So you want to be a social intrapreneur? Here are 5 tips
Social intrapreneurs want to build change from within an organization. Image: Unsplash/Marvin Meyer
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- A social intrapreneur is someone who behaves like a social entrepreneur, but while working within an large organization.
- Social intrapreneurs are ambitious workers who want to leverage their company's resources to create positive impact.
- Two Let's Fix It podcast guests – Sam McCracken and Jonathan Wong – outline their top tips for social intrapreneurs.
- Subscribe to the podcast on any platform here. Visit the show page on our website: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/lets-fix-it.
Have you wondered how you can create change from within your organization? Then you might be a budding social intrapreneur.
A social 'intrapreneur' is someone who behaves like a social entrepreneur, while working within a large organization. Social intrapreneurs are ambitious employees who want to leverage their firm’s resources to create positive social and environmental impact.
In the new episode of Let’s Fix It, we spoke to two leading social intrapreneurs: Sam McCracken, General Manager at Nike N7, and Jonathan Wong, Chief of Technology and Innovation at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
If you are a social intrapreneur, or want to become one, here are their top tips:
1. Figure out what you’re good at
When you talk about my journey and how I ended up here, it was about working out what you’re good at. I have several failed entrepreneurial ventures, but what I quickly realized was that I was actually quite good at working in bigger organizations and driving change.
”2. Don’t be afraid to experiment, but have a bigger picture in mind
I've never had a career path in mind. I've worked for NGOs, and I've worked in the private sector (currently at the United Nations). I've always believed in the need to reshape the economy to better serve people and planet. And that's always been the theme throughout all the organizations I've worked for.
”3. Have strategic patience
There is a sense of impatience to solve big, complex, global problems quickly – however, in order to create systemic solutions, you often need to have “strategic patience”.
4. Build trust with your audience
One key ingredient that an individual needs to build trust, is to be who they are. If you talk to anyone who knows me they know who Sam McCracken is – they know who I am, they know what I represent and they know my core values.
”What is the Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship?
5. Just do it
To be a corporate social intrapreneur, you need to add value to the business. I wrote a one-page business plan and presented it to my superiors at Nike. I'm a blue-collar guy that rolled up his sleeves and did what needed to be done.
”And finally, be humble:
“The secret sauce to success is being humble and bringing people along on your journey,” McCracken says. Wong concludes: “You have to be ambitious. You have to be fearless. You also have to be very humble”.
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