I have started one business in my career. It was a writing, editing, and translation services company I started with my wife. So it wasn’t a tech product or anything fancy. We both did this while working full time. And I did enjoy it: trying to get new business, looking after customers, creating a business plan, drafting a sales plan, dealing with invoices and making sure we got paid – I learned a lot. It lasted about 4 years. I preface that because I am going to write about intrapreneurship.
But first let me say something. There is a certain sexiness about entrepreneurship, and it’s been happening for the last 30 years or so. And I get it: developing a product, working for yourself, driving change, working at one pace – fast. And everyone seems to want to be one today. And that’s fine. But I want to defend “the traditional” enterprise, the everyday company.
I am an intrapreneur. And I’m proud of it!
Definitions of Being an Intrapreneur
There are various definitions of what being an intrapreneur means. Any search for it brings up a number of variations, including:
- A manager within a company who promotes innovative product development and marketing. (Note: I don’t believe you have to be a Manager, but you get the point.)
- Intrapreneurship is the act of behaving like an entrepreneur while working within an organization or company.
- Intrapreneurship is known as the practice of a corporate management style that integrates risk-taking and innovation approaches, as well as the reward and motivational techniques, that are more traditionally thought of as being the province of entrepreneurship.
The main difference between entrepreneur and intrapreneur is that an Intrapreneur is an employee, and an entrepreneur is free and the leader of the operation. That’s a loose definition, but you get my point.
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