You would be forgiven for expecting this to be a post from the CEO / founder of the business in which s/he shares insights about the challenging journey of building a business and how it, almost never, resembled what they expected… (here's what Ben had to say about it last year). Or possibly a blog about how no amount of MBA entrepreneurship courses one might take, how many books or blogs one might read, how many founder entrepreneurs one might know closely, invariably, the reality always turns out differently to the imaginary.
Instead, this blog is neither of these. In fact, as the newest Fabriq team member, one could argue I am, possibly, the least entitled person out of my Fabriq colleagues to write this blog. And this is true, not only for myself, but for everyone one of my colleagues… as none of us are entitled. Full stop.
Where ownership brings entitlement and secrecy, stewardship invites collaboration and transparency.
And just like that, in a very simplistic way, guided by core values of collaboration and openness, look how far we've come in the last 8 years!
And while I have only been with the team for a comparatively short time, there is a long history of customer value being delivered via smart building technology developed by the teams ahead and around of me. Beyond my control, my professional success is very much dependant of what others, people whom I have never met before, created and delivered. Similarly, with the current team, we are creating path dependencies for the success of future colleagues. It's a no brainier that I want each one of those future team mates to be wildly successful, adding to current business value and embedding my contribution in the fabric of our business for years to come – the fabric of Fabriq, if you may :-)
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines stewardship as careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care. And this is where values align as I care deeply about creating the Google of building performance data with an end-to-end intelligence platform, helping increase asset value and utilisation of buildings, aimed at unlocking building AND human potential.
It is with this realisation that my colleagues and I embrace the idea of stewardship rather than ownership, inviting collaboration over entitlement, transparency against secrecy, empowerment instead of micro-management. It may sound risky, but it is not the first time we have 'novel' approaches.
Stewardship is an ethic that embodies the responsible planning and caring management of resources. It can, and it should, be applied to property, information, health & well-being all the way to the environment and nature.
To keep us honest we validate our efforts through 3 key outcomes:
1 – Educate ourselves and our customers via our products (resource tracking, consumption bench-marking, compliance reporting);
2 – Empower sector professionals through access to intelligent data (Insights and Analytics modules);
3 – Elevate sustainability agenda to increased well-being and sustained performance ( Projects, Air Quality Management and Spacemaps Modules).
What you see is NOT what you get
So, happy 8 years Fabriq! Thank you to all the current and previous team members, current and previous clients, current and previous investors and advisers, current and previous business partners….and last, but certainly not least, to hugely understanding and supportive life partners!
Here's to the next 8 years! Exciting times ahead as we continue to team up with visionary customers who are transforming their sectors by educating, empowering and elevating the smart building conversation and make it a strategic business advantage.
As always, for any comments, questions, impetus to join the ride, words of encouragement or spontaneous offers of support please contact us at info@fabriq.space. Thank you and stay good!
