The Pursuit of Betterness
Scaling culture, purpose and closeness is tough.
It was easy when there were just 10 EXPLORERs in a small room called ‘Nuri Barnard’ at the end of the 1st Floor at the Bandwidth Barn.
Back then we could all walk to Rosetta, buy strong coffee and bet who was going to get married first.
Now, with 140+ EXPLORERs spread across the world, working across 4 businesses, mostly coding in their bedrooms in their PJs, living through a global pandemic, with more than 75% of EXPLORERs having been here for less than a year … that is not easy.
There are no textbooks for that.
1/ THE EXPLORE GROUP
In the EXPLORE GROUP we have 4 businesses:
a/ https://explore-datascience.net/
b/ https://explore-insights.net/
c/ https://explore-intelligence.net/beta/
d/ https://explore-utilities.com/
We’ve managed to create an exciting fly-wheel of being able to source, teach and deploy top local talent at scale. Alongside this we’ve learnt how to build Intelligent Products and Solutions across a number of verticals (Education, Utilities, Financial Services).
We have proper credibility, traction, validation and strategic advantage across all four. We’re working with the largest cloud provider in the world, one of the largest Water Utilities, one of the biggest Engineering firms and have one of the largest concentrations of Post-Grad Scientists on the continent.
We’ve changed the lives of over 1,000 youngsters, improved the delivery of Water to 15M customers and helped a few local and global credit Insurers manage the most tricky trade credit environment in history.
What is the golden thread that weaves through us? Our essence? The thing that bind us?
Great people dedicated to making a difference in the world.
The Pursuit of Betterness.
Of Self.
Of Other.
Or World.
2/ RAISING THE BAR
One of AMAZON’s core principles:
Hire and Develop the Best: Leaders raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They recognize exceptional talent, and willingly move them throughout the organization.
We have something very similar at EXPLORE .
Over the last month we’ve hired 10 incredible EXPLORERs. Accomplished Academics. PhDs. Seasoned practitioners. Today I’m interviewing 3 more.
We’ve got 2 Senior Executives starting soon to help build 2 of our businesses.
Off the charts.
At AMAZON they say ‘lucky I joined when I did or else I wouldn’t have been able to get in now.’
That’s how I feel.
3/ EXPLORE VALUES
We’ve spent a lot of time from the very start being very clear on who we are and how we want to show up in the world.
High Performance.
High Impact.
High Adventure.
We have 9 Values that anchor us. We’ve role modelled what this means here: https://explore-insights.net/our-values
We talk about it a lot. It’s always worth reflecting on these.
4/ WILL IT BE EASY?
Ha!
Classic!
If you’ve been here less than 3 months ask someone who has been here longer than that. I recommend you ask Bryan (‘Salt River ’18) or Jacob (Technology ‘19) or Megan (Amy ’20) what they think.
Are there many problems to solve? Is scaling hard? For every victory do two more challenges appear? Is ‘Choosing Growth’ candy and popcorn at the movies?
Is there a textbook for this?
…
But. But.
Will you meet a bunch of amazing people with mad skills? Will you make life long friends? Will you learn things that you didn’t think you needed to learn? Will you be stretched day after day, week after week? Will you work on difficult problems that matter?
Will you wear your EXPLORE hoodie long after you leave?
I can almost guarantee it.
5/ EXPLORE
‘EXPLORE’ is not a fixed thing. It is not a company. It is not a job. It is not a list of things to do.
It is a vehicle for personal growth. It is a place to express who you are. It is a celebration of some core principles.
It is your space to make a difference.
It is your launchpad.
It is the Pursuit of Betterness.
Up and Atom
EXPLORE ‘21
