Entrepreneurial Spirit

New startups seem to be appearing every day with people eager to create something new, be their own boss and control their own destiny.  The problem with startups is the massive risk individuals often have to take when charging into these ventures.

I enjoy working with creative people and teams and find that in my career I am attracted to positions that can offer this and there are many talented individuals out there who feel the same way.  They don’t want to be put into a silo of doing the same thing day in and day out and want to have some freedom to roam a bit.  These types of people are generally great employees as they aren’t just motivated by money or power, but by ambition to make a difference and express their entrepreneurial spirit.

This is the type of person who is attracted to starting their own business, but often times the risks outweigh the results so they end up accepting a job to pay the bills and stifle their creativity.  So the question comes up of how to attract these types of individuals to established businesses large and small and take advantage of this ambition to help grow your company.  One answer is by embracing an intrapreneurial culture within the company. Provide opportunities for individuals to take on projects and new ventures for which their creative ideas can positively affect the outcome and give them visibility in the company as well.

Providing these types of opportunities benefits both the individual and the company.  The company benefits from something which will hopefully have a positive impact on the bottom line as well as attracting talented, hardworking employees and the individual will get the feeling of ownership and creativity like they would have with their own company but with far fewer risks.

Obviously this could go south as well if too much latitude is given and proper risk analysis isn’t performed.  Even with controlling these items, as with anything, these projects won’t always be successes but you can take steps to minimize the impact.  Just employe some proper market analysis, risk analysis, risk mitigation and a healthy dose of common sense and the failures should be minimized as well as their impact on the company, though remember, often times we must fail to succeed.

With all of these factors in play, I believe the benefits of this intrapreneurial culture far outweigh the risks.  Putting this type of culture in place can attract talent you couldn’t have otherwise afforded or made your company attractive to.

Entrepreneurship is great for individuals who can handle the risks, but intrapreneurship may be a great fit to allow those same individuals to flex their creative muscles while still enjoying the security of working for a well-established company.