Franck DebaneDigital Evolution

The intrapreneur

15 notes, 2012 to 2025 · All guides

An intrapreneur builds something new inside a company organised to run what already exists. The company asks for innovation and resists it at the same time.

Start with the ten commandments Gifford Pinchot wrote for intrapreneurs in 1985. They still hold: “Come to work each day willing to be fired”, “Find people to help you”, “Honor your sponsors”. Stories in French follow: an intrapreneur at Sodexo on the best and the worst of both worlds, a physicist who became an intrapreneur at Renault, and a course on intrapreneurship in a business school.

Then what gets in the way: short-term focus, excuses, bureaucracy and politics, and companies that fire the very people who innovate. Innovating often means bending the rules.

Then the people who make it possible: the sponsor, shown in French at SNCF Réseau, and leaders who delegate outcomes rather than tasks.

Heads of innovation close the guide, with essays from 2025: bet on teams rather than ideas, and survive a job that puts a target on your back.

Start here

  1. The 10 Commandments of the Intrapreneur

    In 1985, the book Intrapreneuring from Gifford Pinchot answers the question Why you dont have to leave the corporation to become an Entrepreneur? As part …

    1 min read Corporate Entrepreneur

  2. Entreprendre dans un grand groupe : le meilleur et le pire des deux mondes – le cas de Sodexo

    Etre entrepreneur au sein d’un grand groupe, c’est à la fois le meilleur mais aussi le pire des deux mondes. C’est ce que dit Yannick …

    2 min de lecture Podcast: Oser Doser

  3. Lomig Unger, l’intrapreneur

    Portrait publié par We Demain en 2018 dans une série sur les nouveaux travailleurs. Docteur en physique entré chez Renault en 2005, Lomig Unger y a fondé …

    1 min de lecture Corporate EntrepreneurLinkedIn

  4. Initier à l’intrapreneuriat — en école de commerce

    Une école de commerce m’a récemment demandé de faire un cours sur l’intrapreneuriat. Heureux de partager mes expériences, j’ai accepté. Ils ont eu des cours …

    1 min de lecture Corporate Entrepreneur

What gets in the way

  1. How to not innovate

    Taken from 10 ways to inhibit innovation, here are 4 trends that what prevents innovation in companies. We exploit and don’t explore Our focus on short-term results …

    1 min read Innovation

  2. 5 excuses to overcome in corporate innovation

    Moves the Needle lists the five excuses established companies give for not doing real innovation, and how to get past them: « it's not my job », when …

    1 min read Corporate EntrepreneurLinkedIn

  3. Intrapreneur’s guide to navigating bureaucracy and politics

    Moves the Needle gives intrapreneurs four ways to push through bureaucracy and politics: align the project with the company's strategic priorities, win …

    1 min read Corporate EntrepreneurLinkedIn

  4. The case for corporate disobedience

    Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg, in Harvard Business Review (June 2014): you can't really innovate without bending the rules. Companies gain from leaving room …

    1 min read Corporate EntrepreneurLinkedIn

  5. Companies want innovation but fire the innovators

    Companies hire and reward employees that are good at operating the business. This means: Rewarding conformity; Suppressing original thinking; Punishing …

    1 min read Corporate EntrepreneurLinkedIn

Sponsors and leaders

  1. Comment sponsoriser un projet d’innovation, l’exemple de SNCF Réseau

    Il y a ceux qui ont l’idée de startup et ceux qui soutiennent le projet et se battent pour lui. Les sponsors jouent un rôle …

    1 min de lecture Podcast: Oser Doser

  2. 5 leadership changes vital to enterprise innovation

    Moves the Needle lists five changes leaders must make for innovation to happen in large companies: step back from the pressure of quarterly Wall Street …

    1 min read Corporate EntrepreneurLinkedIn

  3. Delegate outcomes and goals rather than tasks (Giff Constable)

    Moves the Needle's Lean Lunch with Giff Constable, CEO of the product innovation firm Neo: how he helps organisations let go of bad ideas and work on …

    1 min read Corporate EntrepreneurLinkedIn

  4. Innovation starts with courageous leadership

    We talk about innovation as a process or a strategy. But at its core, innovation is a leadership decision — and it takes guts. New ideas challenge the …

    1 min read Corporate EntrepreneurLinkedIn

For heads of innovation

  1. Stop Betting on Ideas. Start Betting on “Minimum Viable Teams”

    Why the most important decision an innovation director makes isn’t what project to fund, but who they choose to build it. As an innovation director, …

    4 min read Opinion

  2. Corporate Innovation Strategy: Why 80% of Projects Fail (And How to Survive)

    Let’s be honest about the job title. If you’re “head of innovation”, leading a corporate innovation strategy or a major transformation project, you’ve a target on …

    5 min read Corporate Entrepreneur