Bull is a unicorn. An unconventional, private company that funds an underserved portion of culture, extreme sports. They are philanthropists funding events such as Red Bull Stratos, a skydiving project where Felix Baumgartner completed a free fall from Space and broke the sound barrier on his descent, and Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, an international tour of cliff diving events. They are a marketing conglomerate that does these activities to sell more Red Bull. Beyond extreme sports, F1, The New York Red Bulls, and the YouTube Channel help build them into one of the most valuable private companies today. The best part is Mateschitz never took Red Bull public, considered selling the company, or selling his shares. He never tried to stop doing what he had always done.
Imagine the money he could have made if he decided to bring the company public. Why wouldn't he chase that reward? Why wouldn't he retire and relish in the luxury and money he has built for himself?
The point of doing something you love is not to stop doing it. If anything is worth doing, it is worth doing in excess, and Mateschitz embraced that mentality. Selling shares of his company or bringing his company public would rob Mateschitz of everything he gained by doing the work himself. He didn't create Red Bull to fund a massive exit. Red Bull became an extension of his life and desires. The company culture was an extension of his personality.
Sure, he could have built Red Bull to sell it, but that deprives him of the benefit of moving towards a life and things he enjoyed. Red Bull gave him a life infused with the fun and independence he desired. It was never a question of money, or he would have stopped well before he reached a net worth of $20-30 billion.
People build up these brands, dreams, and passions and then sell them, but is that the point of it all? You might get the career you yearned for, and you love it, can't get enough of it, which leads you to perform well. With performing well, opportunities come to climb the next rung up the ladder, IPO the company, progress higher, sell off your stake, etc., but people are only disappointed. They left behind what makes them tick and affords them the life they want. Phil Jackson coached Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant to championships before retiring, but he couldn’t stay away. He unretired to coach a Kobe Bryant led Lakers team again. Michael Jordan retired then unretired twice. The point of doing these things is not to stop doing them.
Mateschitz understood. He knew if he could do something for decades the money would come as a byproduct. He would outlast everyone. It wasn't cumbersome to him. He didn't sacrifice the love for his work for some dollar value. Beginning something only with the idea of stopping it one day misses the point. I didn't begin writing with the idea of stopping sometime in the future. It helps me be a lifelong learner, allows me to craft my communication skills in a simple way, and build something that I not only enjoy, but that is bigger than me. The idea was never to stop doing it.
Dietrich Mateschitz's, story is what it's all about. It shows where courage can take you and that the anxiety we all have about money figures itself out if you do anything well in excess.
When we think about our culture, we focus on the exit and the idea of always settling for more than you began with. Red Bull is a tremendous company because their founder was worried about what lied in front of him, and he understood you don't begin things hoping to stop them one day. We should focus on doing good work and working on things we love, and the rest of the stuff, money included, seems to figure itself out later.
-Scantron
I appreciate your time.
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