Many entrepreneurs work for big companies

Is it possible to be an entrepreneur while working as an employee of a large corporation?

There are many bright and highly motivated people who have the drive and vision of an entrepreneur who work within the confines of large corporations. They are dedicated and creative, and they have a clear vision about how to help the company. Generally speaking, they aren't status seekers — they are usually willing to jump in and roll up their sleeves in any situation to get the work done. They are goal-oriented, and most importantly, they won't take "no" for an answer.

Those who have this entrepreneurial drive but who choose to work within the structure of a large private or publicly traded corporation are called "corporate entrepreneurs," or "intrapreneurs."

The concept was formalized in 1992 when the American Heritage Dictionary added the word "intrapreneur."

Some purists will argue that those who avoid the risk and complexity of founding a new venture are not really entrepreneurs at all. However, it is an accepted fact that large corporations must continuously change the way they operate, and they must relentlessly bring new products to market if they are to remain competitive.

Entrepreneurial thinking within large companies is the fountain of innovation, which is the essential ingredient that enables these corporations to not only grow and prosper but to survive. The key is that the employee and senior management must wholeheartedly accept the premise that employees should be allowed to create. If senior management is serious about corporate entrepreneurship, it must establish an environment that nurtures, rewards and celebrates innovation at every level of the company. And it must also be willing to change the way it pays its people.

3M is a company that has reaped the rewards of intrapreneurism. It has a firm-but-unwritten rule that encourages all of its 6,700 technical employees to work on developing their own business ideas at least 15 percent of the time they are at work.

This entrepreneurial culture has paid enormous dividends for 3M. A perfect example is the development of Post-It Notes. In 1974, Art Fry, who directed the choir in his church, couldn't keep his hymns marked properly in his choir book. After attempting various methods, he decided he'd try using some non-permanent adhesive that was the result of an earlier failed invention at his workplace. By placing this adhesive on the back of his markers, he found he could keep the notes secured in place and then easily peel them off when he was done.

Once he developed the Post-It Notes, the company's marketing division told him that customers would not be interested in his product. The manufacturing department was equally pessimistic, claiming the product was just too difficult to produce. So Fry worked out the manufacturing bugs himself, even though this was not his area of expertise. Today, Post-It Notes can be found on almost every desk in America, and the invention continues to be one of 3M's top-grossing products.

A superb by-product of this nurturing intrapreneurial corporate culture is the excellent on-the-job training that will prepare you to be a successful independent entrepreneur if that is truly your desire — although you may find that your entrepreneurial urges are being satisfied in the world of corporate intrapreneuring.

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David M. Brown is affiliated with the BYU Center for Entrepreneurship. He can be reached via e-mail at cfe@byu.edu.