What do you think of when you hear the word ‘entrepreneur’?
Do you think of someone who has broken the 9-5 mould and set up in business for themselves?
Or is it something greater than that to you? Can you be an entrepreneur and still be on the corporate career ladder?
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I can’t agree more with Sydney Owen in this excellent blog post: “passion is not limited to entrepreneurship“.
She talks about how ‘entrepreneurs’ (ie those who set up in business for themselves) aren’t necessarily on the true path to passion just because they’ve broken the 9-5 mould.
There are those who are ‘living the dream’ by working on a 9-5 career ladder and consider themselves just as excited about it.
She says: “I get jazzed about thinking about how I started at my current employer as an intern, and I look forward to learning from everyone that works here as I move through (or up, whatever) the ladder that everyone has deemed evil” . . . “Doing good work, enjoying your life and making a difference is not limited to those who start their own business. In my 9-5 I have the structure that I obsess over. I also have the creative freedom to rock the house when I’m given a task and given the wings to take it and fly.”
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And this is how it is at RB – being an entrepreneur doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t have that entrepreneurial attitude if you are in a corporate setting.
What makes working at RB so unique is that everybody – from entry level to top management – can contribute actively to the business.
There is an entrepreneurial culture which drives bold thinking, and the passion people bring is greatly valued.
When you work at RB, you are given tasks, goals, projects and the bar is always higher, but you are also given the wings to fly and reach your targets. To live and succeed in such a open context, people are encouraged to be bold thinking and take the initiative.
In my daily activities, every time I find a new best practice or a different way to approach a problem or a task, I always find in front of me colleagues and managers ready to listen to my ideas, and when they find it valuable, I am free to try the new way. And, most importantly, to share with other colleagues from other RB offices around the world.
Maybe the best synthesis of RB uniqueness and of being entrepreneurial in a corporate setting, is expressed in this video called ‘What makes the culture of RB so special?‘
And watch out for our CEO Bart Becht’s answer to the question at the end . . . “When you show up at RB you smell it in the air” . . .
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Tags: bart becht, bold, Career, company culture, creativity, Entrepreneurship, passion, Passion to deliver, taking initiative, taking responsibility
It’s good to hear about a culture like the one described. I worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers for many years and I thought that was the only company that uniquely let employees have so much freedom and be an entrepreneur in a structured job.
I was able to use my freedom to transform a product support group that I managed. By the time I was done, the group had so much respect that the staff was constantly in demand for other projects or was promoted quickly. I did this by setting up my own recruiting program, developing a dynamic training program, mentoring, and starting a management development training program.
Now that I am searching for a new position here in the US, your company seems like one that I need to look into because it offers the same change for someone who isn’t afraid to innovate to succeed.