Ep. 109 - Cultivating the Collective & The Constant Pursuit of Purpose - with Hooman Radfar

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Hooman Radfar is the co-founder and CEO of Collective, the world’s first online, back-office platform designed to support businesses-of-one. He’s a passionate and purpose-driven leader, and the confidence he has in his purpose is admirable.

And I am thrilled to share his journey with all of you today because I think it really speaks to one of my favorite things — the transformative power of learning to redefine success as progress.

The Kaizen of it All

Because Hooman Radfar has been living with this mindset since he was a kid. Having come from an immigrant family, Hooman developed an extreme work ethic. His parents were also psychiatrists, and he grew up encouraged to be introspective, to reflect on the Why behind things. And then his dad gave him a book called Kaizen, which is about the Japanese principle of continuous self-improvement.

When you mix this all together, you get a potent cocktail of personal development and perspective — and there is so much to learn from that.

And that perspective came in handy after graduating college, when Hooman had difficulty landing a job after college even with a great educational background. . So he did what he could do while still moving forward: he became an entrepreneur. “I can’t be more broke, right?”

Continuous Self-Improvement & Ikigai

Hooman’s path was less about a single choice and more of a combination of many small choices that led to a clear trajectory. But he always had a guiding light, given to him by his father: “Just move in the direction of your dreams.”

He made incremental decisions to do so , which started with his interest in building things and fascination with technology. And along the way, it was a process of learning what he was good at and what he wasn’t.

Hooman sees life as a giant AB test, where we are experimenting to determine the intersection between what you're interested in, what the market wants, and what you're good at. This is the concept of Ikigai, and at that beautiful intersection is where you find a sense of purpose, a reason for being.

“And if you could find that and get into a flow state, then you don't feel like work is work. It's just what you do.”

Growing to Plant the Seeds for Collective

Hooman’s first company, AddThis, was a marketing automation platform designed to help website providers drive traffic engagement with these easy plugins.

This wasn’t just his first company, it was really his first job, and that came with a lot of unknowns. But it ultimately led to a tremendous amount of growth, and it gave him a solid foundation for his next role as a venture capitalist.

But venture was a “single-player game.” Hooman missed building and being part of a team. And he saw an opportunity to help small businesses — those businesses like his mom’s and dad’s — leverage technology so they can focus on their profession and not their paperwork. So he started Collective to be that online back office platform.

In hindsight, his current role is a confluence of all these experiences, roles, and interests from his past, culminating in a clear mission and purpose.

Building for Purpose, Not Outcome

It’s those experiences that now give Hooman a lot of perspective on the purpose of a company.

Many entrepreneurs are focused on outcomes. And that singular focus can and does, inevitably, lead to challenging circumstances that can negatively impact people. However, Hooman shares that “a company is just one collection of people who are on a mission to help another set of people.”

Subsequently, the job of the CEO is to provide direction to achieve that mission, that “principle that gives them the sense of permanence” as well as the safest path forward.

And it's incumbent on businesses to internalize the collective consciousness of its people and not focus on the structure; the culture of your business is more important than the structure of your business. “The real question is, what do you want to do and why? If employers don't understand that, then I think that's when you're gonna lose people.”

So as Hooman builds Collective, he’s focused on delivering on the company’s mission, which is to help businesses be more financially successful by enabling them to focus on their passion and not their paperwork. The outcome will bea result of fulfilling that mission. But it’s also achieving a certain type of culture, company, and vision that comes from passionately taking care of the businesses they serve and the people who work at Collective.

Finding Your Purpose: What’s Getting People Stuck With Finding Their Why?

Hooman’s story is, fundamentally, a story about the constant pursuit of purpose — and what you can achieve with unwavering clarity and the confidence not to compromise.

But it all begins with finding your why. Hooman tells us that what stops most people from walking this path is that they’re looking outside for a solution, they’re aspiring to a standard of success set by someone else and in a situation entirely outside of their control.

If you really want to create traction and progress, consider the concept of ikigai — your reason for being — and find the intersection between

What you love
What you are good at
What the world needs
And what you can get paid for

If you look within and you're willing to do the continuous work of trying to assess what you're interested in, what the market wants, and what you're good at, you will eventually find that sweet spot — but you should know at the beginning of the journey that this is not a straight path.

Your life choices are the culmination of every little choice you make. And if you’re making every choice through the lens of ikigai, you’ll always be headed in the right direction. The danger is when you start looking outside yourself for directions on your path. That’s the recipe for a mid-life crisis, as Hooman says.

That doesn’t mean you have to go on this journey alone. I could never run my company alone. Hooman talked a lot about the value of both a partner and the unifying power of a company. You just have to be the one who sets your compass.

Definition of Career Success

Being actualized as a human being and while having a positive impact in the world. I'm net positive when I'm going to leave this place better than I had it.
It's really about why you are doing something, and that's gonna take time and introspection.

Best Career Advice

“Focus on the process, not the outcome. The sum of those cumulative actions is going to drive the outcome.”

Key Takeaways

Want to find your purpose? Do the continuous work of trying to assess what you're interested in, what the market wants, and what you're good at. It will take some testing and learning to find the sweet spot. The journey is not a straight path.
Be aware and conscious of the choices that you are making in life because unconscious compromise can be dangerous and compound. Your life choices are the culmination of all of those choices.
Sometimes the door you think you want closes. It then forces you to look at other doors. And when those open, they're often better opportunities.
The real transformation has to occur within you because you can do anything you want.
The culture of your business is more important than the structure of your business.
A company is just one collection of people who are on a mission to help another set of people. As a CEO/leader, your job is to not only provide direction but provide the safest path forward so that we can achieve that mission.
As an entrepreneur, don’t focus too much on outcomes. If you’re focused on helping the people you serve and the people within your organization, you will drive growth in the process.
Leadership needs to truly embody the values the company stands for and constantly check with others to ensure it’s being realized. Otherwise, you will have people leave.