Jason Fried was interviewed about some of his business philosophies by Bo Burlingham at this year’s Small Giants Summit held once again in Detroit, Michigan.

One thing he shared: he’s constantly reflecting on what is working, and what may not be working at Basecamp.

I think that’s something all of us should be intentional about as leaders.

Open To New Possibilities?

His mindset seems to be that as a company evolves, sometimes what you put into practice can also evolve, and for good reason.

For example, when the company only had 30 team members, they might have had very little policies. Ten years ago, that was possible, and his mindset was that “policies are organizational scar tissue.”

Now, with almost twice as many people, they do have more policies, and he’s okay with that, and he sees value in that.

“I think it an important point is to reflect on these things. And some of them you stay true to because you really truly believe in them. Some of them you alter a little bit because of context, and others you can just flat out change your mind on.”

Another example: he saw that the unlimited vacation policy was leading to people taking less time to vacation, so they added more definition to it.

The takeaway: Are you also open to similar ways of evolving your business, when the time is right?

In Conclusion…

For me, Jason’s practical advice prompted important questions. If you agree, and you’re a business leader who, like Jason, puts people before profits, you may be interested in learning more about the Small Giants community.