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.

 

 

Kick Start Growth with Corporate Entrepreneurs

by: Susan Foley - June 7th, 2012   Filed under: Business Growth, Corporate Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurial Leaders, Innovation, Internal Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs, Leadership Skills, Uncategorized Add Comment

Corporate entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and entrepreneurial leaders are in demand because organizations are struggling to innovate and grow in the current economic climate.

According to the Conference Board “CEOs across the globe cite business growth as the most critical challenge they face.” Growth in core markets is declining, customers are demanding more, competition is intensify, margins are shrinking, there are lower trade barriers and reduced cost of entry.

It is a combination of the external forces shaping business and the impact of those forces on organizations that is stifling innovation and growth.

Internally, organizations have spent the last decade costing cutting and streamlining operations. They created rigid processes and inflexible systems.  They stopped investing in new growth and allocated resources to existing projects that were mature or at the end of their life cycle. Employees were asked to do more with less, driving employee engagement to an all time low.

Now CEOs are ready to start investing again, according to the 15th Annual CEO Survey by PwC.  The issue is they don’t feel like they have the skills they need to achieve their growth agenda.  They are probably right.  The skills and capabilities required in the past are not the skills required in the future.

Most executives achieved their success by exploiting the core business not building new ones. The challenge for organizations is finding and developing individuals that know how to do both.

Using the word innovation in job descriptions is not the answer.  According to Pete Maulik, “Many companies still struggle to recruit and cultivate innovative talent.  What’s the problem? Organizations are not sure what they’re looking for.” 

Organizations wind up building a laundry list of competencies to address this issue.  What they need to do is identify the key competencies and behaviors required for success in this particular role.

The Corporate Entrepreneur Profile™ was developed to help organizations accelerate this process.  It is a success profile designed for and with the assistance of experienced corporate entrepreneurs that have generated millions of dollars for their respective organizations.  The profile looks at the competencies and behaviors that enable corporate entrepreneurs be successful inside of an organization.

In most organizations growth and talent are now top priorities but few have adequately looked at the link between the two.  As a result, many organizations are missing significant growth opportunities because they are not effectively harnessing the skills and capabilities of their corporate entrepreneurs.

Corporate entrepreneurs help organizations kick-start growth.

Engineering Corporate Entrepreneurs

by: Susan Foley - May 24th, 2012   Filed under: Corporate Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurial Leaders, Innovation, Intrapreneurs Add Comment

It was a unique experience to participate in the Faculty Entrepreneurial Mindset Workshop at Lawrence Technological University in Michigan and see how the faculty is integrating the ‘entrepreneurial mindset’ into their engineering curriculum.

The program is designed to give engineers and professionals the skills they need to turn ideas into viable product offerings in their respective organizations.  By teaching engineers to be more entrepreneurial Lawrence Tech is helping these individuals to be more successful as engineers and leaders.

It is not a program to teach students about the entrepreneurial process but to enable them to integrate entrepreneurial thinking, action and decision making into their work.

Lawrence Tech is part of the Kern Entrepreneurial Education Network (KEEN) which is a network of twenty engineering universities across the country that is instilling the entrepreneurial mindset into their engineering programs.  “KEEN’s mission is to graduate engineers equipped with an action-oriented entrepreneurial mindset who will contribute to business success and transform the U.S. workforce.”

The KEEN network currently touches 19,000 engineering students.  Faculty members are encouraged to integrate the entrepreneurial mindset concepts into their programs.  Students are given the opportunity to supplement their studies with programs focused on entrepreneurship.

A cross section of faculty from various disciplines at Lawrence Tech attended the entrepreneurial mindset workshop.  They participated in exercises that got them to experience entrepreneurial thinking for themselves.  Exercises they could later use in their own classrooms.

Lawrence Tech is situated in the Detroit area and many of their students are currently working in the automobile industry.  One student involved in this program talked about his work at Chevrolet and how his engineering degree and entrepreneurial studies have helped him navigate the uncertainty and ambiguity inherent in business today.

I applaud the faculty at Lawrence Tech and the other nineteen universities who are participating in this program.   They are leading the way to developing the entrepreneurial leaders that are needed to revitalize our economy and reestablish our leadership in innovation.

“It was a firm belief in the future that motivated Russell E. Lawrence to found a university in 1932—in the midst of the economic chaos of the Great Depression. While less farsighted individuals made predictions of gloom, Russell Lawrence turned a dream of preparing students for leadership in the new technical era into reality.” Lawrence Tech University

Lawrence Tech is doing the same thing today, by preparing engineers to become the entrepreneurial leaders we need to build a better future.