‘Crossing the Desert’ author’s fight for survival and success inspired him to found One Planet Group to help others build a brighter future

Smuggled out of Iran as a teen “because that was the only way to find a path to freedom, to safety, and be able to build a life,” Payam Zamani tells us, in this exclusive interview for the Center for Social Capital, he found fertile ground in the United States to grow not only a successful life for himself but for others. And the “others” part is very purposeful.

Payam is very clear that he takes exception to the attitude “business is business,” believing that “business touches noble people with a spiritual existence.” In fact, he asks, “What if my everyday work, my everyday professional commitment, could uplift me and others? Why should nonprofits stand for the betterment of the world and for-profit for greed? Why can’t you blur the line a little bit?” He believes in leading with love; appreciating that his employees, community, competitors, vendors and clients are not simply tokens of economic value, he says the way he treats them “should be elevated to a completely different level.”

Contrasting with his description of being persecuted for his Baha’i faith is what he expresses about hope, “something that I love to talk about” — in a very specific context. Indeed, it is obviously heartfelt as he shares, “I feel like the U.S. represents hope beyond what Americans really truly understand, and that hope extends to everybody on the planet. If you’re a teenager in Iran, if you’re a teenager even in Gaza today, you don’t think Saudi Arabia is going to save you. … But you have hope that the U.S. will rise to what it is, or what it is meant to be.”

What it is, he explains, is an environment that allows people to prosper — an environment he makes clear that he does not take for granted.

He took that attitude to a business effort, and he describes how he and his brother grew their internet company to a $1.2 billion valuation 11 years after arriving in the U.S. But that is only a beginning journey, as he then shares what he believes must follow such success. “What do you do with those profits?” he asks, and answers, “Sacrificial giving.”

Payam believes wealth, whether it’s individual or a company’s wealth, is something we are “supposed to empty ourselves of.” Not accumulate. “You cannot take it with you, so how can you implement steps that will allow you to basically give back in a way that will also lift up your own soul?”

His own success has enabled him to put that philosophy to work for others. Payam is the CEO of One Planet Group, a private equity firm that tries to infuse what he calls “spiritual capitalism”: “I’m going to be very clear that I’m not a socialist, I’m not a communist. I want to build very successful businesses, but I want these businesses to be created with a profit in mind but with no loss to humanity. So, it can only help humanity.”

This includes today’s bogeyman of AI because, as he points out, “I’m not afraid of any technology, I’m afraid of the intention of whoever is building whatever they’re building. Because they can use it for good or they can use it for bad.”

Hope, love, people, business — and the humility to approach it all from a posture of learning. This is the journey that motivates Payam, and he explores with us his amazing story of where that started for him and where it is taking him. Click on the link below for an engaging interview.