Page 208 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Leadership from All Le vels 193

in the future, program leaders must focus on communication
and relationships across the company for a few critical reasons:
maintaining support for budgets, selecting projects that matter
to senior leaders, and enabling the transition of new businesses
from incubation to business units during the scaling phase.
Maintaining support for budgets is an issue because many
other people within the company find it difficult to understand
why the firm is spending money on the future outside of what
the business units already do. “We’re closer to the customers,
so we know best. Give us the capital, not that corporate cost
center,” is the standard objection. The corporate entrepreneur-
ship group leader must continuously address this and show
real, quantifiable value. Fortunately, engaging with leaders
across the company reinforces the team’s understanding of
what will matter to the company. This, in turn, enables teams
to select projects that are more likely to matter to the company.
Engagement and project selection are mutually reinforcing
activities if you do them right. Moreover, if you’re pursuing
projects that matter to business unit or functional executives,
it will be much easier (though rarely easy) for the new projects
to make the transition out of incubation and into the main-
stream company. Transition is difficult enough with support,
never mind trying to pass off even a great opportunity when
the people in the business unit that is required to take it on feel
no sense of ownership and never asked for the opportunity.
Build with the end in mind, and that end is new business
opportunities that can find the resources to scale. It is much
harder to do this without the right allies.
Navigating around the company—becoming the consum-
mate politician—supports your efforts to promote. It should be
an intentional, ongoing activity. After you’ve taken the reins,
make sure you find other senior executives who have an active
interest in your group—people who are not just willing to be