Ep. 106 Aaron Price, CEO TechUnited
/Show Notes
What happens when core values move beyond words and start influencing how you actually build, lead and execute?
In this episode of The Value of Values, I talk with Aaron Price, CEO of TechUnited:NJ and Founder and Managing Director of BetterFutureLabs, to explore a career that began in tech entrepreneurship and eventually grew into building communities, creating Propelify, leading TechUnited:NJ and launching new ventures.
Aaron identifies three values at the center of TechUnited — accountability, ambition and fun — and our conversation explores what those values actually look like when they're lived.
Accountability becomes focus, discipline and follow-through. Ambition becomes a willingness to imagine the “why not?” instead of simply accepting the “why.” And fun becomes a reminder that the people we work with — and the experience of doing the work itself — matter.
We also explore entrepreneurship, determination, community, the rapidly changing role of AI, and an idea that may be increasingly important in a transactional world: give before you ask.
In this conversation, we explore:
How Aaron's entrepreneurial career evolved into building communities
Accountability, ambition and fun as operating values
Why focus and discipline can be expressions of values
The relationship between founders and organizational values
Determination and the entrepreneurial ability to find a way through
Balancing conviction with listening to the market
Why businesses increasingly need to become AI-enabled
Using AI for leverage rather than simply experimentation
Why surrounding yourself with smart people can improve decision-making
The power of asking “How can I help?” before asking for something in return
How values ultimately show up in behavior, execution and results