By Boris Glants, TurnKey Co-Founder and CTO

I know. I’ve been an entrepreneur for about twenty years and volunteering for only three.

My favorite place to volunteer is Hausner–a Jewish Day School. Seeing laughing kids whenever I go there just makes my day.

Volunteering and serving on committees has been quite a learning curve for me.

I’m used to making quick decisions, “optimising” processes as we go, and doing things fast.

What I failed to understand is that, unlike the companies I’ve co-founded, the community I serve has been there long before me and will be there long after me. The companies I co-founded didn’t exist before (there was no tradition, no culture, no community) and the likelihood they will exist long after is slim.

So here are a few principles that have helped me ease into volunteering:

1. The place you volunteer is not yours–it’s the community’s.
2. Your job is to give the best advice possible from the perspective of helping the community.
3. Community is about going far, together. It’s not about going fast, alone.

Now that I’ve learned these lessons, I can apply them to my entrepreneurial endeavors as well. Hopefully, they’ll help build more enduring companies.