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ACCEPT THAT YOU WON’T BE UNDERSTOOD

Sometimes the System Isn’t Ready for Your Ideas

Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers.

—MIGNON MCLAUGHLIN

Today’s startups and multinationals alike are seeking to disrupt and innovate within their industries, but most are not terribly good at it. Data suggests that the most successful industry solutions come from people with outsider perspectives. Why? Because insiders are prone to déformation professionnelle, the tendency to assess information through the lens of one’s specialty. What happens when you are hired to be “inside” because you have astute knowledge from outside the sector? After popping the bubbly, sober up. Research reveals that intrapreneurship efforts fail 70–90 percent of the time, most often because these efforts are treated as add-ons to required activities rather than critical innovations for the future of the organization. The corporate immune system works hard to reject challenges to the status quo. Appropriate levels of staffing, time, and funding are often denied. Even successful intrapreneurs struggle to find a place in the corporate structure and have to chase management for decisions that are delayed as the organizational leadership may not feel equipped to make informed choices.

For example, one of my clients, a cable TV sales executive (let’s call him Jose) joined a telephone communications company and launched an advertising revenue stream that generated millions of dollars. He mined the data from set top boxes (that track what channels you watch) to create “addressable advertising”—ads that can be sold for less money and to more companies because marketers can target the households that receive them. The revenues are impressive, the team he built is respected, and yet the reporting lines continually shift. Does this initiative sit in the product or marketing division? What sales commission would Jose receive? There were no previous models. Jose had to coach his boss on how to pay him. Jose went to Washington, DC, to discuss regulations as the privacy protection laws weren’t keeping pace with the innovations he was pioneering.

Another client of mine (let’s call him Paulo), a banker, joined a multinational insurance company with the mandate to build an investment fund that would back “disruptive technologies” in the industry. But management understood insurance, not technology or early stage investing. Paulo told me he was going to write a book called I Told You So to reflect the number of deals missed because the speed of decision-making required was at odds with the insurance company’s culture.

Jose and Paulo both had a strong vision of what was possible and required the apparatus of a large company to achieve their goals. With no assigned resources, both men had to use their influencing skills to recruit talent from existing teams to work for them. Other managers saw them as a threat. Figuring out which meetings they should attend to align with larger company objectives was a challenge. Efforts to get press coverage to grow their campaigns were squashed.

I’ve counseled many clients like Jose and Paulo. Their ability to see into the future and drive change before others even know it’s needed is their key asset. It’s also their greatest pain point. Almost by definition, the intrapreneur will not be fully understood or adequately valued by the organization. Sometimes the system isn’t ready for your ideas. Success requires that you make every effort to bring people along on your journey recognizing that there will be many times when you will feel alone. To maintain energy and conviction, it’s critical to remember that it’s not personal—it’s part of the process. I coach my clients to rejoice in not being understood (or properly managed) as that means you get to work the gray zones (the spaces between job roles that no one owns) to your advantage.

THIS IS FOR YOU IF

•   You need the backing and infrastructure of a major organization to launch your great idea, and they think they want to support you but aren’t sure how.

•   You have a restless leg. The way it is is not the way you think it should or could be.

•   You are solving a problem that may not even be on most people’s radars.

•   There are no metrics or compensation formulas to evaluate your performance.

•   It’s not clear who should be your supervisor or even what division you should be part of.

TAKE ACTION

Images   Make people backers rather than blockers. Manage the ego of potential critics. Keep colleagues informed on the progress of your work and invite their expertise. Offer your telescope to see into the future and help assuage your underminers’ fears by showing them new ways to apply their skills. Don’t get discouraged if it takes several tries to get in the door. You may have to try a few different examples of how your colleagues’ talents can contribute to your initiative.

Images   Help potential supporters look smart (and forward-thinking) by giving them bullet points and buzzwords to help promote your ideas.

Images   Provide the framework for colleagues to appreciate the value of your initiatives. Keep the language simple, with examples relevant to their work.

Images   Have patience with others. Help your audience get comfortable with your concepts. Speak slowly, avoid jargon, and synthesize complex or new ideas ahead of time so that you can present information as clearly as possible. Practice at home. If your teenage child doesn’t understand your message, keep refining it.

Images   Stay happily below the radar. Being recognized while your ideas are in formation can be overrated. Publicity triggers corporate antibodies.

Images   Find support beyond your office walls. Attend conferences with other innovators, even if they are not in your field.

Images   Accepting you won’t be understood does not mean that you give up. It means sharing a smile with yourself (knowing that as soon as your initiatives become core to the company, you are likely going to explore the next horizon).

KEEP IN MIND

•   There are times when fostering the differences within the “we” is necessary to collectively advance.

•   Sometimes you’ll find the most energizing connections with people outside your organization.

CASE STUDIES

Incubate on the Outside First

“Let’s open our club to nonmembers on Thursday nights, and invite them to join conversations we curate on a given topic, hosted by a rotating master of ceremonies we select from our loyal customer base. That way, we expose a select group to the benefits of our club, offer new programing for existing members, and still maintain some of the mystery that has surrounded our establishment.” It seemed pretty straightforward to Silas, but when he first presented the idea, his bosses balked. They were afraid of diminishing the exclusivity that gave them an edge in the market. Silas was frustrated but excited by the concept, so he decided to test it with friends. He started hosting salons in his home. He invited some members of the press, with whom the idea resonated, so they ran a few pieces in the society pages. A year later, his bosses offered him the opportunity to bring the program into the club. The buzz was appealing, and the publicity helped boost their dwindling returns as dues-paying members were opting to spend time in places that felt more modern.

Create an Internal Brand

In 2005, Lisa Sherman and Kristin Frank co-led the Viacom launch of Logo, the first advertiser-supported commercial television channel in the United States geared toward the LGBT audience. They weren’t simply creating entertainment; they were building a community and generating social change in an inclusive and, hopefully, profitable way. It wasn’t easy.

Back then, watching full episodes on computers was an emerging concept. What started as a limitation (their shows weren’t carried by TV providers) became Logo’s unique niche. They developed and promoted content with the online viewer in mind. By starting with computer-based viewers and then developing demand for traditional TV, the Logo team reversed the conventional order. As their advisor, I suggested that the Logo team refer to the group internally as the “R&D Center for Viacom,” pioneering an industry shift from TV distribution to a multiplatform delivery strategy.

In three years, the Logo team put more than 40 original series on the air, grew ad sales, and became the number-one destination of online properties for the LGBT audience. A few years ago, as other outlets expanded their offerings to the gay community, Logo shifted its programing strategy to focus on more general cultural interests. The startup on the margins is now part of the mainstream. Lisa and Kristin have moved on. Lisa now heads the Ad Council (America’s leading producer of public service communications), and Kristin is president of AdPredictive, an emerging tech company that provides market intelligence.

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