Maggie De Pree - Founder, Imaginals
Intrapreneurs believe they can change their companies. While they often get frustrated with corporate barriers, they also believe strongly that if they can turn the big ship - they can have significant impact. We also work with many social entrepreneurs and increasingly they believe corporations will help to scale their innovations.
Intrapreneurs can have a view of the outside world, not just their own company. We talk about the intrapreneur as the insider / outsider. A lot of the value they bring to the company is the perspective they have on the external environment. Some intrapreneurs have worked in the NGO / third sector before - so have strong links to these communities.
Not all companies are supportive to intrapreneurs. One barrier that continues to crop up in our work is the lack of a supportive corporate context for long-term or systemic innovation (of any kind!). I was at The Skoll World Forum last week and Roger Martin - dean of the Rotman Business School in Canada - spoke eloquently about this.
We're seeing intrapreneurs trying to change the supply chain. For example - intrapreneurs at Patagonia and Wal-mart recently teamed up to start the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.
We want to get a movement of social of intrapreneurs going. We are working with Ashoka's changemakers to help catalyse a movement of social intrapreneurs at the Imaginals website.
Heiko Spitzeck - Professor, Fundação Dom Cabral in Brazil
Intrapreneurs don't necessarily want to create something from scratch. Many need feel secure in terms of income and job security. They don´t want to create everything from the beginning. They perceive the corporation as something which can be changed, where the social value proposition can be brushed out and where they can scale impact much more quickly. It took Grameen 30 years to reach millions of people. Imagine how quickly you reach millions of people if you work for a massive company. Intrapreneurs are alerting them to opportunities.
Some companies actively encourage entrepreneurs. These include Allianz, Danone, Google, J&J, Camargo Correa, Odebrecht, Itaú Unibanco, BASF, and Arup.
I have three pieces of advice for intrapreneurs. Look for a godfather - someone in senior management that is open to discuss social innovation, map your internal stakeholders - try to understand who is against / neutral / positive about the project / change you are envisioning. And, create a pilot which demonstrates the value to the company as well as to your beneficiaries outside.
Victoria Anderson - Co-founder, The Flying Alchemists
It's often about where social value can help the company's financial returns. There are some amazing examples in business - which are connected to their financial return. It's being able to see where business and societal priorities meet with a dose of something else in the mix that reinforces and impacts on each other.
Intrapreneurs represent a move away from the normal way of doing things. In the book No Straight Lines, Alan Moore suggests we are seeing a comprehensive restructuring of society at large, breaking old models of organisations with a whole bunch of people trying out a new reality of living, working and organising etc.,
We're prototyping a new network to support active social intrapreneurs. At The Flying Alchemists we will support them in practical ways and take their ideas forward.
Katharine Bierce, management consultant, Opera Solutions
I'm just getting going on my journey as an intrapreneur and am learning a few things. I work in a private sector NYC area consulting/data analytics firm and got started on the intrapreneurship path when I was working at StartingBloc. I went from having some vague notions about wanting to make a difference, to launching an employee volunteering program. I take inspiration from folks like BSR, Business for Social Responsibility.
My top tips for intrapreneurs are as follows: Focus your energies. I wanted to make a difference both in the community volunteering and sustainability areas, but had to pick one to get started, so I chose volunteering. Find your people by talking about what you want to do with colleagues. Pilot something first, before you ask for dedicated support.
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