Blockchain Short Story 004: The Intrapreneurs
This short story is more about innovation in general than about blockchain/DLT in specific, nevertheless, I think it is worth to take this small detour, because it helps to understand which personnel constellations are needed in large corporations or consortia for leading innovative blockchain/DLT initiatives to success.
The term intrapreneur, has been coined in 70/80-ies by Gifford Pinchot, and it is a shortened form of “intra-corporation entrepreneur”. In the same way like an entrepreneur builds a startup to implement an innovative idea, the intrapreneur does the same, but within the boundaries of an established organization.
Gifford Pinchot defines intrapreteurs as …
… employees who do for corporate innovation what an entrepreneur does for his or her start-up. Intrapreneurs are the yeast that makes the bread rise. If you want more innovation the only way to get it done is to identify, develop, trust and empower your intrapreneurs.
Furthermore, Pinchot says:
It is not the right process that makes an organization innovative. It’s the close and trusting relationships between self-motivated intrapreneurs and their management sponsors that moves innovations forward through the inevitable resistance of any corporate system. Sponsors coach the intrapreneurial teams, protect them and help them access resources.
For innovation within large and established organizations, it is essential that the management is aware of their intrapreneur talents and about resistances they face. On the other side, every innovative project should be checked for the existence of a zealous volunteer champion fulfilling the role of the intrapreneur, otherwises it will be most probably doomed to fail.
Who are the intrapreneurs, their supporters, and their sponsors in your company?
Additional Resources
- “Intrapreneuring: Why you don’t have to leave the corporation to become an entrepreneur”, 1985, Gifford Pinchot (Amazon Link)
- https://www.pinchot.com — especially recommending to read these here: “Letter to the CEO”, “Letter to the Millennials”, “Creating an Intrapreneurial Culture”, “Evaluating Intrapreneuers”
- https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/de/Documents/technology/Intrapreneurship_Whitepaper_German.pdf
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdCI8G8VlYE
Credits
Banner Image based on an image from rawpixel.com — www.freepik.com
