Toby Norman: Is Passion Enough for Simprints to Thrive?

As co-founder and CEO of Simprints—a social enterprise with the mission to “transform the way the world fights poverty"—Toby Norman was at a crossroads. His organization had developed ground-breaking technology used to verify aid delivery, reached more than 2.5 million people in 17 different countries, and received widespread accolades in the global health community. Having initially exclusively focused on partnerships with like-minded NGOs, Simprints attracted highly passionate employees willing to make sacrifices in service of the organization’s mission. To scale its impact, Norman had recently decided that Simprints begin working with governments, a move many employees disagreed with, leading nearly half of the organization's workforce to quit. Despite initial success with its new strategic path, Norman wondered how central passion should be to the future direction of the organization. Should Simprints cast passion aside entirely and focus on bringing its technology to as many people as possible, including in areas beyond international development? Should Norman find a way to re-center passion, perhaps by making its technology open-source in an effort to sidestep discussions of who Simprints should be used by? How else could Simprints keep its employees motivated to fulfill its mission?