This is one of those “what I’ve learned” essays. It’s not meant to sound preachy. Helping emerging entrepreneurs in their early/growth stages informs the way I advise corporate clients at every stage of development. This is about the “gestalt” of what I tell clients rather than the methodology or process.

From designing, building and marketing products to recruiting talent, it’s critical for any company, large or small, to stay lean, creative and adaptive. The fact is that rapid-fire change is no longer the exception but the norm in today’s digital economy. Companies that can’t respond to the mercurial business environment are falling behind. Every company, young or mature, should strive to being “entrepreneurial” — that is lean, highly adaptive and capable of rapid iteration.

Being “entrepreneurial” is not just about how a new product is engineered but how a company is structured, particularly its business model. Traditional hierarchies, functional silos, and bureaucracies restrain the creativity and dynamism that teams need to flourish. The future belongs to entrepreneurial organizations and the products and services they bring to market.

As startups and established companies compete with each other, they must discover ways to learn from and even cooperate with each other. It sounds cliché, but the key takeaway from working with early-stage companies is learning how lean teams drive creativity. Today, every company regardless of the industry or market must behave in an entrepreneurial manner.  That’s not so easy for established companies, but it is nonetheless axiomatic.