Creating Something New: The Corporate Intrapreneur

Abstract

Creating something new is a woman’s opportunity to demonstrate her entrepreneurial spirit in a corporate setting. Innovation and renewal are important for organizations; without them, companies are rarely able to survive in today’s fast-moving, competitive world. Innovation helps to deal with stagnant growth and the slowness of large, mature organizations.¹ Many large organizations are keen to bring entrepreneurial qualities in-house and embed these into their leadership definitions and competency frameworks. Others go even further and put their most promising managers through entrepre-neurship training courses to increase ideas and the creation of new business ventures.² Corporate entrepreneurship is commonly referred to as ‘intrapreneurship’ and covers areas such as starting new business ventures and organizational renewal, where innovative insights create significant cost reductions and competitive advantages.³ Neal Thornberry defines business ventures as ‘The creation of something new that did not exist before. This ‘something new’ could be a new business- within-a-business, a product, a service, a delivery system, or a new value proposition to the customer’ (p. 332).⁴

Creating something new is important but successful women do that anyway. The business environment is male-oriented so women bring something new just by being there.

(Anna Capitanio, Vice-President, Organizational Effectiveness and M&A HR, BT Global Services)

You can shape your own luck. You have to be brave. Jump off that cliff even if you are not 100 percent sure that there will be a safe landing. Be courageous and ask yourself what is the worst that can happen.

(Sophie Turner Laing, Managing Director, Entertainment and News, British Sky Broadcasting)