Last night I had the good fortune of having dinner with a great group of folks from a diverse set of backgrounds. As we went around the table making introduction, each of us were asked to share one thing we’re thinking hard about right now.

As the the intro wave made it’s way around the table it eventually crashed upon the CEO of a $40B  enterprise software company. As he paused, I was prepared to hear some riff on the reinvention of the enterprise or copen source or cloud or something of the like. But then he gave an answer that surprised me.

What weighed on his mind most wasn’t his market, his competition or his customers. It was his company culture. He didn’t speak about management styles or magins, he talked about his concern for building a community of people with shared values and goals. And how to empower that community to unlock all of the potential they have on the markets and customers they were aiming to serve.

As the night went on we talked of the role technology is playing in eliminating a raft of jobs that once required human hands. The potential impact of a properly implemented Siri service alone could wipe out whole organizational functions. 

But as the talk of dire straits for humans rolled on, I couldn’t help but think back to the kind of company the $40B CEO was crafting. And it struck me that perhaps as more work gets automated, we can focus this newfound energy on building companies that are more human. 

This concept of companies as communities feels like an important and implementable one. I’m going to let it rattle around in my head a bit more from here on out. And I think startups would be well served to do the same.