About Beyond Cubicles
đ˘ #BeyondCubicles is a weekly LinkedIn series created by Carolina DâSouza, born out of her own experience transitioning from a corporate career to independent consulting. Since its launch in June 2024, the series has evolved into a platform that showcases the inspiring journeys of several founders who have redefined the traditional 9-to-5.
Through authentic narratives, #BeyondCubicles highlights themes of courage, resilience, and purpose. The stories feature individuals from diverse industriesâranging from tech and education to wellness and adventureâwho share their experiences of stepping away from conventional roles to pursue passion-driven careers.Â
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⨠Note: All features in this series are unpaid and shared as a way to honor and amplify real stories of transformation.
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"Cultivating Innovation: Nurturing the Seeds of Growth Within a Company's Soul"
From oil and gas to telecom and management consulting, in two decades, Usama had worked across sectors and noticed one key commonality: the disconnect between strategies and organizational cultures.
It was when he was working as a senior management and strategy consultant for a multinational company that he felt there was a need to have a deeper, more credible understanding of what influences innovation.
âMany leaders assert that âculture eats strategy for breakfastâ, yet I observed a lack of true integration of organizational culture as a foundation for growth,â he says.
Usama, a computer engineering graduate, went on to get a doctorate in business administration, focusing his research on corporate culture and its impact on innovation and company performance.
In 2022, he set up AcceMind to provide research-based advisory, coaching, and consulting services to companies across the GCC. He felt that, in spite of substantial investments, the GCC fell short of global innovation standards.
âThe lack of a culture fostering innovation, risk-taking, and continuous learning hinders organizational and regional growth,â he explains.
This challenge has made AcceMind’s journey âspicy and even more excitingâ.
Usamaâs work is based on three key strategies: educating corporate leaders on the importance of integrating innovation within their organizational culture; analyzing drivers and inhibitors of innovation and offering solutions; and implementing these solutions sustainably and effectively.
He has enjoyed his journey thus far, which he says is a marriage of the science of data and the art of understanding human behavior. He does, however, wish he had moved to entrepreneurship earlier, saying it has given him immense courage, clarity, and empowerment.
On the personal side, prior to the shift, he made sure his personal finances were stable enough to support his business development and transitioned to a life free of debt, mortgage, and credit cards.
For business, he adopted a two-pronged approach: setting up operations and studying the market. The digitization of processes in the UAE made the paperwork easy, says Usama, crediting the governmentâs advanced policies to support innovation in the region.
His advice for those contemplating a career change is to understand why you want to make the shift, reflect on your strengths, weaknesses, and passions, plan your transition well, network and learn from othersâ experiences, and be prepared for hurdles.
The guiding principle in his journey has been this quote by Nike co-founder Phil Knight: The cowards never start, and the weak die along the way; that leaves us.