Can you be an Entrepreneur within a Corporate Environment?

Entrepreneurship.

The very word implies starting your own venture with the intention of making ridiculous amounts of money. Someone that personifies the term is Richard Branson, founder of all things Virgin. His successful ventures can be put down to his knack for taking calculated risks and learning from mistakes, he states ‘you never know…when you’re trying something new what can happen. [It’s] all experimental.’

But being entrepreneurial doesn’t necessarily mean you need to risk everything, personally and professionally, to open your own business. The reality is that you can still be an entrepreneur within a corporate environment. At RB, we encourage bold thinking and allow daring ideas to thrive. Granted, being thrown in the deep end can be daunting, but the challenge of whether you sink or swim depends on the presence of entrepreneurial spirit.

My colleague Luigi recently asked the question can you be an entrepreneur in a corporate environment? Here’s my two cents…

Seeing a real opportunity to generate incremental sales and secure display activity within stores, I presented a new promotional program, backed up with solid research and financials, to the Sales Director last year for implementation within a particular channel – it has now been rolled out nationally across Australia. Sure, it’s scary when you’re given free reign and control of a project, but what entrepreneur likes to be micro-managed?

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The benefit of being an entrepreneur within a corporate setting like RB is that you are encouraged to challenge the status quo and think outside the square.
Add to that the multicultural pool of extremely talented people that you can learn from and you’ve got an environment in which you can truly excel. Execution of new initiatives becomes far less risky when you can draw from your team and manager’s experience. Business acumen and creative thought can certainly be an innate raw talent, but even diamonds need to be polished to truly shine…

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“Two critical ingredients for accelerated company growth are intellect and attitude, particularly an attitude to be Entrepreneurial – to be curious. We may not hit the mark every time but it’s those few breakthrough ideas that keep RB ahead of our competition…and our people growing at pace” Sandy – RB Sales Director, Australia..

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Now listen to what Nick, RB Sales Director UK, had to say on the subject in this exclusive Youtube video. Since starting with RB in 2003, he has been promoted twice in the last 5 years and is currently enjoying a truly international career, having worked in the Yorkshire, Copenhagen and Poland offices. His success at RB is something he puts down to the company’s focus on entrepreneurship.

The question ‘can you be an entrepreneur in a corporate environment’ was also posted on LinkedIn and has produced some really interesting responses:

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“The best companies are entrepreneurial in their culture but they work more as teams, not alone. They are passionate about a shared vision and a mutually-agreed-upon mission/way of achieving it. They have lots of resources upon which to draw. If the entrepreneur is a team player, and they find an entrepreneurial company, then it will be a win-win for both of them’ - Frank Feather

“Entrepreneurial skills and characteristics are more critical in organizations today than ever before: the passion, connection to something bigger, and agility to shift and learn from mistakes are required for success in today’s global economy” - Janine Moon.

“The term ‘intrapreneur’ is used to describe these types of people – who share the same qualities as entrepreneurs, but don’t strike out on their own. Intrapreneurs are the people who make their ideas heard and are willing to put in the work to bring them about. The only difference between an intrapreneur and an entrepreneur is that the former has already found the environment in which they can be happy and thrive.” - Adam D.

The question was also raised on the innovation group 15Inno:

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“What does it take for a Corporate to make room for more flexibility, creativity and new ways of working? A little less reliant on command-control and a bit more inclined to facilitate a space for employees to grow even as adults?” - Lise Moen @BecomeBrilliant

“Absolutely! Big companies need entreprenuers. It can and does work, often with impressive outcomes. I have worked as an entrepreneur inside several of the world’s largest corporations. Some critical success factors in such a role are: empowerment, ability to take risks, opportunity to leverage a fresh or outside point of view, and bounded/limited timeframe (generally 2 years).” – Greg Kinsey

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For those graduating university soon, many of you are looking to make your mark in the business world but are scared of giving up a steady income stream by going solo. At RB, you can stay true to your entrepreneurial spirit and reap the personal and professional rewards that come with fast-track career progression and international opportunities.

So, what do you think? Can you can be an entrepreneur in a corporate environment? Leave your thoughts in the comments below….