Corporate work experience and being a successful entrepreneur: that apparent contradiction has always fascinated me. The boundaries of those different worlds have become increasingly blurred. And rightly so, in a world that is changing at an exponential pace right now!
7,5 years ago I started as a management trainee at Unilever. With the ambition to either become CEO or ultimately run my own company, I had resolved to take on the role of intrapreneur. Adding tangible value by challenging the status quo. An ambitious goal, but I thought I could quickly achieve it. What a dream!
But this turned out to be much more complex. I was more occupied with (micro-)management than with creating value. Despite my realization that this was the opportunity to make a difference, I ran into the well-known silos and processes. I couldn't get it done.
Giving up isn't really part of my vocabulary, but sometimes you have to admit that persevering doesn't help anyone. So I quit my job. I retrained myself from corporate manager to startup growth hacker, through a combination of learning and doing.
Our Leaders. With them I discovered besides more effective ways to create value, also my deeply rooted urge to make the impossible possible. From within classic organizations, where my interest still lays. Even in a rapidly changing world, I believe there is room for proud organizations with a rich history, if only they build on their own heritage; close to the core.
That combination of ambition and experience has led to my renew belief in the intrapreneur. But now I like to help them create the right context, networks and methodology in generating lasting results in traditional organizations!
I would like to drink a coffee and exchange some thoughts with you! I
