Hello and welcome back to class. Our focus today is intrapreneurship. And no, I'm not mispronouncing that. That is definitely an 'i' at the start of that word just to connote inside. Right? That is the inside of a larger company, in this case, is where entrepreneurship is happening. So what is it? And why does it matter? Just to clear things up, you do not need to leave your job as an employee at a large company in order to be an entrepreneur. Now certainly that is the typical definition that you quit your job and/or quit school and go start a startup and, of course, you move to Silicon Valley. Not required by the way, none of those things are required. So, look, I think what I want to highlight here is not only, you know, do you not need to lose your job, but more importantly there is a growing demand for entrepreneurs that remain as employees inside of companies and so, you know, kind of rebranding, reframing yourself in that role could be a very positive thing to look, enhance your ability to make impacts, and have a better job with your current employer. Defining intrapreneurs, first of all, they're super cool. I mean, look at this guy, right. A couple of sound bites here. One is they serve as major sources of productivity and innovation, again inside of companies. They're in it for more than a paycheck. In this case likely some form of larger benefit and the joy, the passion to create and create something new. To operate there, entrepreneurs require autonomy, independence, and ability to experiment and freedom to pivot. So this may not be the way all managers treat their employees. That's probably an understatement. But I think understanding the need for intrepreneurs to succeed and to stay as highly valued employees may require managers to think a little differently, which may require you, if you are that intrapreneur, to educate their, I'd say, train your manager to see a different management style. Finally, there is a need to be promoted and challenged, or if not, they may move to another company. Innovate or die. It sounds like a pretty extreme set of options there and not my phrasing, others. But let's look at an example here, the Fortune 500 list. So since 1955 almost 90% of the companies on that list had merged, been acquired, or gone bankrupt. And I believe the theory is or the actuality is that the rate of disruption is actually increasing. So, perhaps the question is, you know, disrupt or die, or disrupt or be disrupted. Say, differently, the risk may be is not in pursuing, facilitating more intrapreneurship at your large company, the risk instead could be the opposite, right? If you don't pursue a more entrepreneurial style, at least for some part of your large company, do you face the same fate of these companies no longer on the list? Intrapreneurship can be a great strategy for attracting great talent, so many of you either are within this "millennial generation" and/or are aware of the magnitude, the impact, the meaning, of this generation and that is understanding, kind of their needs, wants, and motivators. So in this case, 70% of millennials want to start their own company according to one survey. They say meaning, impact, autonomy, and creativity. So again, for those employees born roughly between 1982 and 2002, by the way this is not a purely U.S. trend, you know, psychographic trend here. But, in order to attract and retain that great talent, which look over the years, will be that the leadership of, of these large organizations, you need to offer them opportunities to act like entrepreneurs inside of the company again. If that's you, again, this is part of the pitch, right, to train your managers to give you the freedom to pursue more entrepreneurial styles, tactics inside of your current role. As I mentioned, this is the largest demographic in the U.S. with 92 million people. And here research from Deloitte and Goldman Sachs noting, no surprise, as they reach their prime their impact on the economy and, of course, by extrapolation on individual companies is going to be huge. So, missing out on that, the best in that demographic would be again a serious business risk, right? Intrepreneurship is growing. So here are two statistics. The number of U.S. internal corporate innovation incubators, we get that as again where you're trying to essentially launch startups inside of a company, doesn't come new departments, new initiatives. They may also be spun out to be entirely separate companies. But, the number of incubators inside of large companies has grown from 12 in 1980, pretty dismal, to 7,000 in 2016. So think about that again. The ideas, do you create one at your company or will your company be left behind over the years as they are disrupted? Second, the 38 percent of the world's top 200 companies have Innovation Labs. So if you are one of the students, or are seeking to be an entrepreneur, but also to be a part of, an employee at a large company, this is a screening tool for you, right, a screening tool to understand where to seek employment. And then once you're there, where to pursue roles, right? As that I say, within these innovation labs, and if your current employer does not have these innovation labs, you now have more fodder to make the case for them to create one and for you to play a large role in that. What are some questions that intrapreneurs ask the first year? What can I create that does not exist? So, this is different from being told what to create, being told what to do instead being given time to explore the unexplored range. So think about, you know, the, the way that, you know, Google or 3M will give many of their employees, you know, call it a day a week, roughly 15-20 percent of their time, again, to do things like this, to explore products that do not yet exist to meet needs that maybe or perhaps are not quite understood. It's my understanding that, that Gmail, in fact, was, was one of these outcomes from an employer, employees pursuing new ideas, being essentially intrepreneurs for one day of the week. The second there. What resources can I find to aggregate that others overlook in order to build something new? So, you know, many definitions of intrepreneurship referred to this ability to find resources that are often viewed as scarce. Reframing something that, that most did not consider a resource into being a resource for you the entrepreneur or intrapreneur. So, at your current job, let's say, I mean you're not planning to leave to start a startup. And how can you re-imagine what resources are at your fingertips and you can, how much you pull those together to have what you need to launch a new product, department, or initiative within the organization. And the next, thinking a little more long term, so what our customer is going to ask for three to five years from now, not in one to three quarters from now? Again, some big picture thinking which requires rather managers to give intrepreneurs some latitude. And by the way, it's not all going to work out, right. Just as if you were an entrepreneur there will be failure. And so, part of this is not just functionality or departments or roles or titles but also its culture. As those large organizations launch their incubators part of it is the, you know, communicating the freedom that employees have to fail, to mess up, right, and that they won't be punished for doing so. Some conclusions. Entrepreneurship is not limited to startups in Silicon Valley or the Boston area or, you know, pick your known city of innovation around the world. It happens everywhere. From one person companies to one hundred thousand person organizations. The second, here, big companies can attract and retain talent while also creating new revenue opportunities if they focus more on facilitating intrapreneurship. So, again the risk really is what do we lose if we don't pursue a strategy like this internally. Related to that, if your organization is large and well established, it should ask itself, does the fate of the fallen Fortune 500 companies lie ahead for us? Is it true that we innovate or die? Disrupt or be disrupted? Finally, get out that pen and paper. Pause the video and think about these questions for a few minutes. The first, if you're an employee at a large organization, how can you get involved with intrapreneurship initiatives? Who can you talk to tomorrow, let's say, no time like the present. If you're an employee at a large organization, again, how can you become a leader in entrepreneurship and increase your ability to make big impacts by taking on new and more significant roles? And by the way, if those roles don't quite yet exist, one piece of advice I've heard over the years is to do what a person in that role would be doing, do it well, and then once you've done that and proved it, proven it rather, then go to ask for permission to create that role. And when asked about what it might look like, you describe what you're already, what you're already doing successfully. Third, if you're founding a startup, how can you partner with large companies that have intrepreneurship programs? Perhaps you can serve, your company can serve as part of their external innovation or R&D or research and development team. With that, we will see you on the next video.
