A delightful guide to culture at Mamo (inspired by Khalil Gibran)

Let’s talk about the meaning behind Khalil Gibran’s quote on our website.

A short note from the founders

A quick note before we begin, we will be opening up and sharing our complete brand guide and playbook at the end of this article. The brand guide and playbook showcases the intrinsic value of the work discussed in this delightful guide that serves as actionable and measurable considerations at Mamo. This article describes how we got there, inspired by a quote from Khalil Gibran.

We are doing this because we hope that other startups and companies in the region may be inspired. So together, we can make this region an example; raise the bar in product quality, design, leadership, company health, psychological safety, care, and provide our undivided attention for every person we employ. Stay tuned.

Introduction

Those of you with curious eyes have noticed a quote on Mamo's website footer that has remained steadfast throughout all the updates over the two years since we started. This quote by the Lebanese poet Gibran Khalil Gibran, was initially published in his 1923 book, The Prophet.

In The Prophet, Al Mustafa lives in Orphalese (the city has no actual existence) for 12 years and is about to board a ship that will carry him home. He is stopped by a group of people with whom he discusses topics such as life and the human condition. The book is divided into chapters dealing with love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, houses, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death. The chapter on work is where the two quotes read:

"All work is empty save when there is love"

"for work is love made visible"

Behind the quote

Each time I visit our website, this quote serves as a reminder of my responsibility and accountability to always do what I love and love what I do. While this may sound simple, it is easier spoken about than manifested into meaningful action.

On one end of the spectrum, we have things out of our control, for example, the emotions, attitudes, and energy of other people, perhaps the legacy of a company's work culture you may have inherited. While on the other end of the spectrum, we have things that are entirely within our control, such as creating and fostering an environment of kindness and love, your attitude, and your energy.

Founders and leaders, there is no one to blame for an unhealthy company culture. It's a collective responsibility that begins with us. Getting this right is the beginning of many good things – including the bottomline. In this delightful guide, we'll explore how Mamo is translating and creating what Gibran referred to as "All work is empty save when there is love; for work is love made visible."

The belief system

While as founders, we take complete responsibility for our own love of work (as should anyone), we have teams, people, and personalities that co-exist in the modern workplace. That means that for me to love what I do, others also need to love what they do. As such, we are connected and responsible for each other's well-being. That should not sound overwhelming or surprising. To put it into perspective, there is an entire planetary level of collective responsibility that we will save for another day. But let's at least get it right within the workplace.

Our approach started with our fundamental beliefs to make our brand and culture a true reflection of our collective responsibility. Our beliefs capture the essence of who we are and what we stand for, now and in the future. This means the things that are important to Mamo are, in turn, important to our team, community, and customers. During this phase, we attempted to address two questions:

• How might we inspire everyone to take this opportunity to do the best work of their life and support others in doing the same?
• How might we inspire everyone to take pleasure in exercising their craft and playing with their whole heart every day and engaging responsibilities with radical compassion, elevating others along the way with leadership that is heart-minded?

Our beliefs were brought to life by four guiding principles with these questions. These principles represent our unique perspective on the world. Here they are:

We make simple, beautiful

Making simple, beautiful is the magic that creates a difference in people's lives—connections through thoughtful and delightful design.

We take ownership personally

Personal ownership supports collective responsibility — the sense of autonomy to inspire change and drive shared success.

We challenge the norm

We believe everyone is extraordinary and entitled to reach the stars. Pushing boundaries to help conquer fears, overcome limitations, and supersede everyday expectations.

We grow with humility

Growing with humility is about going out of our way to help others succeed—creating solutions to benefit the many, not the few. We then used our belief system above as a framework behind our values and personality. These encourage us to act, behave and communicate the way we do today, internally and externally.

Our values and personality

Next, let's discuss how our belief system enabled us to co-create a culture that values being creative, collaborative, brave and committed. Our belief systems were garnished with our values, and our values connected back to our personality. And then reflected throughout every experience we create. This also gives anyone joining us an idea of the types of personality we appreciate at Mamo. Although we are a young company, we're already known for our strong beliefs, endearing character, and enthusiasm for doing the right thing.

Our actions outgrow our words faster than we think

This is true of positive actions as they are of negative ones. At Mamo, culture isn't only spoken about. We make sure from hiring to onboarding that this is front and center and that our actions precede our words. That does not mean always being nice or not taking difficult decisions but rather daring to care, steadfast in our resolve for a better workplace, which is heartfelt as nature intended that accommodates and adapts. In the words of Marcus Aurelius:

"The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."

—Meditations, Book 5.20

Today you see this intrinsic work manifest into extrinsic actions in everything we do. Here are just a few real-life examples of "work is love made visible."

• Our teams are a community of like-minded people interested in the organization's collective success through our shared vision, mission and values.
• Our team speaks with confidence on issues and talk openly and early. This is because they are empowered and feel safe to do so.
• The team trusts that we will listen and follow up with action, often at lightning speeds, because we all respect, care and love the sacred workspace we have created.
• On an individual level, people are confident to share their feelings, even when they don't know why they are feeling what they are feeling. And it doesn't have to always be work-related.
• We simply listen, and more often than not, most issues are resolved with little intervention, simply through speaking their mind and being heard.
• The team openly talks about their love and dedication to the organization and their teammates.

These are just a few examples of anecdotal evidence. Recently, we followed up with our very first employee engagement survey, and here is a snapshot of what we discovered:

Highest scoring questions

• I would recommend Mamo as a great place to work
• Mamo motivates me to go beyond what I would in a similar role elsewhere
• I am proud to work for Mamo
• I rarely think about looking for a job at another company
• I see myself still working at Mamo in two years

What we learned and need to do more of

• Teamwork and ownership, our team wants more autonomy and willing to be responsible in return
• Our teams want more regular check-ins in the interest of further learning, career growth, and responsibility
• Our teams want more feedback and recognition in the way of more performance reviews

Conclusion

So there you have it, a quote by our beloved Gibran Khalil Gibran inspired a small startup to demand more of itself. Through this immense work we learned that our teams are fundamentally interested in three things; our teams want purposeful career growth, our teams have a deep longing and desire for community and our teams want to work on a cause much greater than them. All of this with reverence to meaning and impact that may one day change outdated orders and structures of the world we live in and bring back humanity to everything we do. The work has only started.

If this resonates, please visit our Jobs page and join us to help make Mamo a great place to work.

Brand guide and playbook

???? Welcome to the delightful guide to how we do things at Mamo

This article was inspired by our playbook and brand guide which we have now made public. At Mamo, we don't make something unless it's both necessary and useful. If it is both necessary and useful, we will not hesitate to make it delightful and beautiful too! Learn how through our company playbook and brand guide.

Now you can, with Mamo.