With all this talk about how AI is the new Industrial Revolution, and how single individuals will be building the unicorns of the future—I want to talk about the three emotions behind most successful businesses.

I strongly believe that a great business is just a cohesive team of people dedicated to a mission. Without cohesion and a catalyzing mission, it will be an uphill struggle to make a business great, whatever the tech or the product. But what are the prerequisite emotions to creating cohesion and a mission?—I hear you ask.

1. BELONG

The first one is the desire to BELONG. We are social animals and yearn to belong. We feel safe in a group, and it gives us identity, meaning, and emotional stability. (The opposite is loneliness, which implies a lack of protection, resources, isolation, and worse.) BELONGING is right next to our survival needs on Maslow’s Pyramid.

In the same way that isolation weakens humans, belonging is a strength amplifier.

2. BELIEVE

Working together creates motivation so that we can BELIEVE in reaching our goals. And paraphrasing Napoleon Hill, “If you can conceive it and believe it, you can achieve it.”

3. BECOME

And then the BECOMING part. Henry David Thoreau said: “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving them.” Striving for worthy goals makes us more successful and, more importantly, better humans.

Founders often miss this part. Building a business is as much about BECOMING the person we can be as it is about making millions, sending our kids to private schools, or building a legacy.