“To what suffering, defect or vacuum is the founding of an organisation the answer?”

Systemic leader Barbara Hoogenboom:

“Of course, there has always been something, an impulse, that was the reason to create a company, to develop a product, create a service and market that. If the company has been around a bit longer, there may not be a good connection with the origin of its creation. At that point it is interesting to investigate: where did the movement to found the company originate?

For instance, did that movement come from seeing that something was missing in the outside world? That there was a need, an offer that did not yet exist? That you saw: ‘This is needed’ and decided to fill it because it offered a good market opportunity? Then it is mostly related to the outside world, to the future and how it is developing.

Or is being a founder more related to a defect, a vacuum or a form of suffering in your own life? Wonderful companies have been created because a founder experienced failure before that, for example. Someone was fired or came out of a partnership that ultimately turned out to be a disillusionment. Or someone experienced suffering on a personal level, which became a stimulus to generate a new idea. Sometimes perhaps even with a kind of mantra: I will show that I can do it.

It may therefore be that the founding of a company is a response to something that occurred recently in the founder’s personal life. And it may also be that the founding partnership stems from a much older – conscious or subconscious – commitment. For example, because the founder has experienced something in the past, or has seen family members disadvantaged.

As an example, imagine that your mother used to be poorly cared for in a retirement home. The chairs were not comfortable, the food not good or the aids cumbersome. And you decided to develop products to improve comfort for the elderly.

It can also go back further. For example, that you and/or your siblings had a very difficult childhood, and that you subconsciously made a promise: ‘I am going to make sure that children never have to have a difficult childhood.’ And that you therefore started a children’s coaching business, or became a teacher, or developed products to help young children.

There can be different impulses for founding that have to do with suffering, a defect or a vacuum. Both within the market and in personal life.”

This question originates from the Systemic Leadership fan-deck . The fan-deck contains 224 questions regarding 45 themes. Each question has the potential to help you take the next step.