What's in a Corporate profile?

Its true for many of us in 'StartUpLand' (is that a future world at DisneyLand), 'Runway' (startup jargon) is something we often need. If you are in 'Discovery' (more startup jargon), and don't yet have funding, backing or angels in your outfield, you may need to swallow your pride and take on some consulting, a contract or a (semi-)permanent position. Which presents a problem....
I've noticed that in 'Corporate Land', there are some things that you just can't put on your Linked In profile. No, I'm not talking about your private life, or those things that people might consider quirky.
It's usually things that might reflect on your personality, or demonstrate your individuality. Like the time you were involved in a political campaign or another cause close to your heart.
A recruiter friend recommended that I remove anything contentious from my profile that might be cause to discount me from a role. Which I now think is 'tosh'.
You see, when employers interview you for a role, they not only get to see your skills, experience & capacities, but they also get to see your personality, presence and potentials. In short they get to experience the 'you that you are now', which came to be as result of where you came from.
The employment market is a crowded place, and if you want to compete, you want to stand out. If you are a "StartUpGuy' like me, your best opportunity come from highlighting your differential strengths, not trying to blend in (assuming that you have the requisite 'entry level' skils). If I had to guess about you, things like 'Drive', 'Perseverance' and 'Resilience' are key attributes
So in order for them to truly understand what motivates you, what drives you, and therefore how to bring out your best, I believe that those employers need to see where your 'power' really comes from. So demonstrate that.
For example, how can an organisation truly appreciate characteristics like your resilience & tenacity (something that most people say they have) unless you can demonstrate how you acquired these capacities?
And here is the dichotomy, in demonstrating these qualities, to the un-informed, it makes you appear weak, a failure, perhaps even a 'wannabe'? Perhaps that’s because of the requirements of in a corporation; there you are a 'unit of production' in the immediate, ultimate and only requirement - the production of profit.
But not in "StartUpLand' - here we celebrate your failures, encourage them even - because we know that behind every failure, every mistake, every difficulty previously encountered, is the seed of a solution to a future obstacle, barrier or roadblock before its even arrived at.
In the Startup Community, we welcome, desire, require, and in fact celebrate, your past failures. Why? Because for us, its about creating, building or shaping something larger than ourselves. Profit is the result, not the purpose, of our success in the pursuit of that larger vision.
So, Fail Fast and Fail Often, so that we can get on with the business of learning what it is that we are supposed to learn in the process.
PS If you want to see a list of my failures, they are up on my site as of today.