5 STEPS TO BECOMING A DISRUPTER IBM and Volkswagen's shared office in Berlin, where teams from both companies collaborate BY SHIRAZ AHMED Silicon Valley companies aren't just full of pingpong tables and chair massages - they get their edge by giving workers more autonomy S ilicon Valley's work culture may be known for afternoon yoga and video game sessions, but it's not those perks that give the tech hub its edge. Companies get ahead by giving employees more autonomy, fewer bosses and the freedom to fail. Google's, Facebook's and Apple's origin stories are famous for the bootstrap process that led to success. This startup mindset eschews bureaucracy, prizes speed to market and embraces failure. In the age of self-driving cars and software, executives at the top echelons of the auto industry are desperate to capture that magic despite considerable obstacles. Experts say there's a reason the corporate graveyard is littered with 10 shift * may 2018 giant companies that couldn't adapt to changing times: They're not built for it. "The things that make large enterprises so effective are exactly opposite of the things that make startups work so well," said Mark Coopersmith, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business who specializes in entrepreneurship. "Everything they do is around building scale. It's not about change." But that won't stop curious companies from trying. Here's a blueprint for cultivating a Silicon Valley culture for even the most curmudgeonly of companies.