Intrapreneuring
”Intrapreneuring in Action” Highlights
Anyone who claims innovation is easy is kidding himself. Commanding your employees to “be innovative!” is like shouting, “Quick - don’t think about elephants!”, and then wondering why their eyes glaze and minds go blank. More importantly, proponents frequently suppose that innovation begins and ends with creativity, thereby discounting the vast number of electrifying ideas that die unimplemented. Turning good ideas into corporate breakthroughs requires people committed to rolling up their sleeves and making the ideas work - the people eager to be the internal entrepreneurs.
These “intrapreneurs” are the subject and stars of Intrapreneuring in Action, the sequel, distillation, and augmentation of the classic Intrapreneuring. Recognizing that those who dominate language dominate thought, Gifford Pinchot and Ron Pellman embrace their neologism with quiet fervor, offering a sequence of rules, guidelines, examples, and observations on what it takes for the intrapreneur to clear internal hurdles and “make innovation happen within established organizations”. Here the subtitle suits words to action: the volume is a true handbook, linking prescription to prescience when discussing such issues as the crucial role of sponsors, the design of “intraprise” workshops (a particularly strong chapter), and the opportunities to develop innovation within a structured process. The authors are also remarkably adept at offhand insights, ranging from “ask for resources before asking for advice” to “lower your status by lowering your height”. If you’ve ever been intimidated by an overly tall boss who insists on delivering counsel from his personal mountaintop, then you’ll recognize the truth in Pinchot and Pellman’s advice.
Complementing this sage wisdom is the book’s tone of calm conviction, of ardent urging minus artificial urgency. The authors are to be congratulated for eschewing self-promotion; although they inevitably cite their own clients and case studies, they barely mention their own involvement. Similarly, in an extended description of intrapreneuring in the U.S. Forest Service, Pinchot and Pellman list several reasons why the Forest Service’s enterprise team experiment succeeded, none of which is “input from inordinately brilliant consultants”. Thus when the authors take particularly provocative stands - the best intrapreneurs “come to work each day willing to be fired” - the reader is far more likely to interpret them as wise counsel and give them the credit they’re due.
Intrapreneuring in Action cannot be all things to all people. Although the authors believe their principles apply as readily to internal system improvements as to new products, they unconsciously overemphasize the latter in their notions of market research, financial planning, product launch, and the like. The handbook style can verge on the choppy and disconnected, so many readers - as the authors themselves acknowledge - may prefer to skip around and pluck out sections as needed. Nonetheless, Intrapreneuring in Action remains one of the most accessible and invigorating of the innovation books currently fighting for space on Amazon.com’s virtual shelves. Aspiring intrapreneurs, not to mention past proprietors of neighborhood lemonade stands, will have plenty of reason to read this book through. Twice.
Gifford Pinchot and Ron Pellman describe a hands-on plan of action for moving from an idea’s creation to its implementation in a company setting. They focus on the support an idea needs from an intrapreneur, who runs with the idea, whether he/she originated it or not. This individual is much like an executive producer who shepherds a film through the stages of development necessary for production. These stages include developing an intrapreneurial team to work on the project and getting sponsors throughout the organization to support it. Organizational leaders should act as “climate makers” to create a climate that supports innovation.
This well-written, well-organized book combines some basic principles about what makes innovation work with examples of companies that have effectively developed new ideas. It provides guidelines for what to do. The basic principles of innovation may sound familiar to anyone already involved in idea creation and development. However, this handbook provides a useful guide or reminder summarizing these basic principles and showing how to put them to work in any organization.