Wiek de Winter:  Entrepreneurial thinking starts here

Wiek de Winter, Körber site: Eindhoven, Netherlands 

Some companies talk about entrepreneurship. 
At Körber, it’s something you’re allowed to do. 

For me, that mindset is summed up in one phrase: Think and act like an entrepreneur. 
Not as a slogan on a wall. But as a daily reality. 

I work in software, specifically warehouse management systems. 
On paper, that could be a narrow field: same products, same customers, same solutions. 

But it didn’t. 

Instead of staying inside my lane, I started connecting the dots.  
And colleagues did the same. 
From the Business Area Pharma. 
From the Business Area Technologies.  
From areas building entirely different products.  

Not because it was part of my job description. 
But because I saw connections. 

Pharma doesn’t just package pills – it needs warehouses for raw materials, packaging materials, and finished products. 
Vertical farming isn’t just machines – it needs software too. 

Some of these conversations turned into projects. 
Some didn’t. 

And that’s fine. 

What matters is the freedom to explore. 
To ask: What if we do this together? 
To step outside what we’ve done for the last 20 years.  

That freedom – to explore, to connect, to think beyond silos – is what entrepreneurial thinking means to me. 

Not every idea will succeed. 
But every idea is allowed to be tested.