‘Safe' Risk

- Gary Peacock

Today business is highly competitive, and markets change rapidly. The pace of change can only increase as AI is bringing bots and robots that will produce leaps in productivity across all industries. So businesses must renew their competitive advantage. One way to do this is constant innovation and one way of constant innovation is ‘intrapreneurship’.

What is an intrapreneur?

Intrapreneur = (Entrepreneur) – (Risk of losing all your money)

Most people understand what an entrepreneur is. One big risk for entrepreneurs is losing everything they have invested in their startup. In contrast, as an intrapreneur, even if your product fails, you get your salary. It is like walking a tightrope with a safety net.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines intrapreneur as: a person within a large corporation who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable, finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation.

It is easier to understand what an intrapreneur is by looking at the differences to an entrepreneur.

It is useful to consider some examples of products developed by intrapreneurs as in Table Y. So, why cannot these successful companies Google, Sony, 3M and Amazon, simply develop these products in their normal business processes?