Page 192 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Leadership from All Le vels 177

investing the time and effort necessary to sell the first $100,000
of something new and unfamiliar.
For this and for many other reasons, corporate entrepre-
neurship requires substantial and constant leadership from the
CEO on down. The leaders must set the growth agenda and
work to build an environment in which corporate entrepre-
neurship can flourish. This does not mean that the entire com-
pany must be transformed to have a culture of innovation. But
there must at least be a space for such activities, a space that is
under the watchful protection of a senior executive.
Ultimately, any individual in the company may drive or sup-
port new ventures. In this chapter, we discuss two groups that
have a particular responsibility for helping new businesses suc-
ceed: senior executives—including corporate, functional, and
business unit leaders—and corporate entrepreneurship pro-
gram leaders.

The Role of Senior Executives in
Corporate Entrepreneurship

Throughout years of study, we have not discovered a single
firm in which successful new business creation occurs on a sus-
tained basis without significant support from senior leader-
ship. This does not mean senior executives must devote
extensive amounts of time and effort to corporate entrepre-
neurship. Most senior executives have limited time to focus on
new business creation. The wider his or her purview, the less
time a leader has to focus on any particular activity. However,
it must be clear to everyone that senior executives are engaged
and committed to corporate entrepreneurship.
As we have emphasized numerous times in previous chap-
ters, corporate entrepreneurship needs to be a deliberate,