I’ve noticed an interesting trend lately. Usually the e-mail I receive in response to this column comes from rookie entrepreneurs or established business owners seeking my input on startup matters, financing, employee relations, general management and leadership issues, policy matters, etc.
Lately, however, many of the messages are coming from employees of medium-size and large companies who are growing frustrated at working in an environment that they deem (to quote one e-mail) “Intellectually stifling and (that) offers few challenges of one’s creativity and innovation.”
These folks are asking how best to move from being someone else’s bored employee to coming into their own as an excited entrepreneur.
These people are called “intrapreneurs,” and their ranks are growing, which should be of great concern to the employers who have either been unaware that they existed or have chosen to ignore them in the past.
By definition, intrapreneurs are employees who think with an entrepreneurial slant. Instead of just doing their jobs by the numbers, intrapreneurs approach every task with an entrepreneurial mindset....