The Potential Intrapreneurs in Your Corporation
Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.
—Steve Jobs
You might not know it, but you have more potential intrapreneurs in your company than you think. To help you identify them, in this chapter we’ll discuss the common traits potential intrapreneurs will have. However, that does not necessarily mean that this group of people has all the skills required to be successful intrapreneurs.
Use the exercise in this chapter, “Make an intrapreneur inventory,” to start making a list of potential talent. In Chapter 7, “Talents: Essential Skills of Intrapreneurs,” you will learn how to evaluate their skills systematically and how you can help them maximize their potential. Your job is to provide the training, the culture, and the infrastructure to help them grow.
Employees who aspire to become intrapreneurs should have these traits. Traits are not skills but natural abilities. They are who you are. Traits explain what we do and why we do it. Potential intrapreneurs should ask themselves: Is this who I am, or do I enjoy being someone like this? Those born with these traits will be naturals when it comes to acquiring the skills to become successful intrapreneurs. Those not born with these traits can develop them if they are willing. They can be acquired through a mindset shift.
Everyone is at a different stage in their intrapreneurship journey. The most important thing is to understand where an employee is now and how they can develop themselves.
Traits of Potential Intrapreneurs
Intrapreneurs have eight key traits:
1. Problem solver
Intrapreneurs are natural problem solvers. They are comfortable in embracing the fact that there is a problem and acknowledging it. They will identify the problem, break it down, and analyze the root cause. They will then move on to exploring the solutions. They are good at finding the broken parts in a product, process, or system, and do not mind getting their hands dirty to find ways of doing things better.
2. Always curious
I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.
—Albert Einstein
Intrapreneurs have a high curiosity quotient (CQ). CQ refers to having a hungry mind.1 Intrapreneurs are curious about anything and everything. They have a natural desire to discover and explore. They are attracted to new things, new people, new activities, and new experiences. They always ask questions from various perspectives to dig deeper into the issue. They seek to understand how things work. People with higher CQ are also more tolerant of ambiguity, which is often seen in the innovation process.
3. Full of big ideas
Sometimes they are seen as dreamers. They talk about big trends, exciting opportunities, and crazy and radical ideas that others might not find easy to follow. They look for inspiration in various and unexpected places. They learn from other industries or fields and find connections between things and experiences. They are intrinsically motivated, instead of being forced to come up with new ways of doing things. Not all their ideas will be great but they keep exploring nonetheless.
Intrapreneurs do not stop at just having an idea. They have a strong bias toward action that pushes them to act quickly and move the idea forward. When no one can decide on a new idea, they will act to test it out and come back with learnings. They are comfortable acting with “good enough” information and focus more on taking the action to progress than being perfect.
5. Natural collaborator
Intrapreneurs might not be deeply knowledgeable in a specific domain but they know how to connect the dots. This also works in terms of putting people together or connecting with them to understand the various perspectives of a problem or finding out the solution. They respect the inputs of people from different backgrounds and seek to stitch the pieces together.
6. Constantly learning with a growth mindset2
Because intrapreneurs are highly curious, they are self-driven to learn new things and skills. They are people with a growth mindset. They believe that they have control over their ability and can improve via learning. They see learning as a fun activity and enjoy the process of learning. They are also comfortable with not knowing and seeing opportunities from it. They are motivated to explore how things work and are proactive in seeking new knowledge.
7. Challenge the status quo
This group of people does not say “It is just how things have always been done.” They would not simply accept that the existing method is the best and the only method. Ask them to do the same thing twice more and they will get bored and try to find an alternative, often even better, way of doing it.
8. Lead without permission
Because intrapreneurs have a high level of curiosity in diagnosing problems and finding relevant solutions, they will not ask for permission to take the lead. They would reach out to connect with people, assemble resources, and influence others to build the solution. They do not see themselves as individuals with a single reporting line, only working within their scope.
If employees believe they have these traits, they have the potential to be an intrapreneur. If not, they should ask themselves: Do I aspire to become someone who possesses these traits? If so, that person is also a potential intrapreneur.
The good news is that traits can be taught and acquired with practice and discipline. There will be human inertia, of course. That person might have been in a specific thinking mode their whole life. But with determination and action, they can change.
Some people are born more intrapreneurial than others. Those with a more intrapreneurial spirit are naturally better at, or more comfortable with, the role but it is also a self-fulfilling prophecy. The better they are at doing it, the more relevant skills they acquire to make it happen. In return, that brings positive results, which boost their confidence as an intrapreneur even more. For people who are not born intrapreneurial, here is the good news—intrapreneurship as a skill can be learned and sharpened through practice.
The fact is that even a born potential intrapreneur needs to devote a lot of hard work to make themselves a successful one. Everyone has a different starting point. What they need to focus on is how to get better.
One of the traits of intrapreneurs is having a growth mindset. That means they believe they can be trained and learn continuously. In the section “Exercise: Find the Potential Intrapreneurs,” you’ll find an exercise you can give to potential intrapreneurs in your organization that will reveal their existing skills. You can follow the links to subsequent chapters that discuss the skills in greater detail.
Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work.
—Vince Lombardi, American professional gridiron football coach
Intrapreneurship in Action: Ford’s On-The-Go H2O
Intrapreneurs like Doug Martin build big ideas by connecting the dots. Martin was a powertrain controls engineer at Ford. He had read about a billboard in Lima, Peru, that condenses water in the air into drinking water in a dry environment. The billboard produced 2,500 gallons of water in three months, dispensing it to the local community who did not have access to clean water. He was fascinated by the idea of applying the same idea to cars since air runs through automobiles too.
A couple of years later, in 2015, Ford ramped up its global innovation challenges.3 In the challenges, it seeks new ideas from beyond the research department, across the whole company. A total of 4,500 employees submitted their innovation ideas. Among them was Doug Martin’s idea On-The-Go H2O, which condenses air from vehicle air conditioners to produce drinkable water.4 Doug partnered with a colleague, John Rollinger, to prototype the idea. They found that a single vehicle can produce more than 64 ounces of water each hour, equivalent to four bottles of water. Not only did the project provide drinkable water from cars to combat water scarcity, but it also encouraged consumers to purchase less bottled water. On-The-Go H2O was selected and supported by Ford’s management. It was brought to life in an advertising campaign, “Try On-The-Go H2O,” and was a finalist in both the Transportation and Developing World Technologies categories in Fast Company’s 2017 World-Changing Ideas Awards.5
Make an Intrapreneur Inventory
Now that you know the traits of a potential intrapreneur, you need to identify employees who possess these traits in your organization.
When it comes to identifying intrapreneurs, their corporate rank does not matter. They need not be a managing director or have any senior title to make them a successful intrapreneur. Intrapreneurs operate on a flat hierarchy as they are resourceful and persuasive enough to make others follow their lead. In fact, most of the time you can find potential intrapreneurs in middle-ranking or even entry-level positions. They must have some experience in the industry or organization or else you might find them challenging everything without any in-depth insight. At the same time, they might not have too much experience which makes them inflexible at thinking outside the box.
You should start with the teams with which you interact to identify these talents. If you want to identify a wide pool of talent, it’s best to involve your human resources department so that they can provide you with a list.
To find talented individuals in your company who might become intrapreneurs, leaders and managers should ask:
1. Who always comes up with new ideas?
2. Who is constantly learning new skills and sharing with others?
3. Who tries to bring together different departments and functions to solve a problem?
4. Who is passionate about driving change in the organization?
5. Who always puts in the effort to bring their ideas to life?
Who are the people that spring to mind? Write down their names. This is the list of assets you have in your organization. They might not possess all the essential skills at the moment to become successful intrapreneurs. But what they have is the right attitude to be an intrapreneur. To help them succeed and create value for your corporate, you will have to provide them with training, support, and the right environment.
Exercise: Find the Potential Intrapreneurs
Write down the list of names that come to your mind using the list of traits and the questions earlier to build your inventory. Depending on the level of intrapreneurship in your organization already, you might or might not have a full list to start with. That’s okay. Making your inventory is just the starting point.
My potential Intrapreneurs
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
If you’re struggling to write down any names above, you might be wondering whether there are any potential intrapreneurs or innovative employees in your organization. If that’s the case, it could be that there is a lack of talent in your organization. But the situation might also uncover deeper issues in your organization that you are not aware of.
When leaders claim that their employees are not creative enough, it is seldom the employees’ fault. Innovation needs to be supported by an ecosystem. When there are no fish in the pond, you will have to find the root cause. Is there no water in the pond? Is the water level too low? Is there enough food? And so on.
If you’re lacking names on your list, I recommend that you refer to the “Areas for development scoring” under Assessment I: Level of intrapreneurship in your corporate in Chapter 2 to understand the reasons.
You should also work with your managers and HR department to understand the situation at the organizational level. Here are a few questions that will help you start to understand the causes:
1. Does the corporate culture support innovation by employees?
2. Do we provide the right environment for ideas to be heard and experimented with?
3. Do we provide the right training and development for our employees to come up with and execute big ideas?
4. Are our employees inspired to innovate by diverse networks in the organization?
5. Do we know how to keep intrapreneurs motivated to retain them?
All of the above matter. Discover the areas of development that your organization should pursue to increase the level of intrapreneurship and you will be able to attract, retain, and even discover talent in your organization that you never expected.
Intrapreneurship in Action: McDonald’s Happy Meal
Combining a hamburger, small fries, a drink, and a kid’s toy, the McDonald’s Happy Meal has been one of the company’s greatest revenue generators. It was launched in 1979 following an idea by an employee in Guatemala, Yolanda Fernandez de Cofiño.6 McDonald’s was one of the favorite places for parents to bring their kids after school and other activities, and Yolanda observed their interactions. When parents were mingling and catching up socially, their kids were bored. To keep the kids entertained, Yolanda came up with an idea, the “Menu Ronald,” which combined a hamburger, small fries, and a small sundae as a package.
The idea came to the attention of Dick Brams, a St. Louis marketing manager. He contacted Bob Bernstein, who ran the marketing agency for McDonald’s.7 Bob further developed the idea into the “Happy Meal,” refining the components of the meal and marketing it nationally. It was launched to huge success. The Happy Meal has evolved, given changes in customer tastes and preferences, but the concept remains the same. According to estimates by Sense360, an insights firm with a panel of over 2 million anonymous consumers, 14.6 percent of customers who visited McDonald’s ordered Happy Meals, and the company sold roughly $10 million worth of Happy Meals a day in August 2016.8
The Happy Meal has been on the menu for more than 40 years and is still going strong. It all started with an employee thinking about putting a few components of a meal together.
In this chapter, we discussed how you can identify the potential intrapreneurs in your organization. If you have completed the exercise, you will now have a list of names to target. These people are among the first that you can groom to become intrapreneurs as they have the natural traits to start with. It does not mean that other employees of yours can never become intrapreneurs. Intrapreneurship can be trained, as we will discuss further in Chapter 7. However, there are more factors at play than just having natural talents. To enable innovative behaviors, you need to build an ecosystem that nurtures intrapreneurship. In the next chapter, we will discuss the components such an ecosystem requires and how to build one.