Page 51 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

38 grow from within

even greater risk of scope creep. As opportunities present
themselves, when business unit and functional leaders come
calling, it can be difficult to say no. As we explore various
approaches to corporate entrepreneurship, we will share a
range of solutions to managing focus. However, the condensed
version is to

1. Be exceptionally clear about the overall corporate
entrepreneurship initiative’s objectives.
2. Define appropriate metrics and accountability.
3. Build a portfolio of opportunities that are consistent with
your objectives.

The first of these is particularly important. After more than
a decade of research into how corporations and government
organizations innovate or become stagnant, we’ve noted a crit-
ical point that differentiates many of the corporate entrepre-
neurship initiatives that succeed from those that fail: mission
clarity and focus.
Taking their cue from the military, where every day is about
defining mission objectives, determining means, and then act-
ing and evaluating, corporate innovators need to understand
the power of mission. We don’t mean the nebulous proclama-
tions that grace the backs of business cards and corporate lob-
bies. We mean the kinds of mission that lead to action. Mission
clarity means that we must articulate what it is that we are try-
ing to accomplish. Mission focus means that corporate entre-
preneurship teams have specific objectives. Many companies
combine a wide range of initiatives, objectives, tools, and
approaches into a single corporate entrepreneurship team, and
by doing so jeopardize the team’s likelihood of success. With
unclear objectives, new corporate entrepreneurship teams tend
to overextend the troops, waging too many simultaneous,