Whatever your goal, especially the adventure of a lifetime, you can create it. An enterprise is an endeavor or goal. A company are the people you choose to take with you. Organization is simply how everybody communicates. A business (“busy-ness”) is what the group does day to day as individuals and collectively. A firm is the security you can create for all involved.

We don’t have a single word in English for this, because it’s life itself.

For creative and innovative cultures, everybody thrives with the freedom and ability to generate ideas. Without enough agency, there is little strength in numbers, only sitting on hands waiting for commands. Keeping a team targeted toward the most important challenges is the key contribution of effective leaders.

Character, horsepower, and personality disposition make all the difference in hiring decisions when assembling a company. A “proven track record” is often a good indicator, but who wants to do the same things over and over again?

If you’re hiring people to spend a majority of your waking hours with, you’re concerned with what happens next. Choose your company for the future, not for the past. You’ll often be quite surprised. (See also: The vector exceeds the point.)

A team is never composed of people with identical skill sets; it is made of people with common purpose. Embrace e pluribus unum and design organizations accordingly. Allow functional training to be achieved through cross-team mentorship. If atop an organization, find your peers among those similarly situated to you—they are unlikely to be on your immediate team.

The two classic functions in technology-creating companies are that of “product” and “engineering”: roughly, the architects and the builders. One group focuses on people’s needs, and the other on bringing these to life. While requirements documents are helpful to coordinate effort, all players involved are best off when in frequent back-and-forth conversation—constantly communicating, refining, and coordinating—while fully appreciating one another’s strengths and experience.

Meetings should exist (and only exist) for a clearly defined reason. If you find yourself designated to lead a meeting and cannot be present, never cancel the gathering. Instead, delegate responsibility to somebody else. They gain the experience, the team is not blocked by your absence, and you can always read the minutes to catch up.