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Finding the Entrepreneur Within
"Business opportunities are like buses; there's always another one coming."
So says Virgin Enterprises founder Richard Branson, someone who knows an entrepreneur when he sees one. (Ted Turner says an entrepreneur is “what you’re called when you don't have a job,” but let’s not get distracted.) While identifying entrepreneurs seems relatively simple – hello, Bill Gates! Roll over, Walt Disney, and tell Howard Hughes the news! – there’s also the very real possibility that there are entrepreneurs-in-the-making within your company.
That’s the theory behind Entrepreneurs Inside: Accelerating Business Growth with Corporate Entrepreneurs (Xlibris), a new book by Susan Foley, Executive Director, Research Centers at Babson Executive Education and the founder of management consulting firm Corporate Entrepreneurs, LLC.
Foley’s concept of “corporate entrepreneur” is someone who develops new business opportunities within an existing company. In other words, these aren’t the people who necessarily invent a brand-new product; they’re more likely to take an existing product and refine it in new and unexpected ways.
“The challenge,” she says, “is to get companies to recognize the need to identify and develop those people. They’re the ones who naturally gravitate towards opportunities at the beginning of a business life cycle. Once it starts to grow, they typically lose interest.”
Foley says finding such people can be as simple as recognizing “those employees who are independent, love change, navigate uncertainty and the unknown, and are not afraid to go outside their comfort zone. They find real value in their experiences, whether they succeed or fail.”
Lest one envision a group of workers running about pell-mell and getting nothing accomplished, Foley is quick to point out that corporate entrepreneurs are also keen to bring something to the table and will work hard to see a project succeed.
“Their very nature requires them to live in a world of contrast,” she says. “They like to be independent, but at the same time they’re very loyal and where necessary collaborative. The key is to present them with an opportunity to experiment, to do new things, and a willingness to accept failure as part of the process.”
Easier said than done in many cases, as those quarterly reports are always being eyed uneasily. But Foley says the right mix can be worth the risk.
“Companies are very often talking about being innovative and soliciting ideas,” she says, “but they then do nothing with those ideas, or once initiatives are started there’s no follow through.
“It’s a complex undertaking,” she admits, “and it touches all aspects of an organization. Done right, it can have great benefits.”
There’s also a handy online survey at http://www.entrepreneursinside.com/survey.html to help businesses learn if they, or their colleagues, may be a corporate entrepreneur lurking inside.
Just don’t tell Ted Turner about it.
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