It is often hard to find the corporate innovators and entrepreneurs in your organisation.
Here are 15 key characteristics and traits you should look out for.
1: RESILIENCE AND TENACITYBuilding a new venture requires facing numerousroadblocks. Setbacks come not only from customers,partners and regulators but also internally.
Intrapreneurs rely on their processes, values andsystems to navigate the minefield that is corporate
innovation.
2: INFLUENCING SKILLS
Most people in the organisation think like risk managers,which hinders innovation. Being able to effectivelyinfluence decision makers will play a significant role.
3: CONNECTING THE DOTS BETWEEN BROAD INTERESTS AND EXPERIENCESThis is two-fold. To innovate effectively, associational thinking - or connecting the dots - is critical. Steve Jobs
connected the dots between calligraphy, zen buddhism and a visit to Xerox’s research centre to come up withthe minimalist and clean graphical user interface of the first Macintosh.
4. CURIOSITY
Broad experiences come with
curiosity. Look for intrapreneurs toconsume or have an interest in
different types of people, music, art,film, literature, travel spots, sport,activities, news sources and so on that
fall far from the definition ofmainstream.
5: CHALLENGES THE STATUS QUO
Innovators won’t just accept “the way things
have always been done around here”.
They will question why things are done a
certain way. They might propose alternativeways doing things.
Innovators challenge authority and would
rather ask for forgiveness than permission.
6: WELL NETWORKED
Corporate innovators tend to
have a wide network which helps them accelerate their
internal ventures through collaboration. Look for them to attend meetups, conferences,
have a large number of connections on LinkedIn and
so on.
7: SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTER
These entrepreneurs and innovators are great
at building brand awareness and authority.This suggests that they have the skills required
to successfully promote new ventures. They
might blog, host podcasts, give talks, have alarge following on Linkedin, be active on the
Twitterverse and so on.
8: PASSIONATE
Innovation isn’t a part time or casual gig.Corporate innovators must be passionateabout their projects if they’re to carry themthrough all the various roadblocks.
9: SOCRATIC THINKER
“All I know is that I know nothing.” Entrepreneurs are happy to
concede that they don’t have all the answers, are relentlesslearners and realise that rapid experimentation will deliver better
answers than their own internal dialogue.
10: TOLERANT OF AMBIGUITY
Rather than call for an elaborate planup front, innovators realise that when itcomes to disruptive innovation, theanswers are unknown. Innovators dowhat they need to do to discover theanswers that other people put in the‘too hard’ bucket.
11: VISION
Innovators and entrepreneurs see things most people don’t. This is due to the coalescence of a number of
different traits - passion, broad interests, curiosity and associational thinking to name just a few.
12: SELF-BELIEF
Entrepreneurs will be told they’re wrong or that what they’re working on is impossible by people who see
the world differently. They need to have self belief and strength to keep going when people say stop.
13: FLEXIBLE AND ADAPTABLE
They are also open to constructive criticism,
customer feedback that invalidates their ownideas and changing the direction of an idea,
despite having spent time on it.
14: HEALTHY
Successfully commercialising a new disruptive venture is a marathon, not a sprint, littered with many hills,
peaks, valleys and troughs. Mental and physical health is required to build something from the ground up.
15: PRODUCTIVE
Curious and passionate entrepreneurs manage their time effectively. Look for to-do lists, prioritisation of
tasks, automation of mundane and repeatable tasks, the use of productivity apps and more.