88% of Fortune 500 companies in 1955 are no longer present in 2015. Average company lifespan on Standard and Poor’s 500 Index is decreasing from 55 years in 1960s to 19 years in 2015. In a much-publicised work of Jim Collins in “Good to Great” this is equally corroborated through extensive research, which identifies level of leadership for the reason for sustenance or perish. A level 5 leader is someone who may not be charismatic, but takes baby steps in the direction to execute their strategy diligently.
Modern companies face a tough competitive environment. Trends such as Artificial Intelligence, Industry 4.0 or digital personalized customer centric services require enterprises to innovate continuously to remain relevant. However, instead of generating new ideas and stiving for new markets, many corporations are focussing on their current fields of activity, optimizing processes and revenue streams in areas of proven success.
This results in potentially disastrous outcomes. Every company should pursue a two-pronged strategy: exploiting and optimizing their current products, while harnessing innovation as a cornerstone of lasting growth and profitability.
A whitepaper by Deloitte delves into understanding the concept behind intrapreneurship and how to integrate it into the DNA of their organizations. The outcome of the research is five insights on how to start thinking about intrapreneurship in an organization.
- Insight 1: Intrapreneurship describes a people-centric bottom-up approach to developing radical innovations in-house. As Steve Jobs mentioned, The Macintosh team was what is commonly known as Intrapreneuership… a group of people going in essence, back to the garage but in a large company.
- Insight 2: Intrapreneurship pays off many times over in terms of company growth, culture, and talent. For example, in Paytm, 70% of senior leadership of their core product team comes from entrepreneurship background, either by selling previous company or failing one.
- Insight 3: It is not about creating intrapreneurs, it is about finding and recognizing them. A recent study found that more than 20% of all employees exhibited at least some entrepreneurial activity. Ignoring their efforts or even preventing them from realizing their ideas because they seem different from the normal ways of working results in decreasing Intrapreneurial activities and less attraction of such talent.
- Insight 4: Intrapreneurs know the rules and break them effectively. They are driven by the motivation to change the status quo, be it of a specific process, product. or routine. This intrinsic motivation sets them apart from other employees. Being motivated to achieve a self-set goal, Intrapreneur not only generate an idea but develop a long-term vision and plan to implement the idea to see it blossom.
- Insight 5: Intrapreneurship requires a different management approach. They need support, autonomy and responsibility, motivation and incentives, resources, and clear communication.
Pinchot’s Ten Commandments for Intrapreneurs
- Work underground as long as you can – publicity triggers the corporate immune system
- Remember it is easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission
- Do any job needed to make your project work, regardless of your job description
- Follow your intuition about the people you choose, and work only with the best
- Circumvent any orders aimed at stopping your dream
- Find people to help you
- Never bet on a race unless you are running it
- Be true to your goals, but realistic about the ways to achieve them
- Honor your sponsors
- Come to work every day willing to be fired
