Corporate Refugee?

Entrepreneurship isn't perfect ..... it's simply better!  For over 17 years, I worked for a couple of corporations.  

First with BIC Canada, where I learned a great deal about the consumer packaged goods industry.  Over several years, realized how biased & corrupt the consumer products marketplace really is.  

The huge number of products that are controlled & distributed by a relatively few companies was astonishing to me.  University really didn't prepare me for the reality that grocery & convenience retailing was so deeply rooted within in-store real estate & manipulation.

I learned the "Game" quickly & was able to leverage this into several career advancements within a pretty short period of time, so long as I delivered the numbers & was willing to relocate whenever management wanted.

Unwilling to trade my soul & commit to this industry as a career, I chose to return to my beloved Vancouver from Winnipeg & enter the newly-deregulating Telecom industry.  It did leave me ruined, however, for being able to enjoy the shopping experience, knowing firsthand how it operates.

The Good News was that my time with BCTel throughout most of the 90's was truly spectacular.  It was a magical time to be in such a vibrant & critically important sector.  I learned so much from the massive amount of training they provided.  The culture was one built on a Customer First philosophy, which I enjoyed immensely, & I flourished as a byproduct of this.

The Bad News was that when a new CEO came into play & orchestrated the merger that created TELUS as we know it today.  Operating like a US-style corporation with a focus of quarterly profits above most everything else.  With the 2001 DotCom meltdown, it was time to look for options for the future.

Call me naive, but it was a revelation to me that advancing one's career virtually always comes at someone else's expense.  That didn't sit well with my personal values.  Neither did making millions for shareholders I didn't know or care about, & it was time for a change.

Thankfully I was introduced very early to another major upcoming trend that happened to combine 2 of my favourite things:  People & Business.

Now, am grateful for my corporate experience, both understanding & appreciating more fully that being an entrepreneur isn't perfect ..... it's just better.  I wish the same for you!