Word: pinchot
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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There is now a code word for this kind of operation: intrapreneurship. Gifford Pinchot III, 42, a management consultant from New Haven, Conn., coined the term and has written a book about it called Intrapreneuring, or Why You Don't Have to Leave the Corporation to Become an Entrepreneur (Harper & Row, $19.95). Writes Pinchot: "The more rapidly American business learns to use the entrepreneurial talent inside large organizations, the better. The alternative in a time of rapid change is stagnation and decline...
...Pinchot argues that entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs have similar motivations. Both are pushed primarily by the desire to accomplish something. Says he: "What drives the entrepreneur is a deep, personal need for achievement." This, rather than any large financial gain, is the key. Pinchot says that companies should try to tap employees' interest by giving them the freedom and the financial backing to chase their ideas. If they succeed, they may get a bonus or a promotion. But for intrapreneurs, the real payoff is the feeling of success--"I did it, and it worked...
...employee fails, that is okay too. Failure, says Pinchot, should be regarded as a learning experience and must be permitted within firms. He writes that large companies are good at coming up with sound ideas, but they are generally poor at carrying them out because of a "morass of analysis, approvals and politics...
...Pinchot's thesis is stirring discussion within management circles. Peter Drucker, 75, author of more than a dozen books, says that intrapreneurship is really just a new name for an old idea. Says he: "These young people have no memory. It is like every 19-year-old thinking he has just discovered sex." Thomas J. Peters, co-author of the best-selling In Search of Excellence, believes Pinchot is on to something. Says he: "People ought to think about this intensely...
...book, Pinchot gives "The Intrapreneur's Ten Commandments." The first two: come to work each day willing to be fired; circumvent any orders aimed at stopping your dream. Such attitudes are not welcome in all companies. But Pinchot argues that large corporations can prosper in today's rapidly changing business environment only if they are willing to encourage employees with fresh ideas to come forward and bet their careers on new projects...