Both terms elicit a profile of a person who is willing to take risks to promote ground-breaking product development.
Our culture reveres such visionaries, and for good reason.
Think how a venture capitalists intuitive understanding of recombinant DNA technologydrove him to found Genentech.
Choose your own adventure
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Both choices have pros and cons, but neither is for the faint of heart.
Recognize your own flashes of insight and explore synergies with people already in the domain.
Has anyone put forth a compelling vision?
Have these organizations received promising funding, or are they on a path towards it?
If someone elses idea has momentum and their vision is aligned with yours, intrapreneurship may be the way.
I was fortunate to find a burgeoning organization of people who shared that vision at Pixar.
I joined the company when the team was just 50 people, and I got to ride its momentum.
That film wasToy Story,and it became a stellar hit.
Look beyond the status quo
Intrapreneurs are always challenging the this-is-how-its-done thinking.
However, they do so in a manner that is more acceptable within an existing company culture.
Throughout your career, you will encounter organizations with entrenched processes and politics.
Most people want to play it safe and will pressure you to do the same.
Remember that your disruptor mindset is your greatest asset but how you apply it needs to respect existing paradigms.
Choose an approach that will expand and enhance existing structures as opposed to competing with them.
My disruptor mindset led me to join YouTube.
YouTube has changed the way we interact with video forever.
Cultivate breadth and depth of knowledge
Deep expertise is a double-edged sword.
Meanwhile, the Pixar team observed that the CG animation behind short films likeTin Toymade amazingly immersive full-length films.
Several decades later, Disney would acquire Pixar.
As an intrapreneur, the company relies on you to understand your domain deeply.
Its your job to lead your team, do your research, and advocate for your ideas.
When I first started working on the TV team at Google, TV was viewed as an antiquated concept.
Our team created a vision and knew we needed to bring around our internal stakeholders to succeed.
We were thoughtful in our approach and provided context and ample research that would resonate.
Today, ourGoogle TVproduct is recognized as a leading streaming platform.
Never fear the road of advocacy.
Your role is to help showcase the path within your domain.
An intrapreneur usually starts with very few resources, no matter how big the company is.
Reframe conventional success
Intrapreneurs tend to thrive in environments that demand abstract creative thinking.
Testing ideas and taking risks are part of the game.
Of course, that mindset has trade-offs: success is neither linear nor guaranteed.
Its important to realize that sometimes you will experience setbacks and even failure.
Meanwhile, you may see colleagues making more conventional choices climb the corporate ladder.
But solving complex problems and creating something new excites me.
These became my metrics of success.
Intrapreneurship is an opportunity to shape history, and thats its own reward.
And having the safety net of a larger company can help mitigate some (but not all) risks.
Remember: there will be times when intrapreneurship feels lonely, but its also incredibly gratifying!
If you have a similar mindset just DO IT!
