Back to Venture: How and Why
Back to Venture: How and Why
In many of my
discussions with Rakuten employees this year, I have emphasized a company goal.
I call it “Back to Venture.” It is the mindset that I believe is the only way we
will survive getting so big.To be sure, it was our goal to become large and successful and we plan to grow still more over the next ten years. But with size comes challenges and one of the biggest is innovation. How can we support and sustain an innovative culture in a company that is already large and continues to grow?
The answer, I believe, is Back to Venture.
We need to reach back to the mindset and the experience we had when this company was a start-up. The venture mindset is all about agility, innovation and accountability. We must embrace that mindset in our lives and our work today.
How do we do this?
One way we are doing it now is to create human resources tools that encourage entrepreneurial behavior. Our assessments look closely at results. People who are not creating real value for the company may not have a future here.
The other way I push Back to Venture is in my communications. I talk about it all the time. It’s the subject of my weekly address to the company. It comes up in meetings. It’s a topic of my speeches.
It is not just a subject I like; it is one I consider critical. I encourage everyone at Rakuten to consider themselves on a mission to create something new, something that improves productivity or makes us more agile. This is the way an entrepreneurial firm operates – it has to, otherwise it will die. We need that sense of urgency. All big companies do.
My book: Marketplace 3.0
Photo: cdrin/Shutterstock.com
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