To be an effective intrapreneur in a bureaucracy, don't pitch your project as a separate, tangential effort. Instead, research the existing goals of potential partners and frame your initiative as a tool to help them achieve their objectives more efficiently, making you an ally rather than a burden.
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When working in complex organizations like the UN or federal government, don't try to master their internal language. Instead, find and partner with internal experts who can translate your goals into the organization's native operating system to achieve impact.
Stop trying to convince executives to adopt your priorities. Instead, identify their existing strategic initiatives—often with internal code names—and frame your solution as an accelerator for what they're already sold on doing. This dramatically reduces friction and speeds up deals.
To drive transformation in a large organization, leaders must create a cultural movement rather than issuing top-down mandates. This involves creating a bold vision, empowering a community of 'changemakers,' and developing 'artifacts of change' like awards and new metrics to reinforce behaviors.
Innovation leaders struggle to secure resources. A powerful tactic is to have VPs align on their long-term strategic goals, identify overlaps, and then dedicate cross-functional teams to these shared priorities. This creates executive buy-in and carves out protected capacity for innovation.
To effectively lead through influence, go beyond aligning on shared business objectives. Understand what personally motivates your cross-functional peers—their career aspirations or personal goals. The most powerful way to gain buy-in is to demonstrate how your initiative helps them achieve their individual ambitions.
Don't pitch big ideas by going straight to the CEO for a mandate; this alienates the teams who must execute. Instead, introduce ideas casually to find a small group of collaborative "yes, and" thinkers. Build momentum with this core coalition before presenting the developed concept more broadly.
Within a large corporation, an intrapreneur's success hinges on validating their idea with potential clients. Since internal investment is a zero-sum game, demonstrating market knowledge and a clear path to customer validation is crucial for convincing leadership to fund your project over competing priorities.
The distinction between a 'big company' and 'small company' person is irrelevant. A founder's mindset—hustling to bring new ideas to life and driving outcomes—is equally applicable and valuable in a large corporation as it is in a startup.
In siloed government environments, pushing for change fails. The effective strategy is to involve agency leaders directly in the process. By presenting data, establishing a common goal (serving the citizen), and giving them a voice in what gets built, they transition from roadblocks to champions.
To drive rapid change within the Department of Energy, Carl Coe prioritized building alliances with existing employees. Instead of forcing his way in, he spent significant time getting to know people and respecting the organization. This opened doors and fostered cooperation, which was critical for long-term success.
