Page 228 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Leadership from All Le vels 213

Don’t expect project leaders to do this on their own, or you’re
setting them up for failure.
If you’re working for a company whose top leaders are not
sufficiently committed to positive change, then consider mov-
ing to a new company. Life is too short to keep your head down
if you truly care about creating the future. On the other hand,
though the going can be tough, there are things that passion-
ate midlevel managers can do to help tell the story and advo-
cate on behalf of new businesses. The most important work
you can do to champion a new business—or, for that matter,
anything that is substantially new to your company—is to
spend as much time as possible meeting with senior leaders
and other relevant people around the company. Discover who
might be an ally and who might stand in the way. Bring the
fence-sitters to your cause if you can by determining what
might be in it for each person. Be strategic and deliberate about
your corporate entrepreneurship advocacy. Such alliances will
come in handy down the road and in unexpected ways.
In addition to connecting with top management, recognize
the value of networking with project leaders to share experiences
and insights along the way. There is nothing like relying on a
team of corporate entrepreneurs within the same company who
can reinforce, support, and even rescue one another. Corporate
entrepreneurship is tough anywhere and has many consistent
characteristics across companies, although each company pre -
sents its own unique set of cultural, structural, and contextual
differences. Experienced corporate entrepreneurs can become
mentors who understand not only how innovation happens but
also how it happens within your company.
The bottom line is this: at all levels—senior executives, cor-
porate entrepreneurship program leaders, and project leaders—
consider a fundamental objective to be engagement. Challenge
your company to build truly new businesses, identify high-