Two-Way Street

- Kevin C Desouza

We are all intrapreneurs by default. We care about our organisations and often think of ideas and solutions to make them better. Our motivation to make our organisations better is not altruistic. By advancing our organisations, we also improve our own work environments and career prospects. Unfortunately, most organisations ‘stifle’ rather than ‘harness’ the intrapreneurial spirit found in each of us. I have spent over a decade of my research career trying to understand the dynamics behind this and design solutions to help organisations leverage the intrapreneurial spirit (or at least not interfere with it).

Intrapreneurs come in all flavours from technical product wonks to customer-facing employees who build workarounds bypassing stale organisational policies to increase customer retention, to managers who are pushing new work-life balance strategies for her employees, and even professors who are finding ways to drive innovation within the rigid bureaucracy that a university is. At their core, intrapreneurs are risk-takers. They are uncomfortable with the status quo when they see opportunities for change. They experiment to test out their ideas, most often in the shadows of the organisation. Intrapreneurs are often frustrated by the administrative bureaucracy. Yet, they recognise the need for working ‘within’ the organisation (if not, they would try the riskier road of being an entrepreneur). After all, it is the organisation that gives them the necessary cover to take risks and is the context within which their ideas and energy can be leveraged.

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