GenomeFrontier Team Building

Response from GenomeFrontier：
This is a topic that I spent a lot of time thinking about before creating my company and I have continued to focus on teambuilding as GenomeFrontier has grown from a small company focused on developing our proprietary platform to a clinical-stage biotech company. The short answer is that I build my team by recruiting virtuous people who are aligned with the company’s long-term vision. The whole team needs to have a common mindset of continuous growth and dedication to our audacious goal of engineering a disease-free world.

When I started the company, I carefully defined our hedgehog concept as described in Jim Collins’ book Good to Great. It is a business strategy in which the company sets one big clear central idea that drives all of its activities. At GenomeFrontier, we focus on creating cures for disease with our Quantum Engine technology. A non-viral holistic system for developing and manufacturing cell and gene therapies.

Because we only had a very small budget when we started, it was essential to bring in the right people. I did that by putting together a group of talented yet disciplined individuals, one person at a time. Each person is motivated by compassion to take prudent and decisive actions.

We hold to the idea that for the company to grow, each individual has to grow. The growth of each person can start to manifest results that attract more talented people and even better results, which leads to more growth of the company and more investment. Therefore, we look at our company as a training camp for level-five leaders.

This has enabled me to attract people who share the same dream of engineering a disease-free world and mindset that everything is possible with unwavering belief and disciplined thoughts and actions.

Since our company is driven by innovation, we try to unlock the creative potential of each team member through spiritual development. We also emphasize the importance of having an expansive mindset rather than restricted thinking. This mindset allows people to take bold actions rather than being timid. Those bold actions also need to align with the diligent and prudent efforts at every step of the process because each new contribution provides a foundation for the next steps. This is another message that I instill in my team.

I have found that it is essential to continually promote and communicate the company values. At GenomeFrontier, we have regular activities focused on character building. For example, we have a book club where we read and discuss books that reveal principles on personal growth, leadership, and business philosophy. We also use this time to emphasize how spiritual growth unlocks creative potential.

Although our technology is what we talk about most, I think our company’s greatest asset is virtue. In an ancient Chinese book called Cai-ge-tan, it answers the question “can virtue feed us?” The book teaches that there are three ways to gain fortune. The first way is through power or authority. The fortune built in this way is like rootless flowers in a vase that wither rapidly. The second way is through hard work and credentials, even legendary achievements. This way is like potted flowers. The plants have roots, but the roots are not deep, so the flowers cannot survive the changes of seasons. The third way is through virtue, meaning both spiritual and moral integrity. This way is like a field of flowers, where new blossoms arise in the right season, and the flowers self-renew every year.

To summarize, we start building our team by recruiting disciplined people. Then we cultivate disciplined thoughts and disciplined actions as a team with a common mindset. The growth and spiritual development of each team member contribute to the greater good of the company, which helps each team member grow even more, leading to an infinite game of promoting level five leaders and an enduring company. Our approach is less about bringing in people with special talents and more about growing the team through inspiration toward the same goal.