{"id":25856,"date":"2014-10-13T09:18:21","date_gmt":"2014-10-13T16:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/what-is-an-intrapreneur\/"},"modified":"2014-10-13T09:18:21","modified_gmt":"2014-10-13T16:18:21","slug":"what-is-an-intrapreneur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/what-is-an-intrapreneur\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is an Intrapreneur?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Entrepreneurial vs. intrapreneurial thought: Outside the box; within the business<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re thinking about going to business school<\/a>, odds are you\u2019re familiar with the path of the entrepreneur<\/a> and how many MBAs unlock the good life<\/a> by launching their own startups. Maybe you even want to be a famous entrepreneur yourself, and, really, who could blame you? But don\u2019t forget about the career path of the intrapreneur\u2014a role that is gaining widespread attention in the business world.<\/p>\n

Read on while we explore the differences between the contemporary entrepreneur and the uber-contemporary (trailblazing, really) intrapreneur.<\/p>\n

What is an entrepreneur?<\/h4>\n

The fanfare surrounding the startup<\/a>\u2014and the successful entrepreneur at the startup\u2019s center\u2014has dominated the conversation in the business world for decades, partly due to self-starting magnates like Richard Branson<\/a>, techies like Steve Jobs<\/a>, young execs like Mark Zuckerberg<\/a>, and real estate giants like Barbara Corcoran<\/a> and her fellow Shark Tank tycoons.<\/p>\n

In the business world, the startup represents the hip \u201cit\u201d thing, the household name, the approachable guy at the party who showed up wearing Ralph Lauren but brought plenty of beer.<\/p>\n

What is an intrapreneur?<\/h4>\n

\"what<\/a><\/h4>\n

In the public eye, famous entrepreneurs such as those mentioned above create \u201cthe most exciting trends\u201d in the business world<\/a>, according to Steve Hasker, the Nielsen Company\u2019s President of Global Media Products and Advertiser Solutions. They \u201camass great wealth and transform the way we live our lives\u201d\u2014a pursuit that any business school grad could get into.<\/p>\n

But the story doesn\u2019t end there. As Hasker points out, the world of business management is not binary, with entrepreneurial self-sufficiency at one end and executive servitude at the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin corporations, there\u2019s an equally important skill-set required, and that\u2019s the \u2018intrapreneur\u2019: a term that\u2019s starting to gain some popularity,\u201d Hasker says. So, what is an intrapreneur?<\/p>\n

A concept coined in 1978 by management consultants Gifford and Elizabeth Pinchot<\/a>, the intrapreneur applies the innovation and development generally attributed to the entrepreneur within an existing corporation.<\/p>\n

According to growth consultant Andy Birol, the intrapreneur \u201cwill buck the corporate malaise, risk his or her career to get things done<\/a>, and is willing to \u2018do the right thing to serve the customer.\u2019\u201d When things need to be shaken up and risks have to be taken, he or she has the freedom to change the game and implement entrepreneurial principles while working in-house, with in-house resources, at a large organization or firm.<\/p>\n

Should you be an intrapreneur?<\/h4>\n

In terms of ideas, this means that the same skill-sets are valued in intrapreneurs as in entrepreneurs, but the focus is different.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to either take an existing idea or develop a new one, and then\u2014equally importantly through all of the obstacles that invariably exist, many of which can be larger in a large corporation than out in the startup world\u2014they drive it forward,\u201d says Hasker.<\/p>\n

In terms of execution, the intrapreneur needs to think like a founding member of the corporation, down to the ability to not \u201ctake no for an answer,\u201d he says. \u201cThey enlist other people to the idea. They get support. They get ideas and they further develop the idea. They give other people credit and they move the process along.\u201d<\/p>\n

4 ideal characteristics of intrapreneurs in the business world<\/h4>\n

Forbes contributor David K. Williams, who also believes that intrapreneurs should \u201cthink and behave like owners,\u201d further elaborates on some of the intrinsic motivations that make for a high-quality intrapreneur<\/a>:<\/p>\n