Troublemaker! You?
I often think back on an old post from David Nordfors on the Innovation Journalism blog. I have found his words to be true many times and if you work with innovation in a large company you can most likely relate as well and in particular to the part I have inserted below.
—–
When someone tries to innovate within a traditional organization,
few will understand what he/she is doing,
but everybody will understand who is a trouble-maker.
After the innovation has been embraced by the organization,
few will remember who started it,
but everybody will remember who was a trouble-maker.
This is the dilemma encountered by many intrapreneurs -
they risk punishment for success.
—–
Are you a troublemaker? : – )
The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.
Peter Medawar (1915-1987)
http://www.billgascoyne.name/cgi-bin/grquote4.pl?check=rq&call=3427
dear stephan,
as a fervent follower of your comments and thoughts i wondered whether you think independent artists would and could be best suited for this job of trouble-maker. maybe with the guidence of a design manager who speaks both the corporate and the arts language.
sincerely,
maarten scheffer
Hi Maartin,
I do not really see intrapreneurs as artists so my initial response is a no. I also do not see the job as being a trouble-maker; this is more about the perception others have of people who often could become great intrapreneurs if put in the right place.
Stefan
As I was once told, you can achieve as much as you want to [here] as long as you don’t care who gets the credit.
I don’t particularly care for that statement and see it as de-motivating for true innovation but the reality of it [at least w/in the organizational context I have] is startlingly clear.
Nice post!
For years I’ve recommended Dr. Dave Blume, Ethanol Can Be a Gas and even sacrificed an opportunity to work with a dear friend who might have helped get my own business off the ground to encourage her to help him launch his book. This was the right decision after all since he consulted Ford Motor Company this year and now I notice Clean Cities is in fact funding infrastructure for E85 as one of the few winning technologies for the big grants. All year I’ve been beat up for suggesting E85 and had to explain over and over no it’s not about corn, exploitation of crop lands, etc. The challenge is there is no short way to explain efficient E85 issues as with many embattled technologies. Because so few understand the issues the “critical mass of flex fuel adopters” might not be there to justify alternative fuel pumps in many areas…a catch 22 since consumers are waiting for the fuel to be available before purchasing the vehicle. The same applies to electric vehicles. For an innovation to be successful creating a demand might be part of the game. Marketing.
The issue is innovators need to create space to work. Marketers need to cast a wide net of communications. Conflict of interest in developing both skills. Working on this. Marketing with boundaries for the entrepreneur.
In big companies such a topic would be very risky politically.