10 Reasons for Corporate Entrepreneurship – Fad or No Fad!

by: Susan Foley - February 22nd, 2013   Filed under: Corporate Entrepreneurs, Corporate Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Leadership, Intrapreneurs, Intrapreneurship 1 Comment

A question that many executives ask me; “Is corporate entrepreneurship just the latest management fad.”  Fad or no fad the real question is why now!

iStock_000012707016XSmallRead 10 reasons why corporate entrepreneurship is needed now.  Then let me know if you think corporate entrepreneurship (Intrapreneurship) is a management fad or here to stay.

1)  Inadequate Growth:  The current reality is that most organizations have spent the last decade investing in existing or mature products that are not providing adequate growth.

2)  Failure Rate:  The failure rate for new business initiatives remains high for new products and services, more than ninety percent for transformational efforts.

3)  Lack of Capabilities:  A majority of CEOs do not feel like they have the skills or capabilities inside their organization to achieve their growth agenda, they are probably right.

4)  Few Role Models:  Only four percent of executives in large organizations are entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial, most executives have achieved their success by managing the core business not building new ones. Read More

A New Era Begins – Intrapreneurship

by: Susan Foley - December 18th, 2012   Filed under: Business Growth, Corporate Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Intrapreneurs, Intrapreneurship, Social Intrapreneurs, Uncategorized 1 Comment

As the Mayan calendar comes to an end we are reminded that each ending brings a new beginning. Despite the claims that the world will end, a more popular belief is that we are at the beginning of a new era.

An era that is full of opportunity, hope and new challenges. The old ways are no longer working.  We’ve reached a point of diminishing returns.  It is not only society that is facing massive problems, our governments, and our businesses as well.

After teaching a semester on Social Change at Suffolk University I realized that the world is changing at an accelerated pace and that most individuals and organizations are not keeping pace with that change.  Most of us resist and fear change, we are threatened by it.

We look for answers outside of us, when in fact the answers lie within us. We are responsible for the problems that exist and for finding the solutions that will fix them.

Many organizations are struggling to grow in the current economic climate.  The issue is that for far too long organizations have relied on exploiting the core business.  They have failed to fully embrace the value of exploring new ones.  They have let the past guide them to a point that is no longer productive, sustainable or profitable.  They have become trapped by their own success.

Intrapreneurship is now seen as an answer to this situation. Organizations that are instituting Intrapreneurship are taking advantage of the opportunity to change their business model and set out in a new direction. They are putting the words of Peter Drucker into action, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

Intrapreneurship (corporate entrepreneurship) is the key to unlocking the huge potential that still exists in large organizations.  It requires a new type of person, new processes and systems and a culture that is conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship.  It requires new thinking, new behaviors and a different approach to decision making.  It requires looking at the world through a new lens.

As the Mayan calendar ends we see the beginning of a new era in business.  An era where large organizations act more like start-ups, engage their employees in exploration and find new and innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

Organizations will find themselves going back to their roots.  To the entrepreneurial infrastructure and mindset that was the foundation for their growth

In doing this these organizations will renew themselves and re-energize their employees to achieve things that seemed beyond their reach.  Employees will find new meaning and purpose in work. They will be creating a new era of business for the next generation to follow.

 

 

Entrepreneurs Inside – Closing the Gap

by: Susan Foley - September 7th, 2012   Filed under: Accelerating Growth, Corporate Entrepreneurs, Corporate Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Leaders, Internal Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs Add Comment

One of the best forms of flattery is when someone inadvertently acknowledges something that was right in front of them all along but they couldn’t see it then.  Now they can.

This is a problem that most Intrapreneurs and Corporate Entrepreneurs learn to live with.  What they see others can’t envision. What they describe is difficult for others to fathom?  What they do and why they do it is hard to comprehend.

They find it difficult to close the gap between their vision and what everyone else sees and believes. The more they try to explain something the more frustrated they become. It is hard explaining something that you can see but others don’t.

As John Sculley, former CEO of Apple once said, “The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.”

Often it takes time to close the gap and get others to adopt what you know to be true.  You probably won’t have the data you need to prove your point.  You may have an idea that upsets the status quo, increases risk, shifts the balance of power, or threatens others in the organization.  All of these can be a show stoppers.

Instead you need to be guided by your own inner compass.  You must take action and learn from that action.  Not everything you do will be right but it will lead to a better path down the road. You need to move on.  You must believe that eventually others will follow and see what you see.

Several years ago I wrote a book titled Entrepreneurs Inside that described what it takes to be an entrepreneur inside of an existing organization.  The book was inspired by a group of senior executives who were entrepreneurs inside their organizations building million and billion dollar businesses.  They inspired me with their stories and they encouraged me to write a book, they said they wanted their organizations to know what it was like being an entrepreneur inside of an established organization.

The book appealed to the true internal entrepreneur. They could relate to it, they could see themselves in it, they understood the challenges, and they had experienced the same frustrations.  Many of them saw themselves more clearly for the first time. They resonated with the idea that they were not alone, that there were others out there. Traditional managers and leaders didn’t get it. They couldn’t see it.

Now that organizations have come to acknowledge the power of entrepreneurs the more recognition and attention internal entrepreneurs are getting.  So I was elated to hear that Babson College and The Business Innovation Factory are now putting their focus on internal entrepreneurs, even calling their new program in the Entrepreneur Experience Lab – Entrepreneurs Inside.  Flattery can be a double edged sword but closing the gap provides the biggest rewards.

Since writing Entrepreneurs Inside I’ve written a new book Acceleration: Changing the Speed of Growth for individuals who want to find out if they have what it takes to be an entrepreneur inside an established organization.  It is another step in closing the gap.

Find out if you have what it takes!