Six Reasons to Hire Intrapreneurs Now

by: Susan Foley - October 2nd, 2012   Filed under: Business Growth, Corporate Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurial Leaders, Internal Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs, Leadership Skills 2 Comments

While speaking to a group of sixty mid level managers last week one question that was asked was whether large companies are selectively looking to hire Intrapreneurs and Corporate Entrepreneurs.

Unfortunately, too few organizations are actively recruiting individuals who have the entrepreneurial capabilities that are needed to re-energize their business. That is a mistake!

The fact is that growth in many large companies has stalled even though they are sitting on piles of cash.  Many are waiting to see how things turn out in the US election.  That is mistake!

Individuals who have the skills and capabilities to lead new growth initiatives are left sitting on their hands.  They are eager to move their companies forward but they are being held back.  That is a waste of talent!

Hiring entrepreneurs inside a large organization is still a foreign concept.  Many organizations say they want these types of individuals but their actions say something else.  They are using hiring criteria that gives them more of what they have not what they need. It keeps them stuck in the past.

There are six reasons why you should hire Intrapreneurs now:

1. Internal entrepreneurs are independent thinkers.  They make sense of the world based on their own observations and experience.  They are willing to try new things.  They don’t let past experience get in their way or cloud their judgement.  They see possibilities where others don’t.

2. Internal entrepreneurs are good at navigating uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. They don’t sit back and wait for things to become clear. They control uncertainty by acting. 

3. Internal entrepreneurs are totally engaged and energized by a challenge.  They bigger the challenge the better.  It is like climbing a mountain.  Once you’ve climbed a mountain you want to climb a higher more difficult one next time.  They take on the toughest jobs.

4. Internal entrepreneurs are good at driving change.  They are willing to take on risks to change their comfort zone.  They not only lead change but become the change they hope to achieve.  They model change so others are comfortable changing too. They make change happen.

5. Internal entrepreneurs are highly effective leaders.  They find creative ways to leverage limited resources.  They know where the organization is flexible and where it is not.  They are able to break down barriers and create new systems to support them.  They lead through complexity.

6. Internal entrepreneurs are good at execution.  They have the discipline to stay focused and bring things to closure.  They know how to take a complex set of interrelated variables and put them together to achieve results.  They close the gap between strategy and execution.

The skills and capabilities that were needed in the past are not the skills needed moving forward. The reality is that we all need to be entrepreneurs now whether we are in a large organization or on our own.

It’s time organizations got serious about hiring leaders who have the entrepreneurial talent to shake things up and get things moving.  

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!

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.