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.

Willie McKenzie

There’s a culture that goes along with cannabis that corporations don’t understand and it’s lead to a lot of failures in the industry. Culture is not something that can be created with brand experts or marketing dollars. There has been a large influx of corporate dollars into the cannabis industry over the last 9 years, those dollars have been accompanied by professionals from other industries who thought they would easily dominate the emerging market. To some extent they’ve been successful, but only in limited license markets with less educated consumers and limited options. Read more>>

Javari Newton

I feel corporate America doesn’t cater to the actual people paying for and/or buying into. Whatever it is they are pushing. For example, in the industry that I am in podcasting, broadcasting, media creation, it seems like when corporate America or the industry itself finds that one thing they’re looking for they stop at that and don’t seem to see interest in others around to build something in the vain of what I am doing. A lot of what is happening today is based off of relations, and if you don’t have those people in play that could put you in the room, you don’t really have anything. Social currency is becoming more affective than the dollar. Read more>>

Cori Green

Not using my services (Haha). In all seriousness I think a lot of times gift and PR campaigns are often left as an afterthought or filled with a bunch of branded swag. Let’s be honest, no one really wants another corporate coozie from an event they attended or from a company they are a client of. People want to feel appreciated in their professional relationships and a gift package filled with items that really have nothing to do with THEM at all isn’t going to do that. A gift, no matter the occasion, is a way in which we show that we value our relationships. It doesn’t need to be a big thing and I think a lot of people overthink this. Something as simple as a handwritten note will leave a far more sentimental impression than just a pre printed card. The thought is in the details and it is always the thought that counts. Read more>>

Christine Morse

 

Millions of dollars are spent on marketing and I am wondering why that same amount of effort is not spent internally, on operations and culture improvement? Over the years, I have helped organizations double and sometimes triple the number of clients, inbound calls, and sales with our marketing services. Over and over I have watched the operations and internal culture crumble beneath the weight, so I started to use the same tactics on the internal teams as I did with the clients. Read more>>

Paul Jun

While brands and IP have been driving huge box office gains ever since the dawn of the first franchise, the power balance between creatives in the film industry and the executives has shifted much too far in favor of the corporations. In doing so, they’re continuously losing the essence of what made the industry successful–creativity. As an example, when Disney purchased Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilms, they purchased them primarily with the intent of exploiting the properties with much less intent on developing the IP. And while you can do that for a decade or shorter, eventually you dilute the brand that was so well developed in the first place to warrant purchasing it. Read more>>

Lea Flores

Corporate America assumes that Boudoir Photography is all about being sexy and taking sexy pictures. In fact, what Boudoir Photography is really about is a transformative change in the way women see themself. We see women through all walks of life, marriage, divorce, weight loss, weight gain, cancer, sexual assault victims and so much more. All of these women have a very genuine reason for WHY they have chosen to do such an intimate shoot. Read more>>