Management

What’s Wrong With Being an Intrapreneur?

August 11, 2019 by Johnny Russo Leave a Comment

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.

[Read more…]

Saying Good Morning: Small Effort, Huge Impact

April 10, 2019 by Johnny Russo 1 Comment

I am fascinated by people. More than that, especially since I started my career, I like to watch body language, how people carry themselves, how people dress, posture, how people communicate when things go well, how they communicate in tougher times, and so on.

There is one habit I dislike, a lot. A simple good morning or hello can make someone’s day, can make a team less defensive on a Monday morning, can send a jolt of serotonin into the blood stream, and yet, so many leaders, managers, and employees don’t say hello or good morning. I have an issue with that.

Now, I know that not everyone’s a morning person, and it’s hard to be happy every day of the week. And I’m not saying to strike up a full conversation before you’ve had your double mochaccino. But saying hello is not only common courtesy, it’s respectful and makes the other person feel good.

Is Saying Good Morning Really That Hard?

And I’m not even advocating to go out of your way to say good morning to every co-worker, every day. What I’m advocating for is to say good morning to your team, your boss, those near your office or desk, the receptionist, or those you run into on your office coffee run.

Still on the fence?

Here Are Some Reasons You Should Say Hello in the Morning:

Increases positive energy
Can help you make a friend, or at the very least, get to know someone, as it could spark a further conversation
You’ll be perceived as positive, and that is huge
We’re living in an altruistic society (you can challenge me on that, but I’ve never heard so many people talking about purpose and value as today’s generation does), so saying good morning to someone could make their day, and it will likely make them smile and feel welcomed and appreciated
Smiling is contagious – usually when you say hello, you will naturally smile, and they will likely smile right back at you. Try it.
Help them, help you: at one point, that person you’ve been saying hello to for the last 3 months, will help you on a project. And maybe she’ll work a little extra because you’re such a positive and nice person.

Does Your CEO Say Good Morning? When He Does, Does It Make Your Day?

Imagine working in an office and your CEO comes in, and doesn’t say hello to anyone, not even the receptionist? That would surely create a culture of negativity, standoffishness, and potentially selfishness. Now imagine a CEO who comes in, says quick hellos to everyone he runs into, asks someone how their weekend was, and then gets to work. Doesn’t that feel like a more welcoming environment?

We all have bad days. Heck, I know I can have them. And on those days, you just want to keep to yourself. And those may be the days you yourself need a good morning boost, a quick hello from someone else. Keep that in mind, and pay it forward. The effort and investment to say good morning is minimal, but the feelings of warmth, positivity, and comradery can last for hours on end.

So the next time you have the opportunity to make someone’s morning, will you?

Top 5 Reasons Employees Leave

February 6, 2016 by Johnny Russo 2 Comments

Talent is the most important thing to consider when building a successful company. Whether it’s a startup business or a company that’s been in operations for numerous years, people make a company primed and ready for success.

Granted, the products you sell or the services you offer are almost equally important, but the coffee doesn’t make the Starbucks experience unique. Their people do.

While I think we can all agree that hiring and keeping talent is vital for any business, why do employees leave? And why is it hard to keep employees for a lengthy period of time? In his remarkably successful book The Hard Things About Hard Things, author, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist Ben Horowitz says there are 2 reasons employees leave a company: they hate their manager, or they weren’t learning anything. While that’s a good start, I think there are 5 reasons in total.

1. They hate their manager

While I have been incredibly lucky to have only 1 mediocre manager or boss in my entire career (the rest were awesome!), this can be the main issue in employees leaving a company. If you can’t get along with your manager, someone whom you report to, deal with on a daily basis, and who sets your objectives and rates your performance, then that is a big hurdle to overcome. And if you don’t like your manager, the feeling is likely mutual. If mutual respect still exists, then this is perhaps salvageable. (Yes, you can dislike your manager, but still respect them). But more times than not, if manager and direct report do not get along, two things will happen: the employee will ask for a lateral move to seek another manager or they will leave.

Think about your organization: are there any obvious frictions between an employee(s) and their manager?

2. They Stop Learning

Horowitz is dead on when he states that another main reasons employees leave is because they stop learning. I would also add it could be because they never learned anything. If you have any kind of drive, you will want to learn as much as you can, either from your manager or leadership team, the position itself, industry events, or from your colleagues.

If your learning curve gets stunted or never starts, even as you keep wanting to learn, then perhaps it’s time for a change. One thing I have seen work in employees who stop learning or are bored is to swap positions with someone else in the department (for example, moving from email marketing to social media) or to change departments (for example, moving from Digital Marketing to Ecommerce operations). This forces you to learn new elements of a position and get your learning back on track.

If the above options are not possible, and it’s been some months since learning stopped, then maybe it’s best for employee and employer to part ways. Once an employee stops learning, it may be mutually beneficial to part ways.

Think about your organization: if you sense an employee is bored or has stopped learning, perhaps send him to an industry event to spark a flame, or see if there is another internal position he/she could fill.