Let’s face it: Most employee handbooks are terrible. They don’t answer the real questions new employees have when they begin. They also do a terrible job of communicating an organization’s culture -- the most important influencer of employee engagement.  

In the absence of a useful written guide, most companies rely today on storytelling to keep their traditions alive. Storytelling, however, offers no totems, no cultural preserves. Think, for example, of J.W. Marriott’s book The Spirit to Serve or 3M’s legendary Post-It origin story. Both pass down the company’s culture and narratives to the newest generation of employees and provide a shortcut to understanding the company’s values,

Multibillion-dollar legacy industries don’t make it easy for entrepreneurs to step in and create value. There are huge barriers to entry -- licensing, pricing, regulations, and cultural/brand significance -- that come with being around for a century or more.

However, those barriers shouldn’t stop you from innovating.

Take the utility sector for example, which is perhaps most frightening of all: a trillion-dollar taxpayer subsidized network of poles and wires set up through franchised municipal monopolies. Otherwise known as, our power and energy industry. It’s a mouthful of protection, and as a result, utilities make for a great investment (just ask Warren Buffet), since the likelihood of disruption is tough to even think about. To most reasonable entrepreneurs, the regulated utility sector,...