Becoming an Intrapreneur

(3 minutes read)

Intrapreneurship… is it a midway step for corporate people dreaming to become an entrepreneur or it is mostly considered as an important and function for companies? Maybe it is just a fancy name for corporate people who do not have enough courage to start their own business.

For me, it is a mindset, the mindset of curiosity and growth. Both intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs have this mindset. Basically, when you create a new business or a venture on your own, you are called an entrepreneur. When you do the same thing in an established organization you are called an intrapreneur. Of course, financial risk is not the same.

I believe that there is a lot of myth created around intrapreneurship (and entrepreneurship but this is another topic) in corporate life. Indeed, its principle is very simple. Find or build a task or mission different than your job description and be in charge and hold yourself accountable for the results.

We like to think of intrapreneurship as building a new business unit or groundbreaking product such as Post It. But let me give you a very dummy example.

In the company that I work, when somebody announces his/her departure, one of the colleagues launches an initiative to collect money from other colleagues to offer a “goodbye gift”. Nobody officially appoints this person who launches the initiative. It is not written in any job description. There is no obligation. Yet, this person starts this initiative which takes 3-4 weeks, collects the money, decides the gift, and makes the purchase. And the last working day of their colleague they present the gift altogether. The person in charge does not get any kind of reward or compensation for the job done. I have never seen anybody who got a promotion because they organized such an initiative.

For me, this example matches the basic principles of intrapreneurship. Think of an idea, create time to get in action, stay in charge and hold yourself accountable for the results while nobody asks you to do so.

So, if you want to become an intrapreneur, stop reading mythic stories such as 3M, and start small. Look around you, identify simple needs, create time to get into action, and hold yourself accountable for the result. Nobody expects you to build a new business unit on your first try. The more you do it, the more it will become a habit for you. If you cannot find anything at all…maybe it is not your thing. Then, keep focusing on doing what you know the best.