A world of opportunity

4Minutes

Our ‘a world of opportunity’ tagline packs a twofold meaning.

For one, it reflects our belief that anywhere work can truly open the world to more opportunities. More freedom, more growth, more connection and inclusion, more collaboration. And more space for diversity.

Then, it stands for our mission to make anywhere work and aligned work opportunities available for as many people as possible, regardless of where they are in the world.

In an interview for Career Foundry our Founder and CEO Sarah Hawley shared how it all began. How turning the financial company she owned back in 2014 fully remote opened new doors for her as she discovered and showed others that it’s not only possible to lead a team and business this way, it’s also a powerful trigger for inner and outer growth.

“At the same time, the company was growing and flourishing, and I was becoming a much better leader. One reason for that was that we were bringing diversity in. Different cultures and conversations added a richness to our culture and what we were doing. We would talk to each other about how things were in our respective countries, and then find our way back to the difference between the culture we might live in and the culture of the company.

It became this really beautiful evolution of people choosing to be a part of this company with this particular culture, irrespective of what it might normally be like in the workplace in the city where they live. That was really cool to see—how we were attracting people who were aligned and likeminded, and finding each other from all over the planet. I’ve been able to attract people from anywhere to my company, and it’s been a really amazing journey that’s led me to a more conscious way of leading, focusing on empowerment and trust.

Working remotely enabled me to question all of my stories, my beliefs, my limits, and start to push boundaries to see what’s possible in all different areas. This was a big personal growth journey for me and the people in my team, and I just want to bring that to the world.”

This early experience and vision of what was possible is what eventually led our founder to create Growmotely, a place where professionals and companies could find each other and come together based on alignment and common purpose, rather than geographical closeness.

We realized early on that creating this will involve not only figuring out how to carve aligned paths between companies and professionals around the globe, but also dissolving the biases that stand in the way.

And we knew there’s quite a few.

Like the bias that people need to be in the same room or building for true collaboration and connection to happen. Or that skills and potential have anything to do with where you were born or where you live. Or the very common, but overlooked bias against having a national accent infused in your hard learned English and that making one a less viable option for a role.

Quoting a recent post our very same founder shared on Linkedin: “Everyone has an accent. And diversity and inclusion means recognising every human on this planet is worthy of consideration. It doesn’t matter where they live, or were born, or how they sound. It’s time to be the change.”

One cool thing we’re doing in these early stages of tackling biases is creating our help videos with all the rainbow of accents we have in the team, instead of hiring an American voice-over talent. Expect to hear nuances of Nigerian, Romanian, and Mexican accents, just to name of few.

We’re going for authenticity and showing diversity, rather than ‘perfection’ and uniformity because this is what we stand for and that is what the world needs.

Diversity already exists, and always has. It’s in our nature and what makes each of us unique and valuable to the whole. We just need to acknowledge it, make room for it, and then tap into the beauty and benefits that come from it.

Stay tuned for what’s to come. And share your support and ideas if you’re feeling called to.

There’s power in creating together.