The Value of Altruism in the Workplace

The Value of Altruism in the Workplace

Giving back to the community is always good for business. And for one company, ‘giving back’ is what they do best. We’re talking about Humanitix, Australia’s very own (and the world’s first) not-­for-­profit ticketing platform backed by tech giants Google and Atlassian Foundation.

Founded by Josh Ross and Adam McCurdie, Humanitix solves accessibility challenges at events for people with disabilities, pushes for more literacy and life-skill programs for young girls, and supports causes aimed at disadvantaged students in Australia and around the world. As a tech start-up, Humanitix does a pretty nifty job disrupting the events ticketing industry–they direct 100% of profits from booking fees toward projects that fight global education inequality. We’re pretty sure their competitors, like Eventbrite, Ticketek, Ticketmaster, and TryBooking, have a very different business ethos.

How did Humanitix’s business model come to fruition in the first place?  

Both Josh and Adam shared Humanitix’s ‘what, why, and how’ with John Eales, who’s one of the mentors at Westpac Businesses of Tomorrow Program. (It’s a great read, and you can access the whole interview here.) They talked about Humanitix’s vision, “We envision a better, fairer world, where every child has access to education, opportunity and a fair-go in life,” which we think serves as a powerful guiding light for Humanitix’s employees. More often than not, when people work for non-profit companies, they connect with the company’s purpose; they engage more because they’re working for a cause they believe in, and therefore, they do their best at work. Greater employee engagement? Who wouldn’t want that for their company culture?

What else do we discover about these two big-hearted leaders?

Josh and Adam’s enthusiasm for philanthropy is refreshing, and so is their candidness in acknowledging their respective leadership weaknesses. For Josh, he knows he tends to work alone – a style he picked up and mastered when he worked as an investment analyst for a hedge fund. Now, as a leader and co-founder of a not-for-profit company, he recognises that it’s important to involve others. For Adam, it’s about making a conscious effort to understand the diverse, individual motivations of each Humanitix employee. Altruistic leadership? Check. Introspective leadership? Check. We think Humanitix and its employees are in good hands.