Council Post: Six Business Lessons For CEOs (That Can Also Apply To Life)

CEO & Co-founder of Methodology.

I’ve been running Methodology, a sustainable food delivery startup, for almost a decade. As we approach our biggest milestone yet—launching nationally—I reflected on the biggest lessons that have helped me win both in the game of business and in the game of life.

1. Define and live by your values.

Clearly define your company values and evolve them as you learn more about the nuances of what you value. Values make it easy for leaders to see who fits in with the desired culture on the team and to make decisions about what to do. For example, one of our company values is “We’re service-oriented.” In practice, this means we won’t make decisions that would make our team’s lives easier if it makes our members’ lives more difficult.

Knowing my personal values has made it easier for me to navigate my personal life as well. Controlling who I allow into my inner circle and in whom I invest time and energy makes it easier for me to live in alignment with my values.

2. Know your worth and never settle for less.

Pricing strategy is something so many business owners get wrong because they undervalue themselves. I suggest not to price based on how hard or easy it is for you to provide a service, but by how much your customers value it. It takes a lot of conviction to price this way. In my case, we have deep conviction in our value because we’ve seen the life transformations our members have enjoyed.

The same principle applies to my personal life. I’ve had to learn over the years how to effectively communicate my standards and boundaries, which only became possible once I developed a strong sense of self-worth. And how did I develop a strong sense of self-worth? From practicing the next three points from this list.

3. Define your vision in excruciating detail.

Over the years, I’ve written out what my company needs to do in greater and greater detail. I’ve seen that the more specifically this is defined for the team, the easier it is for them to know what to do, and the more likely it is for the vision to come to life.

For example, years ago I made it really clear I wanted rainbow-colored food packaged in glass jars with pink lids. I didn’t just say, “I want pretty packaging” or “I want sustainable packaging.” Because I was so specific, the team knew exactly what problems they needed to solve to bring my vision to life.

Since learning this lesson at work, I’ve applied the principle to my personal life. I have a very long and detailed North Star statement for my overall life that I edit every few weeks and read almost every day.

These vision statements, both at work and in my personal life, make prioritization and decision-making a breeze. People who know me often comment on how decisively and quickly I made decisions. This is because for every decision that comes up, I simply ask myself, “Will this get me to my North Star faster?” If so, I do it. If not, forget it.

4. Aim to get 1% better every day.

I’m really proud of the quality of the service we’re putting out today. We didn’t get here via a few dramatic product improvements, though. It’s been the result of constant, tiny, incremental improvements we’ve made every day. I’m hyper-involved in every detail of our product design, down to which flower I want in a meal to which exact shade of pink a layer of a chia parfait should be.

By spotting and improving every minor detail of your product, you can get 1% better every day, which can add up to significant results.

This 1% better every day principle has transformed my personal life as well. Working out just 15 minutes a day every day 365 days in a row got me in the best shape of my life. This taught me how much we overestimate what we can achieve in a month and underestimate what we can achieve in a year.

5. Compare backward, not forward, against yourself and never against others.

This lesson has been critical for my mental health! For years, I constantly compared the size and reach of our business to that of our competitors, never feeling like the business was good enough or that I as CEO was good enough. Eventually, I learned to stop myself whenever I started doing this and to instead only compare my company today to where we were years ago. Rather than feel constantly insecure and frustrated, I now feel grateful and proud. This is a much better place to be in when leading a team and running a business.

I do the same in my personal life as well, no longer comparing my body, finances or career success to others and instead just flipping through my own old photos and videos from years ago and allowing myself to feel awe over how much I’ve grown.

6. Be thankful for the journey.

The emotion I feel most often when I think about my work journey and life journey is gratitude. It’s such a privilege to design menus that bring healing and joy to thousands of people.

By enjoying the journey, you can be patient with your progress and make decisions from a place of abundance and optimism, rather than lack or fear.

I hope this list of the lessons that have transformed my company and me in the past decade inspires you. Living by these principles could put you in a totally different place in just a few years. Our time here is precious, wild and short. Let’s all make the most of it.

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