Pirates in corporate innovation? Cut the nonsense

I recently received an invitation to a pirate-themed event, and it made me think. Are we really romanticizing the right role models for innovation? Perhaps it's time to grow up, make innovation more professional, and less childish, if we want to be taken seriously.

"Be a pirate!" – a mantra still echoed in innovation departments, accelerators, and incubators like an overpriced design thinking workshop. It sounds cool, rebellious, almost adventurous. But anyone who has ever opened a history book knows what happens to pirates.

The reality: Companies don’t love pirates – They love control

In a non-pirate society, piracy quickly ends with walking the plank—or, in the corporate world, with an exit conversation in HR. And in a purely pirate society? Well, good luck not being robbed and thrown overboard by your own crew. Job security looks different.

The truth is: companies don’t love pirates—they love control. They love innovation, but only as long as it doesn’t change anything fundamental.

Innovation in large companies: Theater, not transformation

A typical large corporation treats change (disruption) like a dinosaur treats evolution: On the one hand, it wants to survive, but on the other, any real change is a threat to its existing structure. Innovation is celebrated as long as it’s confined to innovation labs, accelerators, and digital hubs—places where it can’t do any real harm.

A typical large corporation treats change (disruption) like a dinosaur treats evolution — too absorbed with survival to see and recognize it.

However, the moment an idea starts challenging the core business model, these are the typical reactions:

1. "This isn’t our focus." (Translation: Please don’t disrupt our core business.)

2. "We need a governance structure." (Translation: Time to regulate everything to death.)

3. "Let’s run a pilot project."(Translation: Let’s delay real change by pretending to test it endlessly.)

4. "Let’s align with existing processes." (Translation: Let’s suffocate innovation by forcing it into old structures.)

5. "We should get consensus first." (Translation: Let’s make sure no one feels uncomfortable — and nothing actually changes.)

6. "We’ve tried that before." (Translation: We never really did, but this helps shut down the conversation.)

7. "Let’s wait until the market is ready." (Translation: Let’s wait until it’s too late.)

8. "Can we integrate this into our existing roadmap?" (Translation: Let’s water it down until it’s familiar and harmless.)

9. "Our customers aren’t asking for this." (Translation: We’re only listening to current revenue, not future relevance.)

10. "Who’s accountable if this fails?" (Translation: Let’s make sure no one has the courage to actually try it.)

If you're a so-called "pirate innovator," your company will celebrate you—as long as you're just sticking colorful post-its on walls. But the moment you become a real threat to the status quo, you’ll either be pushed out or restructured until you leave voluntarily.

Harsh reality: Companies are ships, not freebooters

Let’s compare companies to ships. A corporation is a giant tanker—slow, clunky, but stable. A pirate ship, on the other hand, is small, fast, and flexible—but constantly at risk of sinking.

Most companies claim they want to be “like a startup.” But no decision-maker actually wants to replace their highly profitable tanker with a few speedboats. That’s why innovation in large organizations is often just theater.

Forget pirates in Innovation. Be an entrepreneurial trader

Real innovators don’t behave like outlaws; they act like entrepreneurial traders. They navigate through existing structures, negotiate cleverly, discover new markets, and create sustainable value.

• Pirates plunder and burn bridges. Traders build trade routes.

• Pirates get hunted. Traders work within the system and change it from the inside.

• Pirates die young. Traders build empires.

Play the game smart

If you truly want to change something, stop acting like a pirate—start playing the game intelligently. Or, to put it another way: Pirates end up at the gallows. Entrepreneurial traders build the future.

💡What do you want to be? 🏴☠️ or 🚢

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