==== ====
Business - Investing: Small Biz / Entrepreneurship - Click Link Now
http://www.pcnplus.com/Stores/index.php?cat=b2b.entrepreneur
==== ====
It's been said that successful people either are entrepreneurs - or think like entrepreneurs.
Look around your company. Are you surrounded by "entrepreneurs"? Is your team comprised of
people who take ownership of any project or task that comes across their desk or inbox? Do they
embrace challenges, possess the process, and take responsibility - for successes and failures
alike?
Some may come away thinking that "corporate entrepreneur" and "employee" are contradictory.
They believe that "entrepreneurs" take the ultimate risk - ditching the security of the day-job, as it
were, and facing the personal, financial and psychological challenges of business ownership.
That's one definition. Another would be "corporate entrepreneurship." This realm is inhabited by
people who - though they receive a paycheck signed by someone else - see the organization (or
at least their small domain within it) as their turf. This is the most valued of employee.
Innovation and corporate entrepreneurship are inextricably intertwined and fuel well-reasoned risk
taking. Especially in large organizations traditionally risk averse, innovation drives leaders and
teams to become more corporate enterprising. This process encourages growth from within, which
helps set the stage for leadership continuity.
As a business leader, you must build an environment that tolerates such entrepreneurial thinking.
It's the leader's job to encourage such entrepreneurial thinking - to exude and build trust, to
embrace the risk to fail, and to inspire people to take well-reasoned chances.
In the book, "Grow From Within: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship," co-author Robert Wolcott
discusses how companies can enable and support "internal entrepreneurs" to achieve innovation-
led growth. Such entrepreneurial thinking drove IBM to realize some $15 billion in new annual
revenues from 22 Emerging Business Opportunities, and Whirlpool to realize $4 billion in revenues
from companywide innovation efforts - "despite global recession and the steep drop in housing
markets," notes one review.
The authors reveal four models of corporate entrepreneurship laid out on an axis of organizational
ownership (on the horizontal) and Resource Authority (on the vertical). Each possesses unique
and specific characteristics. The Opportunist (bottom left), takes no deliberate approach to
entrepreneurship; the Advocate (bottom right) evangelizes for it; the Enabler (upper left) provides
funding and executive attention, and the Producer (upper right) establishes full service groups with
mandates for corporate entrepreneurship
Applying Robert's rules of innovation, the Advocate, Enabler and Producer can thrive in this
environment for each has corporate support. They have executive support, from Inspiration to Net
Reward, needed for innovation borne of corporate entrepreneurship to thrive.
Yet for corporate entrepreneurship to thrive, it needs more. It requires the structure and culture.
Assuming the right people are in place, leadership must provide divisional and business unit
autonomy. How can you lead your organization to a climate of corporate entrepreneurship?
- Like Innovation, Define what "entrepreneurship" means. The phrase "Corporate
Entrepreneurship" must mean the same thing organization-wide. Moreover, leadership must
delineate objectives and point the way as part of its vision and mission.
- Incubate and nurture. Corporate entrepreneurship doesn't flourish without guidance. It starts
small - and grows through encouragement. Begin with small projects heavily supported by
leadership. Those success stories should be heavily communicated as such. They then will
become the lead project to pull the rest of the group or other entrepreneurial-minded teams along.
- Create a reward system. Risk and reward, when properly aligned, can foster accountability.
Rewards - whether in the form of praise from immediate managers, attention from leadership, or
the chance to lead future projects or task forces - are powerful motivators. They also can help
solidify the creation of stronger corporate entrepreneurs.
So look around your organization. Are you surrounded by employees - or entrepreneurs? The
difference may be not only the way they think, but they way they're being nurtured.
Robert F. Brands
Author of "Robert's Rules Of Innovation (TM)"
Wiley, Spring 2010
http://www.robertsrulesofinnovation.com
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Brands
==== ====
Business - Investing: Small Biz / Entrepreneurship - Click Link Now
http://www.pcnplus.com/Stores/index.php?cat=b2b.entrepreneur
==== ====