My Plight in Coporate America- not what I expected!

From the young age of 24 and a manager at Enterprise Rent-A-Car to multiple medical sales positions to my current position with at&t, I have had tumultuous experiences in Corporate America.   Despite being a very good sales person, I have long discovered that it takes much more of a self-sacrifice to excell in corporate america than to simply be good at your job.  One has to be willing to play the "game", including pretending to admire and respect those in the corporate heirarchy, and to remember to NOT voice an opinion if it contradicts the corporate culture--even if it's done upon request-- as it comes back to haunt you! One has to be willing to become a cookie-cutter by-product of what the corporation wants to see, instead of an individual respected for one's own fresh ideas and thoughts. One has to be prepared for the managers who are intimidated by your talents, who one day are in your corner and throw you to the wolves the next in order to save their own jobs. The short term pressure to succeed in this environment trumps one's ability to devise a plan for long-term success. No matter what position that I am in I have always had the fortitude to figure out how to creatively work smart to attain the same results or better than others who consistently burn the candles at both ends. The mere fact that I want to acheive results my own way and not to follow an a to z plan devised by those far removed from the sales process has consistently caused me to be ostricized by the so called leaders of the organization.  There is the impossible quest placed upon a sales consultant to keep customers happy while a bureaucratic, administratively intense system simply precludes it.  It's a place where building a successful territory would include referrals from satisfied customers, however problematic implentation processes impede the satisfaction of new customers, and a limited, pre-defined territory thwarts many opportunities to grow fruitful, warm new business. 

I have known since about seven years into my plight in corporate america that despite early beliefs, I was made to own my own business and not to work for someone else-I'm an entrepreneur! I am far too opinionated, I want to see an organization that focuses on people first and their development and then on the bottom line- as I know that the bottom line is positively impacted when individuals believe that the organization cares about them as people first and respect them enough to empower them to help contribute to the bottom line of the organization.  To have all employees share in the winnings of the organization monetarily and to be kept abreast as to how every action by every employee impacts the overall results. To have a balance of work and family--something that is inherently missing from today's corporate positions--especially for working mothers. I'd like to use this forum to bring together other folks like me, who have the desire to be an entrepreneur--let's use the challenges as ammunition to get it done for ourselves, our families, and our communities.