A World Built for Productivity

I was catching up with a former client the other day when he said something that stopped me in my tracks. I had to jot it down for this blog. He said: “I had a great profession, but I did not fit in. I built my company to be a world where I can be productive.”

This pretty much sums up entrepreneurship for many of us. We are the “misfits, the rebels, the round pegs, and the troublemakers” that Steve Jobs referenced in Apple’s Think Different campaign back in 1997.

Why Entrepreneurs Don’t Fit the Corporate Mold

You may have felt this way before breaking out on your own. I certainly did. I felt frustrated by the slow pace, the boring politicking, and the meaningless policies—the rules, committees, and hierarchies designed to keep the bank “safe” from us entrepreneurial employees who might color outside the lines.

That said, corporate jobs are great for people who want the perceived stability and constancy of slow change, and for those who yearn for others to create structures and ladders for them.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only about 10% of the U.S. workforce is self-employed, including freelancers. Another study from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and the Kauffman Foundation says that 8–10% of the population runs established businesses.

That means roughly 90% of the population likes—or at least tolerates—corporate and institutional structures.

And thank goodness they do. If the ratio were reversed, our society would be a Wild West of chaos. We need people who like structure, because the businesses we create need to build systems and processes to…