Everyone has heard of entrepreneurs and the impact they are making on business, as new startups are popping up everywhere by innovative, creative and young entrepreneurs. But there is a new breed of business men and women that are popping up everywhere and they are called intrapreneurs.

1. How Intrapreneurs
Are Changing the
Organization from
Within?
By David Kiger
Image courtesy of TurtleCreek-Branson at Flickr.com

2. Everyone has heard of entrepreneurs and the impact they
are making on business, as new startups are popping up
everywhere by innovative, creative and young
entrepreneurs. But there is a new breed of business men and
women that are popping up everywhere and they are called
intrapreneurs. Intrapreneurs have the same qualities of
entrepreneurs, finding new ways to innovate, create and
develop ideas into products or services that would normally
help startups get off the ground, but in this case are brought
in to continue the company’s path to growth and innovation.
Intrapreneurs end up being an organization’s driving force
many times, bringing to the table new and interesting ideas
that reinforce the company’s core principles and with their
passion move these principles to new paradigms that allow
the company to stay relevant and continue the vision that
will let them grow into the future.

3. Leadership will factor into the success of the organization, as
one of the previous posts goes into detail and you can read
more about on the David Kiger SlideShare, so it will be
invaluable to have leaders like intrapreneurs as part of your
team. In most cases, natural entrepreneurs transition into
intrapreneurs when startups have reached a point of
maturity, since even though their company has reached a
point of maturity, they don’t lose the desire to continue
creating and bringing new ideas to life. This doesn’t
necessarily mean it’s time to move on, simply to shift those
natural skills towards a company’s desire to continue
growing. Some of the skills intrapreneurs naturally have can
be honed and used to benefit the companies.

4. Creativity:
Being one of the single most important skills that an
entrepreneur has, intrapreneurs could especially transfer this
skill over to their companies once they reach maturity by
finding creative solutions, pursuing new challenges, and
facing old ones.
Balance:
The multi-tasking spirit of intrapreneur will require having
the skill of balancing tasks, responsibilities, and ideas.
Intrapreneurs will most likely be people with the ability of
balancing the tasks required of him or her, even though they
may require a different set of skills for each task.

5. Persuasive:
If an entrepreneur was able to have the right skills to get
investors on their side, they will most likely be able to
replicate their persuasive skills to get other organizations and
clients to trust them in large businesses. This will take that
outspoken, dynamic and impassioned speaker entrepreneur,
and if this is not a trait you had as an entrepreneur, it may
not be a strong suit as an intrapreneur.
Image courtesy of Dennis Skley at Flickr.com

6. Knowing how to fail:
As almost every entrepreneur will tell you, being an
entrepreneur is no easy task and you develop thick skin as you
go along the way. An entrepreneur learns how to fail and how
to get back up if he trips along the way. They learn not to lose
their motivation or drive as they face problems that maybe
even make them start from scratch.
Besides these basic skills, it is necessary to make sure that
intrapreneurs are making strides towards becoming true
leaders in their organization, which will require them having an
intrinsic knowhow of the company internally as well as
externally. The intrapreneurs cannot be afraid of nudging, or
pushing if necessary the company in the right direction, even if
that means challenging the status quo. Their vision should be a
driving force within the company and this will be reflected
through the innovative and creative ideas for the future of the
organization.

7. They must be able to manage teams that are completely
cross-functional and bring to the table different points of
view. As intrapreneurs they will be most successful once they
have mastered the art of building a professional network that
can and will support you and your company when the time
comes. Finally, intrapreneurs should always be able to
persevere and manage to find a way out of difficult and
uncertain challenges that may arise in the organization.
Although intrapreneurs may seem to be your everyday
employee, they will shine through by showing their worth
when their drive leads them to innovative ideas, despite this
their result is not measured by their sales or revenue, but by
the value of their ideas and the impact these my have on the
company as a whole. The ideas that are planted in an
intrapreneur rarely disappear easily. Instead they germinate
and motivate them to mature the idea, until it becomes a
reality.

8. If at some point during their journey, they feel this is not the
road for them, they will simply pivot their ideas and forces
toward the direction they feel they should be headed in. This
is not an easy thing to do most times and this is evident when
we run into projects that didn’t mature or failed completely.
Foremost, intrapreneurs will be confident in their decisions,
making sure that their authenticity and humility shines
through at all times, as integral professionals in any
organization.