The (lost) art of intrapreneurship

Venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki (who's got a great blog), discusses the importance of intrapraneurship for a company. When I was getting my MBA this was a huge concept. Sadly, most of the small companies I know have their meager staff wearing too many hats to do this, and many large companies frown on the practice of internal business planning by team members because radical ideas so often don't fit the company's mold...so they're developed and grown, at least in part, on the company's time and then made into companies when the employees depart.

I encourage such a practice, which usually results in positive environments. If a staffer knows management is behind her ideas and the process of developing them, she'll get into the mindset of working for the company.

Intrapreneurs don’t have it better—at best, they simply have it different. Indeed, they probably have it worse because they are fighting against ingrained, inbred, and inept management. There are lots of guys/gals inside established companies who are as innovative and revolutionary as their bootstrapping, soy-sauce-and-rice-subsisting counterparts.