Why Your Company Can’t Ignore the Entrepreneurial Movement

PAGE SOCIETY SPRING SEMINAR - APRIL 2014

SherpaFoundry’s Chief Executive Officer, Tina Sharkey, wants to disrupt your company’s corporate structure—and with good reason. Whether a mom-and-pop shop, Fortune 100 leader or small startup, she believes organizations “can’t afford to ignore the entrepreneurial movement” or the growing work culture focused on innovation.

“It is time for corporations to think like entrepreneurs,” she said. “Because they are the the real heroes of today—the ones who are reinventing society.”

Sharkey referenced icons like Mark Zuckerberg, the late Steve Jobs, and the folks at Pixar—industry rebels who may have seemed crazy until their ideas not only stuck but changed the game. Each had the “courage to go against institutional knowledge,” and embodied the key attributes of entrepreneurs—creative, passionate, courageous, scrappy, focused and fearless.

Shifting from a traditional corporate structure and unleashing entrepreneurship to generate new processes and products is easier said than done but not impossible, says Sharkey.

“CCOs are the bridge-builders,” says Sharkey, explaining that they are in the unique position to lead these institutional transformations.

Most important, organizations need to “be their own disruptor” and reevaluate current structure and how it affects the core business. From flexible work schedules to inspiring office spaces that foster creativity, companies that embody the boundary-pushing philosophy of entrepreneurs will succeed and grow.