One of the biggest opportunities for folks who want to make an impact through entrepreneurship is to tackle things that Corporate America has gotten wrong and so we’ve asked some of the best and brightest in the community to share examples of what Corporate America is getting wrong in their industries.

Park Howell

Most executives communicate and care but bore. They don’t connect with their colleagues, customers and the communities they serve like they could because they lead with logic and reason when what every audience wants is the emotional pull of a story. Just ask yourself, when was the last time you were bored into buying anything. This is true for buying into a way of thinking a leader might be espousing. Or buying into a new corporate initiative or mission. Or buying a product or service. Nobody buys boring. Read more>>

Abby Pagud

One of the reasons I started my company without even realizing it was my frustration with how the industry acquires its customers. Most health and fitness companies prey on peoples insecurities to make a buck. This leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. When an individual is ready to seek help to improve their health, the focus should be on the path moving forward. Being aware of health history and behavior trends from the past can help determine the right course of action that needs to be taken. However, this knowledge should never be used AGAINST the individual to add more salt to the wound. Read more>>

Nadjhla Gracia

As a fashion designer at times, it’s overwhelming to think of what’s truly important; a sustainable environment, or a renowned track record as an entrepreneur. Corporate America seems to be focused on the latter, I decided that success means having a sustainable company that is going to leave the state of commerce, and the environment better than I found it. I mean, it is one thing to dream of accomplishing your vision by any means necessary, but putting capital ahead of what is necessary to secure a sustainable future is undoubtedly counterproductive. The endless cycle of thoughtless production season after season isn’t what I imagined life would be like as a designer. Vintage couture is so precious, so valuable to the industry, whereas the plagiarized fast fashion pandemic in today’s climate is unsustainable and displeasing. Read more>>

Ryan Giolitto

In our industry, there is an intense focus by Corporate America on the do it yourself capability. With turbotax, you can do your own taxes, and with quickbooks, you can do your own accounting. The problem with the do it yourself mentality is that both of these take skill, of which most people have never had any formal training or experience in. The time cost that it takes to fix mistakes made in these areas always far outweighs the costs to have someone else perform the work, but Corporate America wants to make everyone believe it is easy to do all of this and that you can do it yourself correctly with ease. This is far from reality in our industry. Read more>>

Ian Stewart

The marketing and advertising industry has changed drastically over the last decade. It used to be that a few large firms held most of the business and had the most access to the resources needed for large scale campaigns, and creative content creation. But, gone is the “Mad Men” era. In today’s marketplace we have seen the rise in the importance for authenticity and a deep desire from organizations of all size to have true customer service, not just flashy ads, and big budgets. My company, Root Source Digital has been serving clients for almost six years, and we focus on true authenticity and providing the top services even at the expense of personal scale. We repeat the benefits because our clients do. Read more>>

Aimy Steadman

Corporate America tries to distill down trends about Millennials and Gen Z into product features — for example, basing a whole brand around being low calorie or around packaging. These values that Gen Z and Millennials care about should be table stakes: being better-for-you, better-for-the-planet, having diverse leadership, and being authentic. Those are the rules to play now. You also need to have a delicious drink and provide a fun experience to the customer while having those things going on, too. Read more>>

Monica Torres

The one thing I feel that Corporate America gets wrong about my industry is that the people who work in death care like myself are creepy. There seems to be a stereotype that morticians are out to take advantage of grieving families. The reality couldn’t be farther from the truth. Most people in my industry are highly compassionate souls. It takes a great level of patience to work with grieving families. Compassion and sensitivity are needed to help guide families in the most darkest time of their life. Corporate America also doesn’t seem to understand the amount of work that morticians do to help the community. Like teachers, morticians are very underpaid and under appreciated. Read more>>

Francky Pierre-Paul

Corporate America tend to forget that we live in a forever changing world and homelessness has taken a different turn when it comes to the lack of Housing and resources. In the eyes of Corporate America, a homeless neighbor is only seen through one perspective and that’s the perspective of people living on the streets and it’s so much bigger than that. Read more>>

Julian Hakim

It seems to me that most America is driven by corporate groups that undertake massive efforts to create shortcuts and make things profitable. Most of the food comes from the same handful of providers and most menus look similar. There will be a shift towards higher quality and smaller volume restaurants which has already begun in states like California and New York that will spread toward middle America. My philosophy has always looked and felt, and tasted very different from what the corporate world offers. It is based on higher quality of goods that are sustainably sourced and delivered. Read more>>

Kenneth D Crowley Sr.

Corporate America has historically had one major concern, it’s bottom line! More recently, it has become cool or acceptable for Corporate America to involve itself with community or to do business in communities of “Color”. While this sounds good and sometimes feels good to big business, banks, major corporations and oftentimes larger foundations, there is a huge disconnect and Corporate America checks a “box” instead of building and growing RELATIONSHIPS. With community organizations, this is the only thing that matters, at least if the organization itself cares about relationships. Just because Corporate America “throws” a few dollars to NPOs and BIPOC lead communities and refuses to visit community events. Read more>>

David Charette and Jay Britto

Corporate America is, by its fundamental nature, designed to be conservative in its solutions and in the market sectors. That, in my opinion, is dangerous because it means large corporations are not necessarily going to take risks–something that’s really important in interior design and architecture. Also, I believe there has been a lack of courage in corporate America and that’s part of the reason scandalous and dangerous behavior has been allowed to happen–as exposed by the Me, Too movement, etc. Lots of people knew bad things were happening but they did nothing, often due to worries about money. And that’s in part because of the structure of firms where principals own shares. Read more>>

Kathy Turner

My view of what Corporate America gets wrong is the quality of nutritional content in our food systems. Our population is riddled with obesity, diabetes, autoimmune issues, attention deficit problems for children to name a few. Our public does not relate grocery stores to toxins that’s poison us. Grocery shelves market us and our children. Read more>>

Sean Stidham

Well, it is not only corporate America, but also the city of San Diego and state of California. For example the state gave an exemption to the national apps of Wag and Rover in regards to AB5. If you aren’t familiar with the law signed in 2020, basically it forced almost every industry to become employers and removed independent contractors as an option. The problem with it is that they don’t understand how pet businesses are run. The companies they exempted in our industry are the example of those who violate labor laws and prevent workers from having one job to support themselves on. Read more>>

Jessica Kallenbach

With regard to the question of what corporate America gets wrong in my industry, the first thought that comes to mind is the neglect of corporate level photographers to connect with their clients on a human level. At Beauty Unveiled Studios, we have endeavored to maintain as one of our core values the importance of connecting with our clients in a very personal way so that they know that they are not merely “dollar signs” or a business transaction to us. Read more>>

Ken Kilday

Corporate America looks at ‘coaching’ as a way to fix the problem employees. Though that may be changing in many organizations, by and large leaders themselves usually seek coaching for OTHERS that they suspect may be failing. It’s usually the HR professionals that inherently understand that leaders are responsible for guiding their reports toward a clear vision of success for their role. Coaching is a process to unlock talent, apply genius, and build self-awareness. Read more>>

Michael Heywood

Corporate America is trying to take over healthcare. Everyday small business medical clinics are being bought up. Corporate America sees dollar signs instead of seeing patients. This is one of the reasons why I am so proud to be a small business owner. Read more>>

Lloyd Hopkins

Corporate America needs to understand that supporting teachers is essential to the future of their businesses and industries. The future of our workforce. Our future CEOs and leaders are in today’s classrooms. It is a corporate responsibility to ensure that the teachers being charged with cultivating their future talent have the resources and support they need to adequately fulfill their jobs of shaping our future! Read more>>

Roger Hicks

I don’t believe they place enough importance on branding and marketing. Often times, they focus on what they need to open their doors – facilities, inventory, manpower, and vendors – and if there’s money left over, that’s the marketing budget. Also, because they know what they respond to when it comes to advertising, they believe they might as well do their own marketing. We have a saying, “Just because you can cut your own hair, it doesn’t mean you should.” The same can be said of marketing, yet businesses try it anyway. They hire accountants and lawyers to keep them out of financial or legal trouble, yet marketing seems to be a less risky do-it-yourself endeavor. However, over time, a haphazard execution of an incomplete marketing plan may result in lost sales, decreased brand loyalty and a weakened brand image. Read more>>