8/20/2019 The Myth of the Intrapreneur INNOVATION The Myth of the Intrapreneur by Andrew Corbett JUNE 26, 2018 https://hbr.org/2018/06/the-myth-of-the-intrapreneur 1/6 8/20/2019 The Myth of the Intrapreneur XEFSTOCK2/GETTY IMAGES The Post-It note. Facebook’s “like” button. The Sony PlayStation. These products are all held up as legendary examples of the power of intrapreneurship — entrepreneurial creativity and innovation within large, established organizations. Since the term was coined in the 1980s, intrapreneurship has been sold to companies as a catch-all solution for fostering innovation. It’s been promoted to https://hbr.org/2018/06/the-myth-of-the-intrapreneur 2/6 8/20/2019 The Myth of the Intrapreneur workers as a way to capture the creativity and excitement of entrepreneurship, but with more resources and less risk. Intrapreneurs are supposed to be rebels, breaking the rules and swimming against the corporate tide. While this vision of the intrapreneurial maverick is certainly alluring, in truth it’s an ineffective way to drive innovation. After more than 20 years of researching innovation in large companies, it’s clear to me that the successful intrapreneur is often more myth than reality. The experience of the typical intrapreneur looks less like Spencer Silver, who developed the Post-It note while at 3M, and more like Steven Sasson, the engineer at Kodak who invented the portable digital camera. As is now well-known, instead of propelling Kodak into the future, the digital camera became a massive missed opportunity. Sasson’s experience at Kodak demonstrates that no single individual, no matter how brilliant, can take a game-changing innovation all the way from idea to reality. Innovation has to be a company-wide endeavor, supported from top to bottom by systems, structures, and a company culture that nurtures transformative ideas and products. Companies need to institutionalize innovation rather than expect it to simply flow forth from intrapreneurs operating within existing structures. To start, innovation must be recognized as a permanent function of a successful company, just like other business functions such as accounting, operations, sales, and finance. It’s hard to imagine a large company without a marketing department or division, yet less than 50 years ago marketing as a business function, profession, and department did not exist. The same is true of innovation today. If companies want to be able to consistently innovate, they need dedicated innovation professionals to carry out the functions of discovery, development, incubation, acceleration, and scaling. But this innovation division can’t be siloed off from the rest of the business. Company incubators and innovation labs that are isolated from the rest of the organization tend to have limited success, because they are disconnected from a larger system. Gamechanging innovations require a holistic approach across the organization. https://hbr.org/2018/06/the-myth-of-the-intrapreneur 3/6 8/20/2019 The Myth of the Intrapreneur Over the past two decades, my colleagues and I have researched innovation through site visits and more than 600 interviews at Fortune 100 companies including Corning, DuPont, GE, and PepsiCo. Our research shows that, in order to develop, incubate, and scale game-changing innovation, organizations need a company-wide innovation management system that includes eight primary elements. It starts at the top with (1) leadership and an innovation culture willing to commit (2) system-wide resources and (3) a governance process that can deliver on a clearly articulated (4) mandate and scope for breakthrough innovation. An inclusive (5) organizational structure with interfaces between different parts of the company incorporates the (6) processes and tools and (7) metrics and rewards required for an innovation cycles that takes longer than incremental product innovation. Lastly, companies need (8) skills and talent that are differentiated from traditional R&D or new product development roles. We saw these elements take shape in different ways at different companies. However, what they all had in common was a desire to create a structure that institutionalized innovation and developed innovation professionals beyond offering them a “one-off” or one-time innovation job. Companies need to create innovation careers rather than just innovation jobs. Our research supports the idea that people are a company’s most cherished and important innovation asset. The intrapreneurship concept understands this, but focuses its hopes on a genius who can swoop in to save the day. Instead, we must start thinking of innovation as a capacity that needs organization-wide support. Just like accountants and human resource managers, innovation professionals need clearly defined job roles, responsibilities, performance incentives, and career paths, as well as meaningful training and development opportunities. Hiring a few talented individuals and hoping for the best, without changing anything about your organization, won’t cut it. Companies need a strategic plan for professionalizing and institutionalizing innovation across their organizations. This is the only way to nurture the breakthrough innovations needed for the future health of the business. https://hbr.org/2018/06/the-myth-of-the-intrapreneur 4/6 8/20/2019 The Myth of the Intrapreneur Andrew Corbett is the Paul T. Babson Chair of Entrepreneurial Studies at Babson College and an instructor at Babson Executive Education. This article is based on his latest book, Beyond the Champion: Institutionalizing Innovation Through People, written with Gina C. O’Connor and Lois S. Peters. This article is about INNOVATION Follow This Topic Comments Leave a Comment Post Comment 16 COMMENTS TANIA ALMEIDA 9 months ago I beg to differ. Yes, it is not a single-handed process. however, at BVK, I have spearheaded four intellectual properties and built software for an ad agency that is not traditionally a technology company. I used the smoke and mirrors methodology, lean principals, stakeholder management, MVP and various innovative methods to build and scale. Reply 10 https://hbr.org/2018/06/the-myth-of-the-intrapreneur Join The Conversation 5/6 8/20/2019 GUIDELINES POSTING The Myth of the Intrapreneur We hope the conversations that take place on HBR.org will be energetic, constructive, and thought-provoking. To comment, readers must sign in or register. And to ensure the quality of the discussion, our moderating team will review all comments and may edit them for clarity, length, and relevance. Comments that are overly promotional, mean-spirited, or off-topic may be deleted per the moderators' judgment. All postings become the property of Harvard Business Publishing. https://hbr.org/2018/06/the-myth-of-the-intrapreneur 6/6
