The Social Intrapreneurs - A Guide by SustainAbility, IDEO, Skoll, Allianz

The Social IntrapreneurA Field Guide for CorporateChangemakers

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Forewords 1

Field Notes 4

1 Introduction 8

2 Origins of a Species 12

3 The Market Ecosystem 16

4 The Field Guide 26

5 Strategy of the Beaver 42

6 Wisdom of the Social Intrapreneur 52

7 Future Expeditions 60

Acknowledgements 65

Notes 66

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The Social Intrapreneur 1

ForewordSustainAbility

SustainAbility’s second Skoll Programreport investigates the role of the new breedof social intrapreneurs working withinbusiness — and assesses the potential forcollaboration with social entrepreneurs.

Don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness.That is the motto of many social entre-preneurs we have come across — and in somecases worked with. But I think I owe ourreaders a personal word or two of explanationboth on the subject matter of this latestsurvey report and on its unusual style. When the Skoll Foundation awardedSustainAbility a three-year grant in 2006, the focus was on field-building in relation to social entrepreneurship. So why are wenow haring off into the corporate world ofsocial intrapreneurs?

Our reasoning runs as follows. Socialentrepreneurs are some of the mostextraordinary changemakers (to use Ashoka’sterm) in the world today.1 And, with severalwinning Nobel Peace Prizes and many othersspotlighted by awards from organizations likeAcumen, Ashoka, Echoing Green, Endeavorand the Schwab and Skoll foundations, theassumption might be that — if the rest of uswould get out of the way — these peoplewould save the world. Hardly.

As The Economist put it in reviewing The Power of Unreasonable People,2 the book summarizing our work in this field, “The greatest agents for sustainable changeare unlikely to be [social entrepreneurs],interesting though they are . . . They aremuch more likely to be the entirelyreasonable people, often working for largecompanies, who see ways to create betterproducts or reach new markets, and have the resources to do so.” 3

This is the line of inquiry that we furtherpursue in this second round of our Skoll Program.

Who, we ask, are the corporate equivalents of social entrepreneurs, the people with whom entrepreneurs might want to engage to build the high-potential partnerships with mainstream business that featured sohigh in their wish-list during our GrowingOpportunity survey.4 And how do they see the parallel fields of social entrepreneurshipand intrapreneurship? Our research andfindings are presented in what follows.

The Field Guide style is both a signal that we do not claim to have discovered UniversalTruths on the basis of our work to date — and an effort to make a sometimes complexfield more accessible to a wider audience,particularly senior policy-makers anddecision-takers.

In closing, my personal thanks go to JeffSkoll and Sally Osberg and their colleagues at the Skoll Foundation, to Maggie Brennekeand Alexa Clay at SustainAbility, who blazedour trail through the jungle, and to RupertBassett for helping us turn the Field Guideidea into what you hold in your hands. We enjoyed this project enormously — andhope that you find value in this report. Any comments would be much appreciated.

John [email protected]

2

ForewordIDEO

What does an innovator look like?

People often think of innovators as crazy-haired loners, pipe-chomping professors orcharismatic entrepreneurs. As if the verynature of thinking differently requiresinnovators to be maverick characters —outsiders even — who owe their disruptivecreativity to a life lived on the fringe.

This is largely a misconception. Trueinnovators — the sort who are behind the vast majority of innovations that improve our lives every year — breeze through thedoors of the giant corporations of the worldand choose to make their mark from within.They are integrators, problem solvers andfacilitators. They are likely to have honed less celebrated, but perhaps more reliable,characteristics of innovation such as politicalsavvy, tact, teamwork and patience. Further-more, rather than getting their way via forceof personality or charismatic zeal, theseinnovators learn how to bring projects to life through the deft manipulation of thelatent intellectual and financial capital inside their organizations.

Innovation companies like IDEO are interestedin this kind of innovator. We call themclients, or marketing execs, or president ofsuch and such, but rarely do we celebrate how unique these individuals are and thecharacteristics that make them successful.Where entrepreneurs choose autonomy orcelebrity, they choose scale and impact.Where entrepreneurs prefer control, theseindividuals have the enviable ability to getthings done from inside massively complexsystems. They are, of course, players every bit as important as entrepreneurs — butbehind the scenes.

Intrapreneurs are thus a special breed withrare, often hard-won, skills. Their value to businesses is incalculable. Indeed, ourbusiness would not exist without them. Now they’re poised to become even moresignificant.

Within the enlightened boardrooms of theworld, a new kind of intrapreneurial activityis emerging: sustainability and innovationhave become the subject of overlappingdiscussions with a measurable impact on the bottom line. What was once corporatesocial responsibility (CSR) and marketing has become R&D, and vice versa.

With this change, a new breed of individual is being asked to step up: a social intra-preneur — someone who is capable of makinga positive impact to their business and for the world. Identifying the challenges faced by these change agents and finding ways tosupport, scale-up and accelerate their workare now priorities for us at IDEO.

These are exciting times to be in theinnovation business. Increasingly impassionedindividuals are wrapping business pragmatismaround visionary agendas. Understanding thesocial intrapreneur is thus a vital ingredientin maintaining any future edge. The age ofthe social intrapreneur has begun.

The IDEO team

The Social Intrapreneur

ForewordAllianz

Social entrepreneurship is changing theworld. Finding solutions for the world’s most pressing problems is no longerconsidered the exclusive business ofgovernments, international organizations or large non-profits. Every day outstandingsocial entrepreneurs prove that almost noproblem is too big to be tackled throughinnovation and business acumen.Extraordinary examples abound revealingthat through ingenuity, optimism and hardwork men and women are developingeffective, scalable solutions for a wide range of societal challenges such as climatechange, poverty alleviation and socialinclusion.

Within this new scenario, the questionemerges: what should be the role ofcorporations? Is social entrepreneurship the exclusive terrain of inspired individualsoutside of the mainstream? Is true social orenvironmental innovation compatible withlarge corporate structures? Is it only about‘doing the right things’ (leadership) or alsoabout ‘doing things right’ (management)? Is it feasible to generate shareholder valuewhile proactively addressing societal issues?

The following pages point to this opportunity.The social intrapreneurs depicted in thisreport are early markers of the incrediblepotential for the alignment of societal needand business value. No doubt, success in thisspace is not easily achieved. Yet, the talescontained herein are not only tales of greatcourage, but also of opportunity — theopportunity to both do well and do good.

Social intrapreneurs are a rare species. They may sit anywhere within corporatestructures and are often hard to find. Theirideas are likely to be highly unusual andoften appear in conflict with existing businesspriorities. Yet, this is a species that must bepatiently nurtured. The promise for societyand opportunity for business make the task of identifying and supporting socialintrapreneurs within large corporations ahighly rewarding challenge.

Our strong belief in the potential of socialentrepreneurship led Allianz to supportSustainAbility’s Growing Opportunity report.We are very pleased to take this cooperationone step forward by supporting The SocialIntrapreneur: A Field Guide for CorporateChangemakers.

Helping over 80 million customers world-wide plan for a more secure future, socialinnovation is core to our business. Whetherthrough environmentally friendly insuranceand investment products, retirement servicesor microinsurance projects, we stronglybelieve that identifying solutions that helpaddress global challenges is key for our long-term competitiveness. For Allianz,supporting our social intrapreneurs in thisendeavor is not only the right thing to do, but it is the smart thing to do.

Paul AchleitnerMember of the Board of ManagementAllianz

3The Social Intrapreneur

Field NotesA brief word from the field about a newly discovered species — the social intrapreneur


Social intrapreneur, n. 1 Someone who worksinside major corporations or organizations to develop and promote practical solutions tosocial or environmental challenges whereprogress is currently stalled by market failures.2 Someone who applies the principles of socialentrepreneurship inside a major organization. 3 One characterized by an ‘insider-outsider’mindset and approach.

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Habitat and habits

The social intrapreneur is carving out a new niche within the multinational corporatehabitat of our ecosystem. Their primarymotivation is to incubate and deliver businesssolutions that add value to both society and the bottom line. They are hybridindividuals, who draw on values of socialentrepreneurship to persistently champion a vision of change in the face of frequentcynicism and resistance. They cannot turntheir backs on the savage global inequitiesand environmental degradation in the world,or on the profound social and economic valueto be gained by delivering market solutions.See Chapter 2

Evolutionary drivers

Social intrapreneurs are found in establishedmultinational corporations. They understandbusiness process and priorities as well assustainability imperatives. They flourish when multinational business provides themwith an effective base from which to createand leverage innovative societal solutions.The emergence of social intrapreneurs is theresult of a series of ‘evolutionary drivers,’including global market failures, shifts inpersonal motivations and increased societalexpectations of business. See Chapter 3

Identifying characteristics

Social intrapreneurs are more ambitious for social change than for personal wealthand advancement. They are willing and ableto take risks, including moving across andbetween organizations and sectors to reachthe locale where they can realize their vision.They combine tactical and strategic skill-setswith qualities of perseverance and strength,independence and teamwork, far-sightednessand practicality — all of which enables themto get the basics right, earn trust and deliverreal results. See Chapter 4

Pioneering approaches

Social intrapreneurs are creating anddelivering new business models. They compeltheir host corporations to look outside theircomfort zones — to see both the strategic risks and profound opportunities that existbeyond the purview of traditional businessunits. They are not satisfied with suboptimalequilibriums, where markets work well forsome, but not at all for others. Their adeptopposable minds exist to juggle dilemmas andcatalyze new visions, products, services andsolutions — some of which may fall beneaththe radar today, but will eventually enable ascale of change that delivers value to societyand business well into the future. See Chapter 5

Related species

Although many social entrepreneurs shun the corporate habitat of social intrapreneurs,they have common traits, particularly when it comes to the motivation to deliver socialchange. Intrapreneurs can potentially providesocial entrepreneurs with a new point ofaccess to multinational business and all it has to offer in terms of investment capital,global reach, resource and scale. See Chapter 6

Care and protection

Intrapreneurs are adept at fighting andsurviving cynicism, caution and the statusquo in large corporations. However, healthycorporate curiosity and support (includingcapital), along with an enabling appetite for exploration and experimentation, willdefinitely encourage this species to thrive. See Chapter 7

5The Social IntrapreneurField Notes

The Intrapreneurs and their ventures

The following Field Guide draws upon in-depth interviews with twenty social intra-preneurs from a diverse sample of multi-national corporations. Their work covers a wide array of environmental and socialchallenges and is in varying stages ofdevelopment — ranging from incubation tomarket expansion. The characteristic commonto all of these individuals is a passion fordriving societal change through business in a way that generates long-term value for both their companies and communities.

Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP)Gib Bulloch and his team work withcorporate, government and NGOorganizations to develop innovative, cross-sectoral solutions to global challenges. A recent project with CISCO brought e-learning to the Egypt Education Initiative. See pp. 15 and 48

AmancoAt leading pipe manufacturer in LatinAmerica, Andreas Eggenberg led thedevelopment of an irrigation system targetedat low-income farmers and partnered withcitizen sector organizations on distribution,training and financing.See p. 20

Banco Real Maria Luiza Pinto has worked to mainstreamsustainability training and development intothe organization’s management. This hasresulted in numerous sustainability initiativesfrom financing biodiesel manufacturing tooffering microfinance services in the favelasof Rio de Janeiro. See pp. 51 and 58

BPKerryn Schrank heads up BP’s targetneutralcampaign, encouraging drivers to ‘reduce’petrol use. In addition to climate benefits,reducing energy use also benefits energysecurity. See pp. 61 and 64

CEMEXLuis Sota worked with executives at CEMEX to develop low-income housingsolutions for their Mexican consumers. See p. 39

CitiBob Annibale launched Citi’s globalmicrofinance initiative, which focuses onbuilding commercial relationships withmicrofinance institutions and clients,enabling access among the underserved tocredit, savings, insurance and remittanceproducts. See pp. 45 and 56–57

Coca-Cola Dan Vermeer at Coca-Cola works on watersustainability and other environmentalchallenges. His recent focus is to extendCoke’s sustainability efforts across the value chain. See pp. 37–38 and 68

DowBo Miller and Scott Noesen champion Dow’s2015 sustainability goals, which emphasizegreen chemistry as well as the development ofproducts to solve societal challenges. They arecurrently focused on water quality and access,and recently took an equity stake in WaterHealth International — a social enterprise. See pp. 54 and 55

Ford David Berdish has launched a MegacityMobility project designed to addresstransportation needs among swelling urban populations in South Africa, India and Brazil.See pp. 11, 32–33 and 47

Hindustan UnileverVijay Sharma heads up project Shakti, which cultivates women entrepreneurs inrural villages. In addition to growing marketsfor Unilever’s products, these women serve as agents of change, acting as positive rolemodels in their communities. See p. 40


MicrosoftOrlando Ayala heads up Unlimited Potentialto deliver relevant, accessible and affordabletechnology solutions to the ‘next 5 billion’people around the world. See pp. 41 and 61

Morgan StanleyHenry Gonzalez drove Morgan Stanley’smicrofinance offer, which seeks to originatemicrofinance-related transactions for thecapital markets and to manage MorganStanley's direct and indirect equityinvolvement in microfinance. See p. 25

NikeSam McCracken launched the company’sNative American Business, which leveragesthe power of the Nike brand to drive athleticparticipation among Native Americancommunities. See pp. 36, 54 and 57

P&GWin Sakdinan developed the company’sFuture Friendly initiative, which educatesconsumers to save energy, water andpackaging with its brands.See pp. 55 and 59

ShellSachin Kapila is developing models for biodiversity markets similar to thoseestablished for carbon markets. One initiative,Project Rainforest, promotes biofuelssustainability by looking at how their impactcould be offset through a market-basedmechanism directed at the protection ofexisting forests. See p. 46

Starbucks Sue Mecklenburg is Vice-President ofSustainable Procurement Practices atStarbucks. She's pioneering a new approachto the supply chain, trailblazing opportunitiesfor livelihood enhancement among keysuppliers in addition to formalizing ‘bestpractices' for accountable procurement. See pp. 45 and 57

Unilever Santiago Gowland is driving sustainabilitythinking across Unilever’s diverse brands. He has pioneered an innovative ‘BrandImprint’ assessment to identify and measuresocial, economic and environmental impacts. See pp. 29 and 49

VodafoneNick Hughes and Susie Lonie have developeda mobile payment offering for Kenyan andAfghani customers. See pp. 35 and 47


Chapter 1Introduction Inside Out


Figure 1.1Shifting mindsets — or paradigms

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9

The world — and agendas — of the social intrapreneur

When we published our first survey of social entrepreneurs, people workingentrepreneurially within corporations and other organizations said, in effect, “Great, but what about the entrepreneursinside corporations — and insidegovernment?” Given their potential role as an interface between business and thewider world of social enterprise — and their experience of driving social andenvironmental change from the inside — we decided to focus this second survey onsocial intrapreneurs, at least those insidemajor corporations. What follows is an earlyattempt at a field guide to their world — its challenges and opportunities.

The nature of a field guide

Because this project is a dip-stick test of an emerging hypothesis — that socialintrapreneurs are gaining traction inside theirorganizations and, in the process, potentiallyoffering crucial access points for social andenvironmental entrepreneurs wanting toengage business — we have developed thisreport in the style of a field guide orexplorer’s sketchbook. Suggestive, hopefully.Full of things observed as we went about our work. But by no means the definitivework on the subject.

There are precedents for this approach. When, for example, Charles Darwin saw thewildly diverse finches of the Galapagos, hescribbled down his thoughts in his notebooks.Over time, a light began to go on in his brain— and he came to see how life had evolvedand differentiated over countless generations.

We make no claims to be latter-day Darwins, but increasingly we find that whenimaginative leaders in the private, public and citizen sectors are briefed on what socialand environmental intrapreneurs are doing, a similar switch begins to flip in their brains.Here, they acknowledge, may be critical cluesto how markets, business models andtechnologies will evolve in the future.

In keeping with our field guide metaphor, we use biological, zoological and ecologicalmetaphors, concepts and symbols toilluminate key trends and challenges. The idea was sparked by the social intrapreneursthemselves. During our interview with WinSakdinan of Procter & Gamble, for example,he suggested that large corporations can belike “elephants, as they take time to changedirections, but when they do, they bring lots of weight or positive leverage.” And hedidn’t stop there. Many of those who advisebusiness leaders, he argued, are like high-flying birds, “dreamers,” seeing the landscapeof risk and opportunity in useful ways, butoften disconnected from the day-to-dayresponsibilities of business. By contrast, heconcluded, he tries to be more like a giraffe,with “my head in the clouds to inspiresustainable innovation, but with my feetfirmly planted on the ground, alongside the elephants.”

Of course, companies can be like gazelles aswell as elephants, like dolphins as well asmanatees, but the thought-train inspired themetaphor. And in reviewing much of theliterature on intrapreneurship, innovation and competitiveness, extinction and survivalare dominant themes.

The Social IntrapreneurIntroduction

Social intrapreneurs are unsung heroes.”Susie Lonie Vodafone

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10The Social IntrapreneurIntroduction

Our exploration

If history teaches any lessons, it’s that thelong-term survival of today’s corporations is by no means guaranteed.5 But, given thescope of innovation required to begin totackle global market failures and sustain-ability opportunities, social intrapreneurshipcould be one key to shifting away frombusiness as usual to something moresustainable. For over 20 years, SustainAbilityhas tracked a series of evolutions of thesustainable development movement. Todaywe see a growing recognition by corporationsof the opportunity for greater alignment of business value and societal need — with social intrapreneurs as agents of change.

In the spirit of Ashoka’s ambition of‘Everyone a Changemaker,’ 6 we definecorporate changemakers as people — at any level in a company — who are trying todrive change through the development anddeployment of entrepreneurial solutions tokey social and environmental challenges.

In this work, we explore four primaryquestions:

— What are the forces driving business to more proactively address societalchallenges, such as climate change, health care and human rights?

— What specific business ventures are emerging?

— Who are the people behind these initiatives and how do they work?

— What early lessons can be gleaned for aspiring intrapreneurs and those looking to support them?

Our research findings and analysis arepresented in the following chapters:

Chapter 2 looks at the origin of this speciesof corporate changemaker: the socialintrapreneur.

Chapter 3 explores some of the deep trendspowerfully shaping the overall ‘ecosystem,’ or operating environment, in which businessconducts its activities.

Chapter 4 provides a basic field guide tosocial intrapreneurship offering up specimens,case examples, of their work.

Chapter 5 explores how intrapreneurs aregoing about transforming their corporatehabitats.

Chapter 6 offers tips for future explorers andconsiders some of the ways in which externalparties, NGOs and social entrepreneurs, canplay a role.

Chapter 7 pulls out our key conclusions andthoughts for the future of this field.

You have to work in a corporate minefield!”Off-the-record comment

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SpecimenDavid Berdish

SpeciesSocial intrapreneur

NicheMegacity Mobility Project

HabitatFord, Detroit

Eureka momentI had experienced life anddeath when my first wifedied of cancer. Normallypeople think of business as life and death. It isn’t. It’s ok to take risks.

PersonalHas worked for Ford for 25years; studied organizationallearning at MIT; majored inpoetry and statistics.

ChallengeFinding mobility solutionsthat address emergingurbanization/stratificationdynamics, and morespecifically, developingsustainable mobilitysolutions in South Africa.

Opportunity Reputational advantage,carbon savings, new revenue stream, competitiveadvantage in new markets.

AmbitionFirst, to get this pilot inSouth Africa off the groundand then to develop moresustainable approaches tomobility in other emergingmarkets.

MottoIt’s impossible to design asolution in the usual linearanalytic way.


Loving husband Cool rockin’ daddy

Social intrapreneur

Business development managerThird generation employee

Poet

Catholic


Chapter 2Origins of a Species Is the social intrapreneur a new species — or a rediscovered one?

Figure 2.1Aligning societal impact with business value

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13The Social IntrapreneurOrigins of a Species

Even we find ourselves saying entrepreneurwhen we mean intrapreneur, and vice versa.So let’s define our terms:

A social entrepreneur is an entrepreneur with a social or environmental mission at thecore of their venture. Typically, the societalchallenge they are tackling is their mission inlife — with their organization and any profitgenerated seen as a means to that end. Socialentrepreneurs are dogged in their pursuit ofnew models for change, harnessing the powerof market forces to serve the unmet needs ofsociety. They come in a number of varietiesand work in diverse habitats.

Many social entrepreneurs operate outsidemainstream markets, working directly withcommunities to drive change. ConsiderBunker Roy of Barefoot College, whoempowers India’s poorest citizens — many of whom are illiterate — by training them tobecome ‘barefoot’ solar and water engineers,teachers, doctors and architects. Others, likeReed Paget, Founder of Belu Water, drivechange through established markets. Belu is a non-profit bottled water company thatinvests the profits from its business in cleanwater projects around the world.

Yet, in parallel, there is a new breed ofentrepreneur emerging. These people havemany of the characteristics of the socialentrepreneur, yet operate in a very differenthabitat — within multinational corporations.We call this new breed social intrapreneurs.Skeptics may argue that as salaried corporateemployees, these people really should not be classified as entrepreneurs. True, mostintrapreneurs haven’t re-mortgaged theirhomes or maxed out their credit cards to fundtheir ventures. But, while the financial risksfaced by traditional entrepreneurs are veryreal, social intrapreneurs also take on risks in their own way. Most obviously, they risklosing out in the race for promotion and forsalary rises. But for some there is also aserious risk of losing their jobs.

They don’t worry overly about that. Indeed,most of the intrapreneurs we interviewedappear to have cast off traditional notions of advancement in an organization in pursuitof what their colleagues are likely to see as a wild ambition or idea — backed by afundamental belief that business must, andcan, change. None of the intrapreneurs wemet are motivated primarily by monetarygain; instead, they are inspired by a desire to drive real transformation. Take SantiagoGowland at Unilever. He gave up a lucrativeinvestment banking job to start two socialprojects in Argentina. He then returned to thebusiness world because, he believed, therewas a greater possibility of achieving societalchange on a large scale.

So social intrapreneurs, arguably, do resemblesocial entrepreneurs in a number of importantways. At their best, social intrapreneurs thriveon risk and uncertainty. They readily adapt to new circumstances — and regularly scanthe horizon for new ways to solve societalchallenges. Above all, they are innovators,coming up with key concepts, businessmodels, products and services that will open out new opportunity spaces.

Yet there are differences between socialintrapreneurs and entrepreneurs as well.Though both are inclined towards action,intrapreneurs also understand the need to tie into the processes and business caseelements of the venture. Most intrapreneursare comfortable acting as lone wolves for atleast some of the time, yet uniformly valueteamwork as well — understanding the criticalneed to engage others to develop buy-in and,ultimately, push ownership of new conceptsthrough their organization. (Chapter 4 takes a closer look at the characteristics of a social intrapreneur.)

As an entrepreneur, I have the freedom to pursue an individual and/or environmental mission — unconstrained by the needs of an existing organization.” Reed PagetCo-Founder, Belu Water

“

In addition to the social intrapreneur,however, we must also spotlight another setof critical actors in the evolving ecosystem.These people are catalysts, who come in at least two varieties. There are the seniorgatekeepers, CEOs, CFOs, board members and so on, who can give permission for newtypes of initiatives. And then there are thechampions, who may be heads of businessesor vice-presidents in relevant areas, who helpresource social intrapreneurs — and, critically,support their efforts to embed their evolvinginitiatives into the mainstream business. As one social intrapreneur commented, at the very least, “. . . a senior champion of aninitiative provides protection for the socialintrapreneur from internal nay-sayers.”

Most catalysts hold a certain level of formalauthority, either at an executive level orthrough direct reporting lines to corporateleadership. Examples of recent top-levelcatalysts include CEOs such as Jeffrey Immeltof GE, Lee Scott of Wal-Mart and FranckRiboud of Groupe Danone. Such peoplecatalyze change by explaining howsustainability can drive business value,communicating their vision and ensuring thatchangemakers within the organization havethe resources (staff and funding) they need, as well as formal accountability for results.

Other types of catalysts include vice-presidents responsible for sustainabledevelopment, sustainability or corporateresponsibility. While many of theseindividuals are not responsible for specificprofit and loss performance and generally do not incubate new products, services or business models, they are importantchampions for change. They work throughexisting systems catalyzing others in thebusiness to take action.

Examples here include Niel Golightly, VP Communications and SustainableDevelopment for Shell Downstream, MariaLuiza (Malu) de Oliveira Pinto, Head ofCorporate Responsibility for Banco Real, and Mike Barry, Head of Corporate SocialResponsibility at UK retailer Marks & Spencer.

Sometimes individuals play both roles —intrapreneur and catalyst — as in the case ofPinto who both incubates new projects andworks to drive change through the entireorganization. What’s important here is tounderstand that two primary types of actorsare playing an increasingly critical role intransforming corporations.

The hope must be that these catalysts andsocial intrapreneurs are preparingcorporations for the future. Not all companiesthat employ such people will make good useof them, clearly, and market conditions meanthat not all those companies that do makegood use of such talented people will survive,let alone thrive. But our working hypothesis is that the existence of such people insidemajor companies will increasingly be seen asa leading indicator of corporate innovation,resilience and, ultimately, longer termsustainability (see Figure 2.1).

From the point of view of the socialentrepreneur, the existence of socialintrapreneurs could be seen as some form of competitive threat — but is much morelikely to prove to be a crucial gateway intomajor businesses interested in addressing thechallenges the entrepreneurs are tackling.And for the individual in search of ways to contribute to the seemingly intractableproblems facing society — these individualsoffer a clear message: ‘Make change fromwhere you are.’

14The Social IntrapreneurOrigins of a Species

Intrapreneurs must put the company, not themselves, first.”Guy KawasakiVenture Capitalist and Serial Entrepreneur

“

SpecimenGib Bulloch


NicheAccenture DevelopmentPartnerships (ADP)

HabitatAccenture, London

Eureka momentTravelling on the LondonUnderground and comingacross an article on VSO in the FT looking forindividuals with businessskills to volunteer indeveloping countries. I’d thought development was only for doctors, nursesand teachers. Not businesspeople like me.

PersonalSpent a year on a VSOenterprise developmentproject in the Balkans.

ChallengeOffering quality businessand technology consultancyto NGOs and donororganizations on asustainable basis at ratesaligned to developmentsector norms.

Opportunity Skills development,recruitment, retention.

AmbitionCombining Accenture’sconvening power in thecorporate sector with ADP’sin the development sector to help broker and integratecross-sectoral coalitions to help tackle major social,economic and environmentalchallenges.

Motto Affecting even small changein large organizations canlead to significant positivesocial impact.


Determined Stubborn

Social intrapreneur

CreativeRelationship builder


Chapter 3The Market EcosystemHow ‘demand-side pull’ is driving social intrapreneurship

Figure 3.1 Three types of driver

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17The Social IntrapreneurThe Market Ecosystem

Before zeroing in on the intrapreneurs, let’spull back the focus for a moment to look atthe wider ‘ecosystem’ in which they operate.A key question must be: why does interest insocial intrapreneurship appear to be building?In talking to intrapreneurs and entrepreneursalike, their answers took three distinct forms.Pretty much everyone we spoke to referred todrivers operating at the level of challengesand opportunities being faced by society,business and the individual. But they alsostressed that this isn’t a question of ‘either/or,’but ‘all three and . . . ’

The interest in social entrepreneurs andintrapreneurs, we believe, is growing preciselybecause they are addressing these keychallenges — and doing so in ways that,potentially at least, offer greater leverage andscalability than much of what has gonebefore.

That said, the economic climate has beendarkening for a while, with implications forthe work of anyone dependent on corporatebudgets. Since mid-2007, we have argued thatparts of the global economy are headed into a deeper and more protracted recessionaryperiod than we have experienced for sometime. If true, the impact on the currentgeneration of corporate responses to sustain-ability challenges could be profound.

Just as safety, health and environmental units were squeezed in previous downcycles,the likelihood — this time round — is thatcorporate citizenship and corporate socialresponsibility departments and budgets will come under pressure. At the same time,however, the global economic environment is likely to favour a new set of actors,particularly those focused on scalableentrepreneurial solutions.

This trend was implicit in the 2008 agenda of the World Economic Forum annualmeeting in Davos, which closed with a call by business, government and civil societyleaders for a new brand of collaborative andinnovative leaders to address the challengesof globalization, particularly the pressingproblems of conflict (especially in the MiddleEast), terrorism, climate change and waterconservation.7

In the following pages, we explore how socialentrepreneurs and intrapreneurs are workingtogether to achieve the sort of change that theworld so pressingly needs.

The key challenge is to align the corporation of the future with societal trends.”Orlando AyalaMicrosoft

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Driver 1Society

‘Society’ can be a difficult concept to pin down, but it is clear that people — as consumers, family members, workers and voters — are changing their priorities,globally, regionally and locally.

Recent years have seen a growing range of economic, social, environmental andgovernance issues push into the mainstreamof politics and business. The priorities foraction emerging from a range of summitmeetings — such as the G8, the WorldEconomic Forum and the Clinton GlobalInitiative — tend to share one commoncharacteristic: that they all, pretty much by definition, relate to current market failures or dysfunctions.

While most societal challenges are not new,globalization has served to exacerbate manyproblems — such as wealth disparity andclimate change. (See Figure 3.4 for a list often global divides.) And digitization is drivingincreased awareness about the scope ofsocietal needs and the lack of progress to date by governments and traditional NGOs.Together, these trends are shifting societalexpectations of the role that business has to play. SustainAbility has mapped foursocietal pressure waves (Figure 3.2) that haveimpacted and shaped the business response to sustainability challenges since the 1960s.Each wave has made different demands of thecorporation and tended to involve a differentset of specialists and expertise, as follows.

The first wave (1960s–1973) was focusedmainly on greater regulation and enforce-ment, and the corporate response tended to be defensive, involving legal and publicaffairs professionals, as well as specificprocess engineers and project developers.

Figure 3.2Catching the next wave


The second wave (1970s–1990s) was moreconsumer driven, with NGOs putting certainbrands in the spotlight for complicity insocial and environmental abuses. This sawcorporate involvement expand to includebrand and marketing people and new productdevelopers, as well as those responsible fordelivering against a proliferation of newvoluntary standards, such as ISO 14001, the Global Reporting Initiative, SA 8000 and AA 1000.

The third wave (1999–2001) — curtailed bythe 9/11 attacks on the US — was typified by the challenges of globalization and anarray of issues to do with global andcorporate governance — and their failure.Much of the corporate focus was on strategicrisk management, and the locus of discussiontended to be at board level, with increasinginvolvement of supervisory boards and non-executive directors.

The fourth wave is currently building andbrings a greater focus on the severity ofglobal market failures and the related, urgentopportunities for scalable innovation, socialintrapreneurship and entrepreneurship. In addition to those involved in responding to previous waves, new corporate participantswill likely emerge from areas such as investor relations, new ventures and otherstrategic business units. So what underlies thedynamic of this latest wave? Entrepreneurshipliterature suggests that the types of challengesnow facing society are precisely theseemingly insolvable problems to whichentrepreneurs are attracted.

In a recent Stanford Social Innovation Review paper, co-authors Sally Osberg andRoger Martin 8 (board members of the SkollFoundation for Social Entrepreneurship)explain how entrepreneurs seek opportunityin situations of ‘suboptimal equilibrium,’ i.e. where society is settling for a poorsolution to a problem because no one has yet come up with an alternative.

Figure 3.3Irreconcilable schism — or bridging opportunity?

What is it about social entrepreneurs andintrapreneurs that makes their thinkingdifferent from the mainstream? Perhaps it’stheir ability to use our mental equivalent ofthe thumb. Roger Martin, one of the authorsof the Stanford Social Innovation Reviewarticle mentioned above, also wrote a bookcalled The Opposable Mind.9 Just as theopposable thumb helped our species reachunprecedented levels of technology andcivilization, so — Martin argues — theopposable mind promises to jump us beyondthe tyranny of either-or decisions.

The idea here is that we can hold twoconflicting ideas in constructive tension —and thereby move to new models andintegrated solutions.

So we might simultaneously recognize thatcapitalism and markets leave many peopleunserved or under-served, yet at the sametime conclude that new forms of capitalismand different market mechanisms can helpbridge the gap — the crucial next step beingto come up with technologies, businessmodels and market frameworks that can drivethe relevant processes of change.

The past decade saw many leading businessesseeking to involve a range of stakeholders indialogue as a means of understanding andpossibly reconciling opposing ideas and worldviews. The rise of the social intrapreneur canbe seen as a similar response to this need tounderstand and hold conflicting ideas increative tension. Both social intrapreneursand entrepreneurs seek — in some way — toidentify integrated solutions that deliver newforms of value for people and communitiesthat were previously excluded from thebenefits of the current system (or undulyexposed to its disbenefits).

SpecimenAndreas Eggenberg


NicheAmanco

HabitatGrupoNueva, Santiago, Chile

Eureka momentArriving in Guatemala, I was stunned that almostthe whole economy con-centrated on the 20–30%middle and higher classes,but nobody realized that the remaining 70–80% arenot just the ‘have nots,’ but can represent a veryinteresting market.

PersonalI have a background inpolitical science, whichgenerates a certainunderstanding of socialcomplexities, and creates adetermination to contributeto its relief or mitigation.

ChallengeTo see social anddemographic challenges as business opportunities.More specifically, providingsmall drip irrigation systemsto small-scale farmers.

Opportunity Competitiveness in a new market.

AmbitionDesigning products andservices that make theformal economy moreinclusive.

MottoCreate a good mood arounda common objective.


Even though relevant impacts are created by civil society — the private sector can work more efficiently, once it switches on.”Andreas Eggenbergformerly with Grupo Nueva

“

Surveyor Political scientist

Agriculturalist

BusinessmanSocial intrapreneur


Their case-studies include eBay and FedEx,where society previously settled, in the first instance, for physical limitations on its ability to resell goods, and in the second,on uncertain and slow mail delivery services.For any entrepreneur, this sort of disequilibriaprovides a perfect hunting ground forinnovation.

The same is true, Osberg and Martin argue,for social entrepreneurs — and, we might add, social intrapreneurs — who areconfronted by a suboptimal state in societythat: “causes the exclusion, marginalization,or suffering of a segment of humanity thatlacks the financial means or political clout to achieve any transformative benefit on itsown.” Social entrepreneurs or intrapreneursrecognize such disequilibrium as “theopportunity to transform the situation bydeveloping a social value proposition andbringing to bear inspiration, creativity, direct action, courage, and fortitude . . . [to challenge the status quo and] forge a new, stable equilibrium that releases trappedpotential [and] . . . alleviates suffering.”

Their argument comes to life when they focus on Muhammad Yunus, founder of theGrameen Bank. “The stable but unfortunateequilibrium he identified consisted of poorBangladeshis’ limited options for securingeven the tiniest amounts of credit. Unable to qualify for loans through the formalbanking system, they could borrow only by accepting exorbitant interest rates fromlocal moneylenders. More commonly, theysimply succumbed to begging on the streets.Here was a stable equilibrium of the mostunfortunate sort.”

What is particularly powerful about theGrameen example is the way the growingsuccess of Professor Yunus and his colleagueshas inspired not only other social entre-preneurs, among them people like RoshanehZafar of the Khasf Foundation in Pakistan,but also social intrapreneurs working withinmajor financial institutions — including BobAnnibale of Citi Microfinance, one of ourinterviewees.

Driver 2Business

During the first decade of the new century, we have seen an accelerating tempo in thelaunch by business leaders of new initiativesdesigned to bridge an array of global dividesfacing society (Figure 3.4). At the nationallevel, for example, we have had the UKCorporate Leaders Group on Climate Changeand the US Climate Action Partnership, whileinternationally leading corporations have also been involved (sometimes alongsidegovernments) in such ventures as theExtractive Industries Transparency Initiative(EITI)10 and the Partnering Against CorruptionInitiative (PACI).11

But there are concerns that even suchinitiatives are failing to go sufficiently farand fast. “The world is getting better, but it’snot getting better fast enough, and it’s notgetting better for everyone,” argued BillGates, giving his last Davos speech as a full-time employee of Microsoft in 2008. “Thereare roughly a billion people who don’t getenough food, who don’t have clean drinkingwater, who don’t have electricity — the thingswe take for granted. Diseases like malaria thatkill over a million people a year get far lessattention than drugs that help with baldness.”Adopting a tone similar to that used by manysocial entrepreneurs, he stressed: “I am anoptimist but I’m an impatient optimist” — and called for “creative capitalism.”

So what did he mean by that? “As I see it,” he explained, “there are two great forces ofhuman nature: self-interest and caring forothers. Capitalism harnesses self-interest in a helpful and sustainable way, but only onbehalf of those who can pay. Government aid and philanthropy channel our caring forthose who can’t pay. But to provide rapidimprovement for the poor we need a systemthat draws in innovators and businesses in far better ways than we do today.” Such asystem, he said, “would have a twin mission:making profits and also improving the livesof those who don’t fully benefit from today’smarket forces. For sustainability, we need touse profit incentives wherever we can.”


Divides 12 Realities

1 Demographic To meet the needs of billions of people affected by marketfailures in both developing and developed countries.

2 Financial Help the have-nots becomebankable, insurable andentrepreneurial.

3 Nutritional Address the needs of those with too little food — and too much.

4 Resources Enable development that uses the earth’s resources in a sustainable way.

Figure 3.4 Ten divides and opportunities

5 Environmental

The world is heading to apopulation of 9 billion by 2050,with 95% of growth expectedin developing countries.

40% of the world’s wealth isowned by 1% of the populationwhile the poorest 50% canclaim just 1% of the wealth.

The world now producesenough food for everyone, butover 850 million people stillface chronic hunger every day.

60% of ecosystem services,such as fresh water and climateregulation, are being degradedor used unsustainably.

The loss of biodiversity,droughts, and the destructionof coral reefs are just some ofthe challenges facing the globe.

Create markets that protect and enhance the environment.

Opportunities

6 Health Create markets that encouragehealthy lifestyles and enableequal access to healthcare.

7 Gender Enable and empower womento participate equally and fairlyin society and the economy.

8 Educational Provide the mechanisms totransfer and share knowledgeand learning that empowers all levels of societies.

9 Digital Develop inclusive technologythat enables all levels ofsociety to tackle each of thesedivides more effectively.

10 Security

Some 39.5 million people livewith HIV/AIDS in the world,now the fourth largest killerdisease.

Two-thirds of the world’s 1 billion illiterate people are women.

About 100 million childrenwithin emerging economies are not enrolled in primaryeducation.

Internet users worldwidetopped 1.1 billion in 2007, butonly 4% of Africans and 11%of Asians have internet access.

Between 1994 and 2003, themajority of the 13 milliondeaths caused by intra-stateconflict took place in sub-Saharan Africa and westernand southern Asia — regionsthat are home to 75% of theworld’s 37 million refugees and displaced people.

Work to promote security and reduce conflict based on inequity and exclusion.

23

Gates called on corporations to “dedicate apercentage of their top innovators’ time toissues that could help people left out of theglobal economy. This kind of contribution is even more powerful than giving cash oroffering employees time off to volunteer.” This area, in short, is where the best socialintrapreneurs are focusing their efforts. ButGates could have been more forceful in alsoshowing the potential benefits to business ofaddressing such challenges. The business casefor involvement is clear. Social intrapreneurscan expose their colleagues — and seniorleadership — to a series of lessons on newmarket risks and opportunities, as well asproviding insight to the likely business modelsand leadership styles of the future.

As Sir Nicholas Stern’s review of theeconomic consequences of climate change put it, we now see the broad outlines of the biggest market failure in our collectivehistory.13 But, as he and others have identified,our great social and environmental challengesalso represent huge potential marketopportunities, if tackled in the right way.Social intrapreneurs exist and thrive in thiszone, seeking to understand profound risk in order to transform it into substantial newmarket opportunity. Their particular creativeapproach to problem-solving is symptomaticand indicative of a wider process of‘reperceiving’ the challenges that face society.

Michael Porter and Mark Kramer sum up these new opportunities in their landmarkHarvard Business Review article on the linksbetween competitive advantage and corporatesocial responsibility (CSR). They conclude that CSR offers “many of the greatest opportunitiesfor companies to benefit society.” 14 Further, “if . . . corporations were to analyze theirprospects for social responsibility using the same frameworks that guide their corechoices, they would discover that CSR can be much more than a cost, a constraint, or a charitable deed — it can be a source of opportunity, innovation, and competitiveadvantage.”

In addition to business leaders switching on to the opportunity spaces that exist, corporatestructures and management approaches areshifting and, in the process, opening up morespace for creativity and entrepreneurship.While there is certainly much progress to bemade, many companies are moving awayfrom hierarchical, siloed management to morematrixed, networked approaches of working.There is growing interest in how to provideemployees with the space and time toexperiment and innovate.

“The outlines of the 21st century manage-ment model are already clear,” argues Gary Hamel.15 “Decision making will be morepeer-based; the tools of creativity will bewidely distributed in organizations. Ideas will compete on an equal footing. Strategies will be built from the bottom up. Power willbe a function of competence rather than of position.” The work of leading socialintrapreneurs plays nicely in this space.

The Social IntrapreneurThe Market Ecosystem

Why not welcome this productive tension?Thinking with societal challenges in mind is a great catalyst for innovation.”Dan VermeerCoca-Cola

“

Driver 3The individual

Finally, our respondents stressed the growingimportance of the values and ambitions ofindividuals in all of this, themselves included.Most intrapreneurs, when asked about what motivates them, talk about necessity.Once they realized the power they had to make change through business, they saw no other way, but their current path. These intrapreneurs signal two broader trends.First, that greater numbers of people — youngleaders in particular — view companies andindividuals as ever more integral to solvingsocietal challenges. And, second, thatindividuals are increasingly looking to aligntheir personal values with their careers.

As much of the world economy moves into arecessionary environment, there is a growingrisk that current business responses to thesegreat societal challenges will be squeezed —and in some cases stalled. But the longer term trajectories and dynamics are likely to reflect the extent to which future leadersunderstand the issues and how they decide to respond. An interesting litmus test of the thinking and concerns of young globalleaders is provided by a recent survey of 665 Young Global Leaders (YGLs)16 publishedby the World Economic Forum at its 2008annual meeting, entitled Future Mapping forthe Global Agenda.

The survey forecasts key dimensions of the world in 2030 by mapping significanttrends, early signals and interrelationshipsand assessing the likely influences on global,regional and industry agendas. The findingsbroadly indicate a set of challenges that willdemand long-term and globally coordinatedresponses of a type that the world’s currentpolitical and economic frameworks do not support.

Strikingly, 86% of YGLs see multinationalcorporations and individuals gaining powerand influence as the nation-state wanes. In terms of responsibility and power to act,69% of YGLs believe the role of nation-stateswill decline, although they will still remainthe most influential actors addressing suchchallenges. (China is expected to be theleading nation-state (88%), followed by theUS, India and Russia, while Germany, Franceand the United Kingdom are expected to losepower.) Asked to name the most pressingissues in 2030, 59% of YGL respondents see global warming as the key challenge,followed by depletion of resources (37%) and asymmetric warfare (27%).

At the core of all this, there appears to be a shift in personal motivations. Whileintrinsic values aren’t likely to have changeddramatically over the generations, thewillingness to trade-off values for careerseems to be on a path to extinction. Perhapsthis is because the scale of global challengesare more transparent than ever before, along with the apparent failure of existinginstitutions to provide solutions in spite of amultitude of promises and commitments.

Richard Florida has made popular the notionof the ‘Creative Class,’ a segment of theworkforce whose main job is to think andcreate innovative solutions to problems. He notes that creativity is becoming morevalued in today’s global society and thatability to channel self-expression is also a key element of job satisfaction andretention.17 Similarly, Don Tapscott andAnthony Williams in Wikinomics talk aboutthe ‘Net Generation’ — those born between1977 and 1996 — who “have a very strongsense of the common good and of collectivesocial and civic responsibility.” 18 Related tothis is an increase in the number of formaltraining programs, such as MBAs, nowfocused on social entrepreneurship andsustainability.


I wanted to keep one foot in the company — and one foot in society.”Santiago GowlandUnilever

“

SpecimenHenry Gonzalez


NicheMicrofinance Institutions Group

HabitatMorgan Stanley, New York

Eureka momentSharing my interest inwriting my MBA dissertationon microfinance and capitalmarkets with MorganStanley’s vice-chairmanwhile doing a summerinternship in London. She immediately connectedme with the right managingdirector who supported my initial research interestand took it forward to build Morgan Stanley’sMicrofinance InstitutionsGroup. “Never keep an ideato yourself, share it and you will see how quickly itcatalyzes to become biggerand better.”

PersonalCosta Rican, Skoll Fellow atOxford, legislative advisorand chief of staff to Ministerof Agriculture; worked at theWorld Bank, UNDP and theGlobal Exchange on SocialInvestment.

ChallengeDeveloping a systematicapproach to social changeand, more specifically,bringing microfinanceofferings into the heart of amajor financial institution.

Opportunity New revenue stream, doublebottom line, strengtheningof client relationships, talentretention.

AmbitionTo continue to expand thebreadth of microfinance,using capital markets as ameans to social change.

MottoChange from withinhappens!


Determined Legislative advisor

Social intrapreneur

Inter-connectorChangemaker

Skoll Fellow


1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Chapter 4The Field GuideHow to find your way through the landscape of social intrapreneurship

Figure 4.1Moving from incremental to fundamental shifts

27The Social IntrapreneurThe Field Guide

Enter a new territory with an appetite to learnabout the various species found there and ithelps to have a field guide prepared by thosewho went before. What follows is an earlyattempt to map and describe the world ofsocial intrapreneurs — and to plot some of their diverse forms. In the process, weinvestigate a number of case studies, whichillustrate the nature and potential of thisemerging field.

But, first, how do we track down and identify social intrapreneurs? Ask any venturecapitalist how to spot entrepreneurs andthey’ll likely tell you: “You know them whenyou see them.” The same could be said ofsocial entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs.

But, as indicated earlier, social intrapreneursdo possess a unique skill-set and are pursuingnew ways of doing business — in a mannerthat manages to leverage the power ofcommunities and corporationssimultaneously.

In simple terms, intrapreneurship involves the exercise of entrepreneurial skills andapproaches within a company or other large organization. And the key differencesbetween intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs?There are a fair number, but one of the most important is that — unlike individualentrepreneurs — intrapreneurs potentiallyleverage the resources of their large hostorganizations. Figure 4.2 provides aprovisional checklist for spotting socialintrapreneurs.19

Figure 4.2Spot the social intrapreneur

1 Shrug off constraints of ideology or discipline

2 Identify and apply practical solutions to social or environmental problems

3 Innovate by finding a new product, service or approach to a social challenge

4 Focus — first and foremost — on societal value creation

5 Successfully navigate corporate culture, strategy and process

6 Communicate social entrepreneurship in compelling business terms

7 Build and inspire teams across a multiplicity of corporate divisions

8 Jump in before they are fully resourced

9 Have a dogged determination that pushes them to take risks

10 Combine their passion for change with measurement and monitoring of impact

11 Have a healthy impatience — they don’t like bureaucracy

12 Run their organizations

Entr

epre

neur

Intr

apre

neur


Is social intrapreneurship new?

The concept of intrapreneurship goes throughcycles of discovery, retreat and rediscovery.The current cycle goes back at least 30 yearsto 1978, when Gifford and Elizabeth Pinchotwrote up their thoughts about the “intra-corporate entrepreneur” while attending theSchool for Entrepreneurs in New York.20

The momentum began to build with a 1982article in The Economist, in which NormanMacrae credited Gifford Pinchot for coiningthe word ‘intrapreneur.’

A few years later, in 1985, the bookIntrapreneuring 21 was published and in 1992the word went into the American HeritageDictionary. Over time, inevitably, the term hasbeen mutated as new concerns and prioritieshave shaped the business agenda, withgrowing interest over the past decade in areas like ‘ecopreneuring’ and socialintrapreneurship.22

So the concept has been around for a while. Indeed, a number of the socialintrapreneurs we interviewed stressed that their organizations had been founded by entrepreneurs who came to the task with social objectives from the outset —emphasizing that, as a result, their ownintrapreneurial work is very much alignedwith the company’s founding culture.

Henry Ford, for example, was not only aprolific innovator in technical terms, but alsoin the social domain. His 1914 $5 per weekpay offer to his workers nearly doubled whatpeople were paid in other auto factories at thetime. He believed that his company wouldbenefit in a number of ways. First, better paidworkers would be happier (and faster) on thejob. Second, the pay increase would ease thepressure on the household. And, third, theworkers were more likely to stay with theFord Motor Company, leading to less down-time for training new workers. Anotherexample is Citi’s history of focusing on theunderserved middle classes, with its evolvingbase-of-the-pyramid strategy seen as acontinuation of that vision.

That said, it is clear that many intrapreneurialsolutions are qualitatively different frommuch of what is currently done under theheadings of corporate citizenship or corporatesocial responsibility. And because they aremore ambitious, they can be substantiallyharder to pitch and sell to decision-makers.We explore specific case studies later on inthis chapter.

29

SpecimenSantiago Gowland


NicheVice-President UnileverBrand and Global CorporateResponsibility

HabitatUnilever, London

Eureka momentLife is too short. Let's make it worthwhile.

PersonalLaw and Political Sciencesdegree in Argentina; MBA, Thunderbird, Arizona,USA; worked in investmentbanking in New York;engaged in social projects in Argentina; joinedUnilever in 1999.

ChallengeTo integrate social, economic and environmentalconsiderations at the core ofbusiness processes to ensurebusiness becomes a trueforce for good in the 21stCentury. More specifically,leveraging the power ofbrands to engage consumersin a new conversationaround citizenship.

Opportunity Fuelling innovation,building trust, enhancingbrand equity.

AmbitionStrive to make my smallcontribution to make theworld more equal, fairer and more sustainable.

MottoThe intelligence of thecollective is always higherthan that of any individual.

Lawyer

Yuppie Hippie

Corporate soldierSocial intrapreneur

Creative

Dad

The Social Intrapreneur


How do social intrapreneurs operate?

In our conversations with intrapreneurs, four distinct and yet intersecting attributessurfaced. Typically intrapreneurs operate atthe interface between the world of societalvalues and the market processes of valuecreation, between tactical day-to-day tasksand the more strategic role of helping theirorganizations to mutate and evolve towardsmore sustainable ways of doing business.

Many of the intrapreneurs spontaneouslylikened various aspects of their role towildlife, and more than one perceivedthemselves as some sort of hybrid creature,for instance, part nimble-acoustic-dolphinand part plodding-persevering-trusty-donkey!Reflecting on the various roles thatintrapreneurs play, we propose a basic,playful taxonomy (Figure 4.3) of theattributes they tend to demonstrate, as follows.

The taxonomy identifies two fundamentallytactical roles (Donkey and Wolf ) and twostrategic roles (Giraffe and Beaver ). All of the intrapreneurs we spoke to played each of those roles at some point in their workinglives, although their positioning on the twoaxes varied considerably. The key point is that successful intrapreneurship depends onan ability to move seamlessly and in a timelyfashion between these different roles, whileemphasizing at different points societal valuesand corporate value.

DonkeyIt is in the very nature of business that thereare loads to be borne — and many of theintrapreneurs reported carrying out somepretty basic tasks as part of their work.“Ultimately, you have to be able to keepplodding along with your eyes firmly on thepath in front,” as Kerryn Schrank of BP put it.Key elements of success include stamina anddogged determination.

WolfSeveral intrapreneurs described their role asthat of a ‘lone wolf,’ at least at times. Butbeing the lone voice, responding to issues asthey arise, is a crucial role for intrapreneurs if they are to champion unpopular — or atleast not-yet-popular — causes.

Key elements of success include the courageto speak out from the crowd and the ability to link up with others of their breed to huntand deliver targets that would otherwise bebeyond them. Just as wolves keep populationshealthy by their predation, so a wolfishattitude is essential in order to know whenweak business ideas should be killed off inorder to pursue another.

GiraffeWin Sakdinan of Procter & Gamble describeshis role as akin to a giraffe, with “my head inthe clouds to inspire sustainable innovation,but with my feet firmly planted on theground, alongside the elephants.” Keyattributes are the ability to see further thanothers, and so to provide an early alert toemerging threats and opportunities. Giraffescan, of course, also reach opportunities thatothers cannot quite stretch to. A key elementof success includes the ability to keep an eyeon the wide landscape and to distinguishmajor trends from routine incidents.

BeaverIntrapreneurs have the potential toprofoundly reshape their landscapes and tocreate whole cascades of new opportunity for those around them — and this is whatprompted the image of a beaver. Key elementsof success include many of those alreadymentioned — perseverance in implementingsmall steps to achieve a clear intent andvision — but in addition the beaver brings itsability to engineer new dams and channels ofvalue and to bend the resources of the widerecosystem to the task at hand, and sotransform the landscape.

So social intrapreneurs are often fleet andsturdy of foot, and flexible and focused ofmind — they can think in and out of manydifferent contexts without losing sight ofpurpose and reality. They can code-switch,understanding the logic of a local communityone moment and then business logic the next,without losing sight of trends and realities.For many such intrapreneurs, the challenge of aligning different contexts is not only amatter of conviction, but a necessity whenconfronted with different world views,paradigms and thought-cultures.


Figure 4.3A taxonomy of social intrapreneurship

Through Patrimonio Hoy, CEMEX was no longer in the cement business . . . they were in the construction services business.”Luis SotaVISION

“


What are they working on?

In the big picture, social intrapreneurs arepursuing what some might call the grail ofsustainability: a better alignment betweensocietal needs and business value. They seethe potential for corporations not only tominimize the problems they can cause as they create traditional forms of value, butalso to create new forms of value by helpingmeet societal challenges.

Renowned architect and the author of Cradleto Cradle,23 William McDonough often speaksof how companies should do “more good”rather than “less bad.” What he means by this is that a true path toward sustainabilityrequires companies to consider how theiractivities can generate positive benefits acrossthe board, from environmental protection tohuman rights. Current strategies that focusonly on risk management or eco-efficiencysimply aren’t sufficient to the task.

Consider the example of Ford Motor Company.Since the 1990s, Ford has conducted a varietyof sustainability activities, many of themfocused on improving the efficiency of theirmanufacturing operations. But, if we considerthese efforts from a societal context, Ford isstill having an increasingly negative impacton the environment. Its core business model is the manufacturing of vehicles, whoseenvironmental impact occurs almost entirelyduring the use phase of the product (throughthe burning of fossil fuels).

As populations swell, and Ford expands tomeet rising demand, no matter how efficientFord’s production process is, society isinherently worse off. If, instead, Fordconsiders how it can serve transportationneeds of communities in the most sustainablemanner, we begin to see how expanding itsreach to more customers can actually have apositive societal impact by getting consumersout of their cars, to a greater or lesser degree.Figure 4.4 charts Ford’s sustainabilityinitiatives, designed to address business and societal value simultaneously.

You need to continually revisit what you assumed at youroutset, working in and out of new contexts, markets andexperiences. We recreate ourselves all the time.” Bob AnnibaleCiti

“

Ford of Europe Product Sustainability IndexHaddon Safety Matrix

Ford Code of Basic Working ConditionsGlobal HIV/AIDS Policy

Facilities Energy Management / RenewablesGreen Buildings

Environmental Operating SystemWastewater Treatment & Recycling

Closed-Loop Packaging SystemLow VOC Painting Process

IT Consolidation & Energy Management


Figure 4.4Fording the river of opportunity

Sustainable Mobility

Hydrogen VehiclesGTDI (EcoBoost™)

Flex Fuel VehiclesHybrid Electric Vehicles

Sustainable MaterialsVehicle Lightweighting

The above diagram plots a selection ofsustainability initiatives at Ford. These rangefrom internally focused projects like energymanagement, through to activities with thepotential to transform the economiclandscape, including work on sustainablemobility and hydrogen and other alternate-fuel vehicles.

This mapping is purely indicative and serves to illustrate the spectrum of corporatesustainability opportunities. While thefundamental shift is where we hopecompanies will aim, it is clear from ourinterviews, that successes in incrementalsustainability initiatives provide a criticalfoundation for changing corporate mindsets.

Low Business Value

Low

SocietalImpact

High

High

Processes

Products &Services

Business Models

Another way of looking at this spectrum ofinnovation is to recall the thinking of ClaytonChristensen. Well over a decade ago, he andhis colleagues spotlighted two different formsof innovation, sustaining and disruptive.24

“Sustaining technologies . . . improve theperformance of established products along thedimensions of performance that mainstreamcustomers in major markets have historicallyvalued.”

By contrast, “disruptive innovations don’t, by traditional measures, meet existingcustomers’ needs as well as currentlyavailable products or services. They may lack certain features or capabilities of theestablished goods. However, they are typicallysimpler, more convenient and less expensive,so they appeal to new or less-demandingcustomers.” 25 They cite examples such as the PC vs. mainframe computer, mobile vs.wireline telephony and nurse practitioners vs. medical doctors.

Christensen and Stuart Hart point out thatdisruptive innovations are suitable fordeveloping markets — because “they offer a product or service to people who wouldotherwise be left out entirely or poorly servedby existing products.” 26 They also talk about asubset of disruptive innovations — catalyticinnovations — where social change is theprimary objective.

Interestingly, and not surprisingly, many of our intrapreneurs are pursuing disruptivepaths that, while focused on emerging or newmarkets, have potential implications for themainstream. Consider the following examples:

— Vodafone’s mobile payment service, which breaks down barriers to paymentfor customers without bank accounts,could potentially translate to mainstreammarkets as consumers increasingly usemobile phones for financial transactions.

— Citi’s biometric ATMs, which enable developing country customers to accessCiti’s services using fingerprints, hasleapfrogged technology in developedmarkets.

— Ford’s Megacity Mobility Initiative, which focuses on transportation solutionsthat minimize per capita car use, couldpotentially help more developed countrieswith traffic and pollution solutions.

This applicability to the mainstream alsocreates the ‘innovators’ dilemma’ — how to ensure that this disruptive innovation “is taken seriously within the companywithout putting at risk the needs of presentcustomers who provide profit and growth.” 27

We return to this dilemma in Chapter 6.


The CEO never imposed sustainability as a mandate . . . but he did set a vision and helped establish a common language: Better bank for better market for better society.’ ” Maria Luiza (Malu) PintoBanco Real

“

‘

SpecimenSusie Lonie


NicheProduct Lead, Mobile Payments

HabitatVodafone Group, UK

Eureka momentJust getting phones intopeople’s hands and havingthem test out the productreally brought the value ofwhat we were doing home.

PersonalBroad-based experience in nuclear engineering,consumer marketing andproduct innovation in Africahas set me up to tacklewhatever challenges comemy way, undaunted by littledetails like having littlesense of what I’m gettingmyself into.

ChallengeOverturning long-established assumptions.More specifically, launchinga completely new type offinancial service in Kenya.

Opportunity Extending core capabilitiesinto new areas; new revenuestream.

AmbitionTo create a worldwidefinancial service based onthe needs and resources ofthe citizens of developingmarkets.

MottoDo your research, lay yourplans, then get on with it!


Shoe-loverBookworm

Jack-of-all-tradesExtrovert

Nuclear engineer Adventurer

Social intrapreneur

Innovator Storyteller

DaughterEmpathizer

SpecimenSam McCracken


NicheNative American Business

HabitatNike, Oregon

Eureka momentWhen I can pick up thephone and hear a voice-mail from someone in thecommunity, telling me that their community is changed because of a Nike product.

ChallengeDeveloping the Nike AirNative N7 shoe to promotephysical fitness.

Opportunity New revenue stream,reputational branding,competitive advantage,innovative approach toproduct design.

MottoHave a vision, never give up,and never forget where youcame from.


Basketball coach

Native AmericanSocial intrapreneur

Loving husbandManager

Change agent

Community advocate

Four specimen cases

So, to what extent — and how — are socialintrapreneurs pursuing new business models?First, it’s crucial to recognize that mostsuccessful intrapreneurs begin by evaluatingtheir sphere of influence on society from alifecycle standpoint and then consider howthey can leverage their core competencies todo ‘more good.’ Often business modeltransformation emerges as essential, giventhat incremental improvements to the existingmodel are unlikely to address the relevantchallenges at an appropriate scale and pace.

In our triple distilled case studies, we hone inon the journeys that four social intrapreneurshave taken to make their ideas reality. We examine the ways in which they haveopened out new niches in the corporatehabitat. We look at the key drivers and wherethe relevant ventures sit with respect to thecore business. And we spotlight some of thepotential contributions being made at theinterface between business value and widerforms of societal value.

We selected these specimen cases becausethey are at different stages of developmentand because they help to illustrate the diverseapproaches an intrapreneur can take todevelop a new niche. For example, HindustanUnilever’s Shakti initiative is being run out of its core business; Coca-Cola’s Water Stewardship Initiative is blurring the boundaries — firmly connected to corestrategy, while pioneering value-sharingsolutions outside its four walls; PatrimonioHoy began as an external niche offering thatlater became its own business segment; whileMicrosoft sees Unlimited Potential as thefuture target area for business. Another way of looking at these four cases is to notethat Specimen 1 focuses on today’s risk,Specimens 2 and 3 on today’s opportunitiesand Specimen 4 on tomorrow’s opportunities.

Specimen 1Coca-Cola’s Global Water Initiative

Providing access to clean, affordable andsustainably produced water looks like one of the great challenges of the twenty-firstcentury. Here’s how one company isresponding.

Collector’s note Interview 15 January 2008. The focus here is on risk assessment — based on aninnovative assessment method.

SpecimenDan Vermeer’s job title is Director,Sustainable Value Chain, at Coca-Cola, where he has worked for seven years. Prior to coming to Coca-Cola, Vermeer lived forseveral years in Nepal and India conductinganthropological research. He also has workedin Silicon Valley, and has a Ph.D. in LearningSciences. When it comes to developing sharedsolutions to water sustainability challenges,his approach is inclusive, working with abroad range of internal and externalstakeholders to “develop innovative localapproaches and then scale up those that work across Coca-Cola’s global system.”

HabitatFounded in 1892, Coca-Cola launched itsGlobal Water Initiative in 2004, which aims to make the company ‘water-neutral’ withinits manufacturing and bottling operations.

SignificanceWater scarcity poses significant risks to acompany whose single biggest input is water.Following pressures in countries like India,Coca-Cola recognized how trends in watersupply and use could pose financial,operational and reputational risks.


“Approaching water meant addressingsystemic challenges that had the potential to drive transformative change,” explainsVermeer. “We aspired to understand theseissues deeply, and used this understandingand the power of Coke’s global system todevelop scalable water management solutionsthat would benefit the company and delivervalue for local communities and otherstakeholders.”

Ecosystem pressuresThe project began as an investigation into the state of global freshwater resources. “We first examined water trends and long-term strategic issues,” Vermeer recalls. “We recognized that Coke had a major stakein the future of water resources, but many ofour risks and many of our opportunities wereoutside our four walls.”

SymbiosesEstablished partnerships with a number ofexternal organizations, including the UnitedNations Development Programme (UNDP),United States Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID), CARE, World WildlifeFund, and many others.

ChallengesThree primary challenges:

1 Corporate Buy-InHow would the initiative embed the issue of water scarcity into strategic decision-making at all levels of the organization?

2 BoundariesHow could Vermeer and his team get thecompany to embrace the opportunity towork outside the four walls of its plants to address supply-side water challenges?

3 Global and LocalHow to develop a global approach thatmeets the unique challenges of localcommunities?

The solutions to these challenges were acombination of risk management and valuecreation approaches.

Coca-Cola first conducted an in-depth survey(300 questions!) of each of their plants in 20 regions and used the results to develop aninnovative risk-assessment framework. (Note: the high response rate — nearly 92% —was driven by top management endorsement,but also ensured that Vermeer had a group ofstakeholders highly interested in the resultsand ultimate project outcomes.) Thoroughdata analysis uncovered six primarycategories of risk for which monetary valueswere assigned. These values were built into ascenario planning tool that could be used bystrategic planners at all levels of the companyto drive investment decisions.

Coca-Cola then developed local waterstewardship initiatives engaging communitiesacross its regions of operation. These werebased on an assessment of local waterdynamics and ranged from addressing wateraccess and water contamination to watershedprotection and post-disaster water systemrehabilitation.

The company has taken a holistic approach to developing its strategy — inviting to thetable friends and critics from a variety ofsectors to explore opportunities for improvingsustainability practices across its entire valuechain.

FocusManaging reputational, regulatory andoperational risk; strengthening supply-chainrelationships; embedding sustainability intocore business practices; rigorous quantitativeassessment of environmental and othersustainability issues; integrating sustainabilityacross the value chain.

Lessons learnedTackling water scarcity isn’t only aboutinternal operational issues, such as waterefficiency, wastewater treatment and newtechnologies. A sustainable water strategyrequires real collaboration and engagementaround water challenges with NGOs,governments and community members. While it is critical to have a global strategicapproach, water is inherently local, and requires local solutions with other local actors.



Specimen 2CEMEX’s ‘Patrimonio Hoy’

Base-of-the-pyramid markets offer anopportunity to align social and businessvalue. The business case is increasingly clear— first mover advantage in a new market,new growth area and increased brand loyalty.The positive social impacts tend to be fuzzier,however. Here we examine a venture thatpioneered a hybrid business model using anethnographic approach to productdevelopment.

Collector’s noteInterview 7 February 2008. The focus is on aninnovative approach to product development.

SpecimenLuis Sota is CEO of VISION South America.He is Chilean, but left Chile with his family in 1974, shortly after the coup. He laterdeveloped a career as a consultant, builtaround a principle that “companies arenetworks of conversation.” He acted as a full-time consultant on CEMEX’s PatrimonioHoy (Patrimony Today) project.

HabitatFounded in 1906, CEMEX launchedPatrimonio Hoy in December 1999.Patrimonio Hoy offers do-it-yourselfconstruction services to low-incomehouseholds.

SignificanceThe CEMEX team noted that building physicalassets in the shape of a well-built house wasof central concern to many lower-incomefamilies. But financing, construction services,and building materials were difficult to comeby. The concerns of these families couldn’t be answered by a product. As a result,CEMEX developed a more robust offering. In addition to its core construction products,CEMEX developed offerings ranging frommicrofinance to architectural and technicaladvice. As Sota says, “We’re not just sellingcement. We’re delivering patrimony [wealth]accumulation and construction services.”

Ecosystem pressuresThe recent entry of competitors into themarket had begun to erode CEMEX’s share.This new business segment, made up of low-income homebuilders, provided CEMEX bothwith stable growth through economic crises in Mexico and was CEMEX’s most profitablesegment, representing 35% of the total marketfor cement in Mexico.

SymbiosesCEMEX partnered with VISION, a strategyand operations consultancy. The initialinstincts of the executives were to bring its existing product — cement — to a newcustomer base. It was only after a team ofmanagers spent time living in low-incomeneighborhoods in Guadalajara, Mexico, that they began to understand the needs and concerns of this new customer base. As a result, they developed a model that was built around a value proposition adapted to local needs.

ChallengesSince launching Patrimonio Hoy the company has been successful in scaling itsinitiative in Mexico and has nearly met itsgoal of enabling home ownership among over 800,000 families in Mexico. The nextchallenge will be to adapt the model to newcountry contexts where informal savingsmechanisms (a critical success factor in theMexican business model) may be strikinglydifferent — or may not exist. Customerretention also has proven difficult as thenovelty of the venture is wearing off andcustomers may choose to spend moneyelsewhere.

FocusEmployee engagement; reputation andbranding; and profitable new businesssegment.

Lessons learned“It was all about trust,” remarked Sota. “When you can have a beer with yourcustomers, and really listen to their concerns,then you become aware of real opportunitiesto become a partner to their concerns.”


Specimen 3Hindustan Unilever’s Shakti Program

Our second base-of-the-pyramid case studymoves the spotlight from Mexico to India —and from the cement industry to the retailsector.

Collector’s noteInterview 21 February 2008. The focus here is on income-generating opportunities forrural populations.

SpecimenVijay Sharma’s job title is Business Head,Shakti. Sharma has an engineeringbackground and worked in sales andmarketing for ten years. He has been workingto scale up the Shakti program for the pasttwo and a half years. For Sharma theexperience of managing the Shakti programhas been transformative: “I used to have avery myopic view of business. Now I see theimportance of looking at the environmentthat business operates in — generatingsolutions that integrate business andcommunities. For me personally, it’sintellectually exciting and emotionallygratifying.”

HabitatHindustan Unilever launched Shakti in 2001.Shakti aims to train and finance femaleentrepreneurs in India.

SignificanceHindustan Unilever realized that investing inincome-creation was critical to expanding itsreach and increasing sales. The barriers onrural development are “barriers that strippeople of dignity, and strip business ofopportunity,” says Sharma.

Ecosystem pressuresHindustan Unilever sought to increase itsmarket share in rural villages with smallerpopulations, but discovered that no retaildistribution network really existed andinfrastructure for transport was poor.Responding to these challenges, Shakti wascreated to provide women with training inselling, commercial knowledge and book-keeping. Women can then choose to set uptheir own businesses or become Shaktidistributors. These women, in turn, becomerole models in their communities, catalysts for mobilizing rural development.

SymbiosesShakti works closely with the ruraldevelopment departments of India’s stategovernments, as well as numerous NGOs.Shakti sits smack dab in the center ofHindustan Unilever’s sales department, so there is complete integration of thisinitiative into the business. The project is also stimulating core brands to considertheir sustainability impacts — throughprocurement practices, etc.

ChallengesScale! Shakti plans to more than double thenumber of women entrepreneurs from 45,000today to 100,000, which would cover 500,000villages and 500 million people. But there arealways outstanding challenges — are youtraining the right entrepreneurs? Are youentering into the right kind of partnerships?

FocusIncreased sales; development of futuremarkets; employee satisfaction; ‘relationshipcapital;’ reputation and branding.

Lessons learnedAs businesses look to integrate social venturesinto their core business, Sharma urges others,“Don’t lose the basic character of the businessyou’d like to integrate. You always need toproceed with extreme clarity about the goalsand deliverables of your initiative. Don’t tryand force core business metrics that aren’tapplicable.”


Specimen 4Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential

Finally, the focus switches to informationtechnology that is available and affordablefor low-income people in less developedcountries — with an eye to building a long-term competitive strategy for thesoftware giant.

Collector’s noteInterview 25 January 2008. The focus here is on creating future conditions forcompetitiveness through transformingeducation, fostering local innovation andcreating jobs and opportunities.

SpecimenOrlando Ayala, Senior Vice President,Unlimited Potential Group. Orlando wasraised in Colombia and was the first in his family to graduate from high school and university.

HabitatFounded in 1975, Microsoft launchedUnlimited Potential in 2007, to promotetechnology that is accessible, affordable and relevant in lower income populations.

SignificanceThe ‘digital divide’ refers to the gap betweenthose people with access to digital andinformational technology and those excluded.The aim of Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential isto forge a strategy for future competitivenessbuilt around technological inclusion.

Ecosystem pressuresFacing additional competition and arecessionary landscape in its mainstreammarkets, Microsoft looked to emergingmarkets as a future growth area. However,many of its current products were not readyto serve emerging clients.

SymbiosesMicrosoft has some 750,000 partners around the world, which offer potential forcollaboration on this initiative.

Challenges“The biggest challenges have to do with being aware of the infrastructure that canabsorb technology. Technology does notgenerate development alone. You need soundgovernment policies, enhanced workforceskills and infrastructure investments,” Ayalanoted. Another key challenge Microsoft facedwas creating a line of sight. This wasn’t aboutbusiness in the next two years. It was aboutbusiness in the next ten. Unlimited Potential’saim is to lay the foundations for futurebusiness. As Ayala commented, “The profit is not obvious right away, but it’s importantto have a presence in these markets.”

FocusCompetitive advantage in a new market,powered by locally driven innovationoutcomes.

Lessons learned“It’s important to create expectations that you can deliver on,” Ayala commented.Working with partners has allowed Microsoft to be more realistic both about the context and expectations it sets for its initiatives. Ayala also noted that “youwon’t get anywhere unless your CEO haslong-time horizons.”

Chapter 5Strategy of the BeaverSuccessful intrapreneurs transform the landscape, internally and potentially externally, too


Figure 5.1Working across multiple planes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

If one characteristic jumps out from oursample of social intrapreneurs, it is that —while they see part of their role as warningtheir colleagues about impending challengesand clearing impediments to the progress ofthe business — their ambition is to change thelandscape of thought and practice, bothinternally and (eventually) externally. “Socialintrapreneurs create the prophecies that allowcompanies to make new business offerings. At the same time, they are re-envisioning theterms in which corporations engage society,”as Luis Sota put it.

But why pick the beaver as the symbol of this transformative part of the intrapreneurialagenda? The answer is that beavers areperhaps best known for their habit of buildingdams in rivers and streams, and then settingup homes, or lodges, in the resulting pond.Interestingly, too, they are also known fortheir danger signal: when startled orfrightened, a swimming beaver rapidly dives,while energetically slapping the water with itstail. The resulting 'slap' is audible over largedistances, both above and below water.

At the same time, their dam building can be beneficial for the wider ecosystem. For example, in restoring wetlands, with theincidental benefits including flood controldownstream, biodiversity (by providinghabitat for both rare and common species)and water cleansing, both by the breakdownof toxins such as pesticides and the retentionof silt by beaver dams. Beaver dams alsoreduce erosion as well as decrease theturbidity that is a limiting factor for muchaquatic life.28

For all these reasons, we opted for the beaver as the icon of the socialintrapreneurial movement. These people, at their best, are part of the wider processes of creative destruction and reconstruction. In their book Creative Destruction, RichardFoster and Sarah Kaplan cover the topic ofmental models, attributing the collapse oflarge companies to the inability of executivesto shift their models of thinking. A commonweakness is that of ‘hubris’ — where acompany comes to see itself as “morepowerful than the collective forces of themarket.” 29 Time and again, the intrapreneursflagged the fundamental need to shift mentalmodels inside their company — and inbusiness more generally. The panel below is a sampling of the oft-heard responses from colleagues when intrapreneurs began to pitch their projects.

43The Social IntrapreneurStrategy of the Beaver

Figure 5.2Torpedoing Beavers

When we asked social intrapreneurs whatarguments were most often used by theircolleagues to counter — and even sink — their proposals, they mentioned the followingcounter-arguments:

“This is a distraction.”“We don’t have the budget.”“Poor people have no money.”“Consumers or customers won’t pay for it.”“We’re not in that business.”“We’ll cannibalize our existing business.”“We’ll be seen to be greenwashing.”“We aren’t sufficiently managing our own risks, so how can we possibly focus on opportunities?”


The habitat and challenge

When we asked the intrapreneurs what sort of animal they would see as best symbolizingthe organizations they are trying totransform, there was a common refrain. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the answers tendedto focus on large, slower-moving animals. “A big black bear,” said Ford’s David Berdish.“It moves slowly, but when it’s angry it strikeshard and will meet its objectives. Trouble is, it is in hibernation sometimes and can misswhat’s happening!” Across at Unilever,Santiago Gowland opted for a fairly widelyshared mental image. “An elephant,” he said.“Moving slowly, but consistently.”

Given how often the image of the elephantcame up when the social intrapreneurs weredescribing their host companies ororganizations, it is perhaps worth pursuing a little further. Elephants are intelligent andpowerful, but often pretty ponderous, whichis why they tend to feature in the titles ofbooks like Teaching the Elephant to Danceby James Belasco, sub-titled ‘The Manager’sGuide to Empowering Change’ 30 and WhoSays Elephants Can’t Dance? by Lou Gerstneron his transformation of IBM. 31 In his book,James Belasco argues that large incumbentbusinesses are often “shackled, like powerfulelephants, to the past,” thereby robbingthemselves “of the ingenuity required to meet new competitive challenges and escapethe ‘re’ dimension trap (of re-engineering, re-organization and re-structuring) thatconcentrates on short-term fixes rather than long-term solutions.”

More recently, research like Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s Transforming Giants 32

argues that change is afoot. Kanter writes:“large corporations have long been seen aslumbering, inflexible, bureaucratic — andclueless about global developments. Butrecently some multinationals seem to betransforming themselves: They're engagingemployees, moving quickly, and introducinginnovations that show true connection with the world.”

The work reported involved Kanter and aresearch team venturing inside a dozen globalgiants, including IBM, Procter & Gamble,Omron, CEMEX, Cisco and Banco Real. Their goal was to discover what has beendriving change. After conducting over 350interviews on five continents, she and hercolleagues came away with a strong sensethat we are witnessing the dawn of a newmodel of corporate power.

The coordination of actions and decisions on the front lines, Kanter suggests, nowappears to stem from widely shared valuesand a sturdy platform of common processesand technology, rather than top-downdecrees. Interestingly, the values that engagethe passions of far-flung workforces stressopenness, inclusion, and making the world a better place. Through this shift in whatmight be called their guidance systems,Kanter argues, large companies are becomingas creative and nimble as much smaller ones, even while taking on social andenvironmental challenges of a scale that only substantial enterprises could attempt.

So, how are social intrapreneurs going aboutachieving change in such organizations?Successful species grow their niche, in somecases to the point where it becomes virtuallythe entire ecosystem. All the intrapreneurs weinterviewed intend to grow their own niches,but most acknowledge significant challengesin doing so, and some even anticipate theirefforts being spun out of the companyaltogether. “Most people still don’t get it,”explained one, while another worried that “it only takes one person in a powerfulposition to wipe out the whole thing.” When it came to the steps intrapreneurs take in developing and scaling their projects, we surfaced four (‘Getting It,’ ‘Selling It,’‘Doing It’ and ‘Scaling It’), though often they progress somewhat in parallel.


Getting It

This is the Aha! moment, the epiphany wherethe intrapreneur sees the opportunity toleverage his or her business to solve aparticular problem. This may happen in aninstant or, more likely, is the result of carefuldedication to exploring the linkages betweensocietal challenges — such as water scarcity orpoverty — and the entire value chain of theirbusiness. The key, however, is about making acommitment to make change from within thebusiness.

Accenture’s Gib Bulloch, for example, spokeof his awakening as follows. “My cruciblemoment occurred on none other than theDistrict Line of the London Underground. I came across an advert in The FinancialTimes. Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) waslooking for someone with strong businessskills to volunteer on development projects in the Balkans.” Within one week, Gib’scontext shifted from one of luxury hotels,posh London restaurants, and a high pressurebusiness environment to living out of asuitcase, learning a new alphabet and singingMacedonian folks songs with his host family.Win Sakdinan of Procter & Gamble attributedhis “moment of truth” to reading Al Gore’sarticle in a green issue of Vanity Fair. This, he recalls, “Changed my life. Suddenly it clicked and I saw how you could mobilizebusiness to address environmental challengesthat are a win-win for everyone.”

On the other hand, Nick Hughes of Vodafonenoted that “There really wasn’t an epiphanymoment for me, but working at BP and seeingthe effectiveness of the emissions tradingmechanisms helped me to think more broadlyabout the ways commerce can be used toaddress sustainability.” Other intrapreneursagreed. Sue Mecklenburg of Starbucksreported that, “There wasn’t one ‘aha’moment. It’s an organic process. Each stepyou take creates the conditions for the next.”

And, while intrapreneurs may be influencedby emerging literature around sustainability,they are wary of swallowing new conceptswholesale. At a time when many businesspeople are increasingly interested in bottom-or base-of-the-pyramid markets, for example,Bob Annibale of Citi noted that in Mexico, a key market where some 76% of citizensdon’t even have access to the most basic ofbank accounts, the ‘BOP’ market “is not thebottom of anything. It’s the bulk or majorityof Mexico.”

During the pitch, one of the finance guys fell asleep. It waslargely a question of time horizons. It would be the end of thedecade before the company began seeing revenues!” Off-the-record comment

“

Selling It

Once the intrapreneur has switched on to the challenge and committed to drive change,they must rally resources to develop theinitiative. This involves navigating thecomplexity of a large organization toinfluence the key individuals who can helpmove the project along. Our intrapreneurs are no strangers to power points and typicallywill take a meeting — any time, any place —to sell their idea.

The biggest challenge to intrapreneurs in thisstage is to keep going. Often, people’s knee-jerk reaction to any new idea is “No.” So, intrapreneurs look for ways to overcomethe push-back and find people who are morelikely to support their ideas. (Figure 5.2presents some frequently cited reactions.)

The working environment can be fractured,with meetings across large organizations —and much time spent in transportation andwaiting. “My working life centers aroundbeing constantly involved and connected —with my team, our partners and customersand others involved in social intra- andentrepreneurship, for example,” saidMicrosoft’s Ayala. “Frequent travel allows me to always be mindful of the real concernsand lives of the people who we are workingconstantly to reach, which at the end of theday is the most indispensable part of beingable to do our job well.”

Networking is key. “I need to keep my fingeron the pulse,” as BP’s Schrank put it. “An intrapreneur needs to know what’s goingon in the organization and to stay abreast of strategy, policy or organizational changesto know how they potentially impact or canbe used to leverage my project.” It’s all aboutfinding synergies, argues Shell’s SachinKapila. He says he doesn't understand andcan’t connect with people who merelyestablish a relationship just to get somethingfrom it. He pursues relationships because hefinds people interesting and has chemistrywith people, not because they have somethingto offer. “It’s about authenticity, and yes, you never know one day when they mightbecome useful — but that certainly shouldn'tbe the driver!”

It is in the nature of the work that someintrapreneurial ambitions take a while to pull off, if they happen at all. So staminais essential, particularly given the emotionaltoll this sort of work can impose. The intrapreneurs noted how dependent they were on more senior folk to give a green light to their proposals.

Courage is a vital asset. “Not being afraid to provide input and engage in internaldiscussion/debate” was high on the list ofBP’s Schrank, alongside the ability to“challenge the status quo and, importantly, to keep key people informed/updated of myproject and the associated issues.” Across atShell, Sachin Kapila agrees, acknowledgingthat, “often I have to be quite stubborn!”

Equally, there is a need for carefully honeddiplomatic and political skills, at every level— and for careful intelligence gathering. “I have to know what’s going on in theindustry,” as one intrapreneur put it, “to keepup to date on issues and developments, so I am an expert on the issue that I’m dealingwith. If people see me as a center of expertise,then they develop trust and confidence in thework and my project. I also spend a lot oftime talking to people to learn how theorganization works, to find out what theirlevel of knowledge or understanding is oncertain issues.”

Opportunism — of the best sort — is anotherkey ingredient of success, we were told. “I’m always looking out for opportunities toprogress or grow the program,” was Schrank’sanswer here, “saying yes to speak at teammeetings, contribute to think tanks, puttingup displays, or sending out update reports.Crafting and strategizing ways to encourageteams to take on board operational elementsof my program or suggest how they mightincorporate the program in a customer offerand so on.”



Doing It

Any intrapreneur will tell you that no idea isworth anything without results. The quickerto realizing proof points, the better, they say.Of course, most intrapreneurs also advise toapproach this stage with a great deal ofhumility. Most acknowledge that they didn’tknow what they were doing when they dovein, but by learning quickly, being open toideas and hiring the right talent, theyincreased their chances for success.

Incubation at this stage is key. Yet, the bestapproach can be tricky. This gets back toChristensen’s “innovators’ dilemma” — how to successfully incubate your transformativeidea without threatening the core business?No intrapreneur, no matter how skilled, canturn their companies around over night. In fact, most warn about the dangers oftaking on too much too quickly. Small, start-up endeavors seem to be the first jumping-off point for any intrapreneur. Though theirapproaches vary from discrete islands ofinnovation to new businesses incubatedwithin the current company structure. Belowwe present three models of intrapreneurialincubation: Islands, Bridges and Symbiosis.

Model 1Islands

Incubating an initiative away from thebusiness mainstream can provide a degree offreedom and clarity of perspective. Steve Jobsdid this with his Macintosh team at Apple.Companies involved in this approach oftenuse corporate venture capital to drive theinnovation. Take Unilever’s investment inPhysic Ventures, a venture capital firm thatinvests in start-ups at the interface betweenfood, technology and healthy lifestyles.Though Unilever has placed a staff memberon the management team of the fund, Physicremains at arm’s length when evaluatingdeals, believing that distance in the earlystages of company development will result in uncovering more disruptive innovations.Similarly, companies like Groupe Danone aresetting up social investment funds to launchtheir social business ventures.

Vodafone’s M-PESA was originally conceivedthrough a social product innovation fund —and their pilot incubated outside the main-stream business in Kenya. That said, theinitiative did have some bridges back to the business through its relationships withsafari.com, Vodafone’s Kenyan subsidiary.David Berdish’s Megacity Mobility project is being developed at Ford in a similarfashion. Launching pilots in several cities, the initiative has few direct ties to themainstream organization and is likely to seek outside financing for its efforts.

A potential downside to this approachsurfaces when companies attempt toreintegrate these start-ups. The cultures,processes and visions of the islandinhabitants may clash with the existingcorporation. Figure 5.31

Model 1


Model 2Bridges

Another approach companies may take inincubating their social and environmentalventures is a bridge relationship, with newunits (be they previously independent, spin-outs or spin-ins) having clear — but relativelyloose — links to the host company. Oftenthese divisions receive more freedom thantraditional business units.

Sam McCracken at Nike applies this model. While McCracken had access to the company’s resources, he developed anindependent outfit with its own rules of thegame. Shell’s wind division in the North Seais another example, with the team physicallylocated outside the corporate headquarters —but with access to Shell’s capital and otherresources. As several of our intrapreneursnoted, their companies and brands canprovide them with profile and access toresources and people that they wouldn’t enjoy as a traditional entrepreneur.

Model 3Symbiosis

Finally, many intrapreneurs chose to incubate their initiatives right inside the hostorganization from the get-go. AccentureDevelopment Partnerships (ADP) is anexample, where Gib Bulloch built the non-profit consultancy to work in concert with the main business model, drawing talent from inside and using ADP as a leadershipdevelopment tool. The model has continued to evolve to make even stronger links to thecompany’s core consultancy by developing a brokering function focused on developingclient value and societal impact throughcreative public/private partnerships. Citi, too,located its microfinance division squarely inthe consumer products group, working acrossbusiness units to develop new product offers— such as microinsurance.

One key advantage of this symbiotic approachis that intrapreneurs appear able to ‘infect’ the rest of the organization more readily andwith greater effect. That said, it certainlydoesn’t come without its risks. If you fail inthis model, you fail more publicly — andperhaps risk closing a bigger window ofopportunity.

Figure 5.32Model 2

Figure 5.33Model 3


Figure 5.4Journey of an intrapreneur: Unilever’s Brand Imprint

Getting It Aha!

Unilever had a multitude of corporatesustainability initiatives living within silosand disconnected from the core business,particularly brand development andmarketing — in spite of the fact that most of Unilever's core impacts relate to consumeruse of their products (86% of their CO2

impact, and 45% of their water impacts occur in consumer use). In 2005, socialintrapreneur Santiago Gowland, and a team led by Unilever CEO Patrick Cescau,realized there was a substantial missedopportunity to engage consumers and market influencers in this new conversationabout sustainability.

Selling It Make the foreign familiar

Unilever wrapped a common, business-friendly marketing language around thisinitiative — ‘gaining insights.’ As Gowlandcommented, “We were going way beyondconsumer-product insights. We were intent on examining the relationship between abrand and society, not just the psychologicalaspirations of consumers. This was adeparture for us, but it was also something we could talk about in a familiar language.”

Doing It Be genuine, be realistic

The focus here was to integrate social,economic and environmental impacts into brand development in order to reduce negative and maximize positiveimpacts through innovation and brandcommunications. This was the strategicstatement, but the execution was quite anorganic process. Unilever turned to its corecompetencies. It relied on its best practices in lifecycle analysis, consumer marketing and trend spotting, and then coupled theseskills with a value-chain and livelihoodanalysis completed in conjunction withOxfam. Outperforming its initial target,Unilever ended up conducting ‘Brand Imprint’ assessments with 14 brands, where the initial expectation had been just five.

Scaling It Growing the niche

The aim from the beginning was to look at transformative strategies. As Gowlandcommented, “Low-hanging fruit is importantbut insufficient. Balancing immediate growth areas with future trends is critical if long-term sustainable markets are to be carved out.”

Scaling It

Scaling the solution is the end goal for most— if not all — intrapreneurs. As the threemodels illustrate, the big challenge forincubated projects is to incorporate into themainstream. Too often, the tendency is forthis work to be viewed as a threat to theexisting business or organization. So the workof laying the foundations, shifting mindsetsand getting buy-in early plays a central rolein helping intrapreneurs align their longer-term goals with those of the host company.

“I have embedded various operationalelements of the scheme into appropriateteams so that we can scale up the program,”reported BP’s Schrank. “Each market has setaside a budget and a project manager toimplement the targets. I consult and supportthe markets rather than lead on theselaunches, so they have ownership and areable to ‘tweak’ the program to the localenvironment.”

This concept of giving away ownership of the program to others in the company was a recurrent theme. In this way, intrapreneurspave the way for the expansion andreplication of their initiatives. Working in collaboration — even informally — withpeople in the mainstream company helps to shift mindsets and helps others see thelinks between their work and the futureopportunities presented by the intrapreneur.

Other than the most obvious threat oftriggering the corporate version of the tissuerejection problems sometimes experienced in organ transplantation, the main barriers to integration and scaling referenced byintrapreneurs sound remarkably similar tothose faced by social and environmentalentrepreneurs:

— Access to finance was frequently cited, with intrapreneurs competing for scarceproject funding within their organizations,and often competing with initiatives forwhich the market data is more robust andthe timescales shorter.

— Operational issues and know-how were also cited as key challenges. Someintrapreneurs, among them Nick Hughesand Susie Lonie at Vodafone, said theyhad found themselves playing catch upwhen their initiative scaled more quicklythan they had anticipated.

— And, finally, staying true to the mission was cited by many as a crucial consideration when scaling. While no one seemed to have the answer,most saw this as a very real risk ingrowing their businesses.


Sketch a window, show the future opportunity.”Orlando AyalaMicrosoft

“

SpecimenMaria Luiza de Oliveira Pinto


NicheSustainable development

HabitatBanco Real, São Paulo

PersonalBackground in psychology.

ChallengeCreating a better bank, for a better market, for a bettersociety. More specifically,mainstreaming sustainabilitytraining and developmentinto the organization’smanagement.

Opportunity Employee engagement,strengthening relationshipswith suppliers andcustomers, new revenuestream, competitiveadvantage.

AmbitionProvide formal training to clients and suppliers onintegrating sustainabilityinto their core business.

MottoEverything isinterdependent!


Catalyst

PsychologistSocial intrapreneur

MotivatorHolistic

Brazilian

Chapter 6Wisdom of the Social Intrapreneur Signposts and survival-kit for success


Figure 6.1Switching on to new mindsets

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

53The Social IntrapreneurWisdom of the Social Intrapreneur

When we asked social intrapreneurs forinsights into their success — most had topause to consider their answers. They clearlyweren’t following well-scripted play books.Indeed, it was striking how many of theintrapreneurs used words like ‘serendipity,’‘alchemy’ and ‘magic.’ “You can’t ‘projectmanage’ a cultural revolution,” saysUnilever’s Santiago Gowland. “When you are dealing with projects that join mind andheart, the speed and scale of execution canchange dramatically.” But that doesn’t meanchange comes with a wave of a wand.Intrapreneurs, it seems, are a prime exampleof Louis Pasteur’s principle that “chancefavors the prepared mind.” Having done their homework and created a concept forchange, intrapreneurs are able to respond to opportunities when they arise.

Despite the lack of an A–Z manual onintrapreneurship, there are consistentapproaches. One important finding of ourresearch is the way that intrapreneurs viewthe outside world, in particular, the citizensector. No longer do the businesses that theseintrapreneurs help guide see citizen sectororganizations as simply “stakeholders,” able to offer advice at arm’s length and thenget out of the way. Instead, some socialintrapreneurs are beginning to see NGOs and social entrepreneurs as potential strategic partners.

Intrapreneurs on entrepreneurs

When we asked social intrapreneurs abouttheir views on social entrepreneurs, twothemes emerged. First, it’s fairly clear thatintrapreneurs are inspired by the visionarythinking grounded in practical actionapproach for which social entrepreneurs areso famous. BP’s Kerryn Schrank noted BunkerRoy of Barefoot College as an inspiration,citing “the fact that he has been a catalyst for lasting change.” Similarly, Unilever’sGowland admires Juan Carr and JulioVacaflor, “two Ashoka social entrepreneursliving in Argentina . . . [for] their values-ledvision, spontaneity, conviction and freedomto do what they believe needs to be done.”

But intrapreneurs see these folks as muchmore than inspiration. They view socialentrepreneurs as offering ideas and insightsinto communities and the challenges theyface. Some of our intrapreneurs interviewedhave actively worked with social entre-preneurs and, in fact, see them as integral tothe work that they do. Others are intrigued,but still considering the best approach.

Intrapreneurs on corporate changemaking

Next we’ve attempted to distill insights from our interviews into ten tips for otherintrapreneurs — and the related opportunitiesfor entrepreneurs.

I heard there was a need in my community and I listened. I didn’t have a grand plan.”Sam McCrackenNike

“

Tip 1Focus on solving a problem, not selling a solution

It may sound simple, but prioritizingproblem-solving is an essential element tosuccessful intrapreneurship. Keen observers of their environments, leading intrapreneursconduct rigorous research and constantlystrive for deeper insight. It is this quest forunderstanding that yields more effective and innovative solutions.

At Coca-Cola, the Water StewardshipInitiative started out with a focus onunderstanding the global challenge of waterscarcity. Only after in-depth exploration ofthe problem did they consider the company’srole in tackling the issue. Similarly, Nike’sSam McCracken observed a problem in hiscommunity — and then worked to understandthe concerns and challenges around NativeAmerican health. By listening and observing,he was able to offer a solution that couldhave real impact.

Advice for social entrepreneurs? Grab a beer with your target intrapreneur.These people are hungry for information,insights and ideas.

Tip 2Use storytelling, but build the business case

A critical challenge is getting colleagues tomake a perceptual shift from today’s reality to tomorrow’s possibility. Mary Harmon ofTrium Group, an organizational trans-formation consultancy, puts it this way: “It’s important for people to have a line ofsight. You need to show them not only whereyou want to go, but how you are going to get there.” Most intrapreneurs find thatstorytelling, images and prototypes helppeople to grasp the opportunity.

At Nike, Sam McCracken noted that peoplefinally “got it” after the company produced avideo about his work. Similarly, the Vodafoneteam discovered that sharing photographs ofpotential Kenyan consumers was powerful inproviding a more engaging picture of theopportunity. Chris Sherwin, formerly anintrapreneur at Philips, describes hischallenge in getting a company focused onhigh-end medical equipment for developedmarkets to consider opportunity space in thedeveloping world. “In addition to in-depthmarket research,” he recalls, “I relied heavilyon experiments and concept projectsexpressed through prototypes, sketches andstoryboards to make these ideas come alive.”

But stories alone aren’t sufficient.Changemakers need to build the business case for action. In particular, intrapreneursmust be clear about the potential businessbenefits — and about the timescales likely tobe involved. “People will want to know ‘whyus?’” as one intrapreneur put it. “What is thecase for action?” Still, Dow Chemical’s ScottNoesen warns, “Don’t oversell it! Everyonewants to monetize the opportunity, butsometimes it is difficult. This is often aboutunarticulated needs in the market — and we are still at an early stage of articulatingwhat those are.”

Advice for social entrepreneurs? Build a strong narrative, but make sure youhave the facts at your fingertips.


70% of my job is storytelling.”Gib BullochAccenture

“


Tip 3Align with the best of the company culture

Once the problem has been identified andcarefully researched, successful intrapreneursknow they must focus on how their effortscan leverage the core competencies of theirorganization, including finance, innovation,marketing, distribution and access to globalnetworks.

In some cases, the connection may besurprising. Dow, for example, recently took an equity position in Water HealthInternational, a social enterprise thatdistributes water purification technology in developing countries. Initially, DennisMerens in Dow’s Venture Capital groupthought access to technology and distributioncapabilities were their key challenges. Instead, the biggest challenge for WaterHealth was accessing capital. So, Merenspersisted internally and engaged Dow’sfinance group to help secure investments for the initiative.

Similarly, social intrapreneurs have foundthat their chances of success are greatestwhen they can link their projects to thecompany’s ambitions, values, culture andhistory. Citi, for example, moved to 24-hourbanking in the 1980s in an attempt to extendits services to previously underserved middleclass consumers. Bob Annibale views — andpitches — his microfinance initiative as a logical extension of this movement togreater access to finance.

Advice for social entrepreneurs? It makes sense in marriage and it makes sense in business: get to know your partner,in depth.

Tip 4Go to the top

The intrapreneurs were insistent here. Don’t get hung up on getting the support oftop management, they said, but rememberthat companies tend to respond energeticallyto signals from the CEO and other leaders. At Ford, David Berdish noted that Bill Fordand his Senior VP got the sustainablemobility agenda “right away.” Then, once toppeople have got the message, they need tokeep banging the drum. “If you support theidea,” as Procter & Gamble’s Win Sakdinaninsisted, “don’t stop saying it!”

In siloed organizations, Sakdinan stressed,change takes longer — often much longer. “So be a broken record,” he advised. “And be patient.” Interestingly, manyintrapreneurs stress the importance ofremaining under the radar in the early stages. Shell’s Sachin Kapila was particularlystrong on this point: “If you get too high a profile too early on, your work can easilyget blocked,” he warned. “Get success first,demonstrate the possibilities, document your learnings, build alliances and go fromthere. Otherwise, you’re just setting yourselfup for a big fall.”

Advice for social entrepreneurs? Do the due diligence, early on. Does theperson you’re working with have the abilityto get agreement on a partnership? If not,who do they need to influence? What are the risks if that person fails or goes away? Is there someone else in the organization who would be better at championing your effort?

I use the Nike brand for inspiration. We have a series of eleven Maxims and I use them all —especially ‘do the right thing.’ ”Sam McCrackenNike

“

Tip 5Wherever possible, use existing processes

Most intrapreneurs attribute much of theirsuccess to their ability to integrate their new thinking and requirements into existingprocesses. This not only enables them toaccess company resources and know-how, but also helps to create support for theirefforts by getting more of the mainstreamcompany involved.

“It’s difficult to get buy-in to developproducts and services from the CorporateResponsibility or Corporate Affairs divisions,”commented Nick Hughes of Vodafone.Instead, he set up his initiative as part ofGroup Marketing — and subsequently movedto Global Business Development. “I knew we had to be in the engine room of thecompany,” he explained. Along parallel lines, Citi’s Bob Annibale recalled, “We weresuccessful because we were able to build itinto our plumbing — policies, risk models,target market, etc. — we used our corebusiness model as a foundation for growth.”

Advice for social entrepreneurs? It is no accident that most of the ‘wisdom’ of social intrapreneurs is basic business sense.Rein in the temptation to reinvent the wheel— the vehicle for change may already be athand.

Tip 6Make sure you’re funded

Pretty obvious, isn’t it? But enthusiasts often leave the financial details until later —sometimes too late. The importance ofensuring you have a sensible budget, theintrapreneurs insisted, cannot be overstressed.Without it, they said, people you need to help you won’t take you seriously. “Once youhave funding,” says Kerryn Schrank of BP,“people start to listen.”

In building your funding, it always makessense to look for patient funding or capital,which allows you room to experiment. Somebig companies have internal funds — likeShell’s ‘Changemaker’ group, which providesangel-type investment for projects. Externalsources, too, may be available. Among theoutside sources of funding mentioned by theintrapreneurs were the International FinanceCorporation (IFC) and national governmentagencies, such as the UK’s Department forInternational Development (DfID).

Advice for social entrepreneurs? You might think that intrapreneurs haveunfettered access to corporate coffers, but you would be wrong. Consider the financingchallenges your corporate partner may have — and think of ways in which a jointinitiative might be better placed to attractfunding.


1 + 1 = 3 . . . partnerships result in a much greater outcome.”Vijay SharmaHindustan Unilever

“


Tip 7Create a coalition, engage external stakeholders

“At Starbucks innovation is highly valued,”said Sue Mecklenberg. “It’s important to have a free flow of information acrossbusiness divisions. Don’t underestimate thecontribution of interpersonal relationships toinnovation. People make decisions based onconversations they’ve had, and informationthey’ve exchanged. It’s important forcompanies to create incentives that allow for this knowledge-sharing.”

Time and again, intrapreneurs cite smallcoalitions of people who “get it” as key totheir success. This is ‘Step 2’ in John Kotter’sframework for change management, with Step 1 to create a sense of urgency.33

Leading intrapreneurs have shown themselvesadept at finding others in the organizationwho share their vision, as well as bringing in the right people to support the project early on.

Build a coalition in support of your initiative,they suggest, but make sure that the rightpeople are involved — and that the agenda isclear. And make sure that you engageexternal stakeholders in appropriate ways,throughout the process. To take just oneexample, Nike’s engagement with the NativeAmerican community helped to ensure thatthis initiative has credibility both with thatcommunity and with the wider world.

Advice for social entrepreneurs? Keep an eye out for related coalitions thatyou can join — and help to shape. Companiesthat you want to engage may not yet see youas a significant stakeholder. Help them see the1 + 1 = 3 potential.

Tip 8Pilot and execute

Intrapreneurs are overzealous in their viewson execution because they understand thepower of proof points. Once your idea movesfrom theory to action, you’re much morelikely to get people’s attention, for good or ill. Early on, Santiago Gowland of Unileverwarns that one “danger is to do too muchtalking and not enough delivering. Thecritical factor is to drive a robust businesscase.” Similarly Bob Annibale of Citi notesthat “you can feel as mission driven as youwant, but you need to achieve results.”

Annibale goes on to explain that “pilots and partners become stakes in the ground.”Most intrapreneurs start with pilot tests in specific markets before going big. This enables experimentation and learning,potentially minimizing risks. For intra-preneurs who are limited in resources,partnerships with third parties — such asuniversities — can provide useful avenues for incubating new thinking and initiatives.

Advice for social entrepreneurs? Focus on results. Some of the work you have done on metrics for tracking such things as social and/or environmental valueadded may be pretty sophisticated by thestandards of even some of the biggestcompanies.

A small number of individuals who were religiously sold on the idea were key to our success.”Susie LonieVodafone

“

Tip 9Maintain your integrity. Be patient

Along the journey, inevitably, an intrapreneur— like an entrepreneur — will be challengedand pulled in many different directions. But be patient and clear about what you are trying to achieve. Attempting to integratean initiative into the business too early, or in the wrong way, runs the risk of dilutingimpact. Be opportunistic, but be careful not to be deflected from your core goals offundamental change. Paths of incrementalismare very likely to emerge, in some casespurpose-designed to distract you. Soremember the urgency of change. Whilesuccessful intrapreneurs generally show anopenness to improving their thinking andsolutions, they won’t budge when it comes to achieving real impact.

“The minute I’m no longer solving theproblem, I’ll leave the company,” as one putit. At the same time, however, they are moreunderstanding than many social entre-preneurs would be of the time scales neededto achieve real change. “People need differenttiming to buy into an agenda,” said Unilever’sSantiago Gowland. “You have to make sureyou balance learning from challengers withmovement from fast supporting earlyadopters. This allows you to sharpen strategicrigor while building momentum.” And,without over-simplifying, ensure that youbring clarity to complex situations. As MaluPinto explained, when she started out in theintrapreneurial space, her organization —Brazil’s Banco Real — had 22 differentapproaches for the 22 different directors ofthe business units. Over time, she has helpedboil that complexity down into a much morecoherent strategy and set of initiatives.

Advice for social entrepreneurs? Decide on your goal, but be flexible in howyou get there. If you are trying to engage a major business, be open to suggestion. The journey to success can take more thanone route.

Tip 10Share ownership — and have fun

It was apparent in our interviews that despitethe many challenges and often long hours,the intrapreneurs are not taking the wholeresponsibility for change on their ownshoulders — indeed they seek to shareownership of their initiatives with a range of key people inside and outside theorganization. And, while they all workfuriously hard, one more thing shone through from these conversations: thesepeople enjoy their work and are having fun, most of the time.

Advice for social entrepreneurs? Alongside all the other metrics, considerwhether you — and the people you work with, or want to work with — enjoy what they do. Your chances of long-term successare immeasurably boosted if the answer is in the affirmative.


Would your mother understand what you’re doing?”Susie LonieVodafone

“

SpecimenWin Sakdinan


NicheExternal relations

HabitatP&G, Geneva

Eureka momentMy sustainability ‘momentof truth’ was reading Al Gore’s article in VanityFair’s famous green issue. It changed my life. Suddenlyit clicked and I saw how you could mobilize businessto address environmentalchallenges that are a win-win for everyone.

PersonalLead guitarist in TheConsumer Republic, P&G’sin-house rock band.

ChallengeCreating product innovationsthat address sustainabilitychallenges with mainstreamconsumers who want to do their bit for theenvironment.

Opportunity Driving a sustainabilitystrategy that is good forconsumers, company andenvironment.

AmbitionCreating the next generationof business leaders with asustainability mindset.

MottoCarpe diem and have fun!


Guitarist

EnthusiastDedicated husband

FatherStoryteller

Social intrapreneur

Chapter 7Future Expeditions Working towards Capitalism 3.0


Figure 7.1 Discovering the markets of the future

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

61The Social IntrapreneurFuture Expeditions

Eric the Red — and his son Leif Ericsson —came to mind while we were developing The Social Intrapreneur. They may have beenrapacious colonizers, but they are creditedwith the first European discovery of what we now know as America. In the same way,we have made an early, halting voyage ofdiscovery into a landscape which we hopewill open out tremendously in the twenty-firstcentury, though the fate of the Viking colonyon Greenland should give us pause. Still, aswe conclude this stage of our journey, we are clear that the social intrapreneurs covered here:

— represent a significantly different corporate approach to some of the greatsocio-economic and environmentalchallenges of our time;

— believe that there are large benefits in working inside major organizations toleverage their skills, financial muscle and other resources;

— have the potential to accelerate the evolution of strategies, business modelsand engagement processes that will becrucial in helping their host organizationsto understand and move into the emerginglandscapes of risk and opportunity;

— have much to teach social entrepreneurs in terms of how to engage large businessorganizations and bring their solutions to scale;

— are nowhere near achieving critical mass in any of the organizations we studied;and

— are increasingly interested in working with leading, high performance socialentrepreneurs, as long as there are clearand shared market-related objectives.

Pioneering tomorrow’s business models

When we asked leading intrapreneurs to comment on their potential to affectwidespread change in their companies, thereactions were decidedly mixed. For most ofthem, it was clear, this remains the ambition.They genuinely see their way as the way ofthe future. They believe strongly that they arehelping to pioneer new business models thatare not only likely to be successful in theirown right, but will usefully signal futuredirections for their organizations and, theyhope, their industries.

At the more optimistic end of the spectrum,Microsoft’s Orlando Ayala noted thatdevelopers of the company’s next generationoperating system are now considering how to design it so that it will function well withthe growing number of low-cost computers in emerging markets. Equally bullish, KerrynSchrank talked about how the concept of‘reduce, replace and neutralize’ with regardsto mitigating CO2 emissions is starting to take hold in various business units at BP. She noted that, despite recent restructuring,she is seeing her program gaining traction —and is expanding from the UK pilot intoseven additional countries.34 In Brazil,meanwhile, Banco Real says they now haveso many sustainability-related initiatives that they can no longer keep track.

Others, however, were distinctly less bullish.At Vodafone, for example, Nick Hughesreported that in a recent slate of budget cutsfunding for the social product innovationinitiative was under pressure. Only twoprojects survived — one of which was M-PESA a mobile payment project. As hesuggests, such initiatives utterly depend on top-level champions. He added: “It is too easy to go back to business as usual.”

Don’t confuse us with charity . . . people are going back to mainstream Accenture from ADP and inspiring the rest of the company.”Gib BullochAccenture

“

Business as unusual 35

We have looked at the ‘ecosystem’ pressuresthat are opening out the niches that socialintrapreneurs occupy (Chapter 3) and at thenature of the new niches now emerging (pp. 47–48). We have focused in on a smallnumber of cases that illustrate the impact thatthese people can have (pp. 37–41). We haveexplored the ways in which they see boththemselves and the organizations they aretrying to change (p. 30). And we havespotlighted the advice these leading intra-preneurs would offer to others hoping tofollow in their footsteps (pp. 54–58).

But, in terms of helping these people do more of what they want to do — and faster —what sort of wish-list emerges? What do theintrapreneurs see as their most critical needs?And where do social entrepreneurs fit in tothis bigger picture? Here are some of theanswers.

Access to capitalPerhaps surprisingly, given their belief thatworking inside out helps leverage resourcesunavailable to a social entrepreneur, asignificant proportion of the intrapreneurscited access to finance as a key challenge.They clearly compete for scarce resourceswith other new projects inside theircompanies. Some had been able to securecapital through internal venture funds. Others accessed external financing throughgovernments or international entities such as the International Finance Corporation(IFC), which enabled them to operate “underthe radar” until they felt they had capturedenough “proof points.” Developing financingmechanisms, internally and externally, will be essential. Like social intrapreneurs,they also noted the importance of “patientcapital” and the corporate equivalent of“angel investments,” given that many of their projects are unlikely to meet short-terminvestment criteria.

Leadership support The intrapreneurs were absolutely clear thatleadership support is “golden.” Many areeffective at engaging at top management, butmost felt the need for new allies and politicalsupport. While some manage to achieveprogress without the benefit of a completelytuned-in senior management, all underscoredthe importance of management not only‘getting it,’ but talking about it — clearly,consistently, repeatedly.

Space for experimentationSpecifically, the intrapreneurs argue thatsenior management needs to create space forpeople to experiment and generate new ideas.Successful intrapreneurship seems to emergemost often from groups or individuals whohave been given the space to conduct in-depth research about emerging needs in theoutside world. The ability to look outside thecompany walls — in depth and over time —was felt to be a critical success factor.

Talent-spotting and developmentIf businesses are to actively encourageintrapreneurship, they need to know where to source these people and how to develop a pipeline of trained talent. Just as those who have worked with social entrepreneurssee their entrepreneurial genius as being an innate characteristic, it seems likely that intrapreneurship, too, is something one is born into. While we may not yet knowenough to answer the nature vs. nurturequestion definitively here, we do know that it takes both catalysts and intrapreneursto achieve real forward momentum and tocreate the preconditions of sustained success.Leading business schools and othereducational institutions are alreadyconsidering how they can evolve theircurricula and offerings to encourage moreentrepreneurial thinking and approaches.



Recognition of success A no-brainer, surely, but many of theintrapreneurs had received — and had been mightily encouraged by — internalrecognition in the form of awards for theirwork. Such were cited as important not onlyfor acknowledging the significance of theiragenda, but also for communicating relevantmessages across the company about the valueof intrapreneurial solutions.

Celebration of failureThis has been a constant mantra ofmanagement scientists for decades. According to our intrapreneurs, however,there is still a yawning gap between therhetoric and the practice. By the very natureof their work, intrapreneurs are going to fail,sometimes. More people will be happy to headdown the intrapreneurial path if they knowthey won’t be automatically fired or punishedif their project hits the skids.

Coaching and mentoringIntrapreneurs have no shortage of passion,but at least a proportion of them admitteddiving in without sufficient knowledge aboutmarkets or operations. Pairing intrapreneurswith experienced mentors or coaches — from inside or outside the business — wassuggested as a means to help them morequickly advance the learning curve ofbuilding, operating and scaling solutions.

‘Yunus Inside’

Business cannot be expected to solve these challenges alone. Governments have a key role to play in creating enablingenvironments for new business models tothrive. Increasingly, policy-makers will needto scan the landscape of intrapreneurialsolutions and consider their potentialcontribution, accelerating the developmentand scaling of relevant projects. They shouldalso ask what intrapreneurship might looklike in their own institutions and agencies.

Similarly, the citizen sector — NGOs andsocial entrepreneurs alike — needs to work out how to make more — and more generative— connections with these individuals andtheir organizations. Social entrepreneurspotentially have valuable insights intomarkets and societal challenges that can helpsocial intrapreneurs develop more powerfulsolutions, but the benefit flows can run bothways. This is an area that we are activelyexploring with the Skoll Foundation and theInternational Business Leaders Forum (IBLF).

Finally, if asked what this project has left ushoping for in the wider world, it would be thesocial entrepreneur’s version of the cunning‘Intel Inside’ strategy. As social enterpriseslike Muhammad Yunus’s Grameen Grouppartner with growing numbers of mainstreamcompanies, the challenge for those samecompanies, increasingly, will be to developtheir own ‘Yunus Inside’ strategies andapproaches. And that, whether or not theywould explain it that way, is what all of the social intrapreneurs featured here areworking towards. They are today’s rathermore progressive versions of Eric the Red,providing early blueprints of Capitalism 3.0 — very much more inclusive, hugelyinnovative and, above all, sustainable.

Project Shakti has stimulated thinking across the company about how to approach brands in a more sustainable way.” Vijay SharmaHindustan Unilever

“

SpecimenKerryn Schrank


NicheFuels Management Group

HabitatBP, London

Eureka momentRealizing that many peoplefeel powerless to bring aboutchanges in their work place.Whether they feel they lackthe skills, knowledge,confidence or permission to do so . . . this is when it struck me. People can bean incredible resource ifencouraged, empowered andgiven the opportunity to doso with the right guidance.

Opportunity Reputational branding,employee engagement, newrevenue stream.

ChallengeReducing CO2 emissions,finding business solutions tochallenges posed by globalwarming and engagingconsumers in the challenge.More specifically, developingBP’s targetneutral campaign,which offers motorists a wayof offsetting the carbondioxide emissions of theircar for the coming year.

AmbitionExtend the program to other markets.

MottoKeep one eye internal andone eye external.


Environmental scientistChange agent

Social intrapreneur

MotivatorAustralian

Straight talker

Yachtswoman


Acknowledgements

This guide was a collective effort — builtforemost on the insights and journeys of agroup of exceptional people within multi-national companies: the ‘social intrapreneurs.’Our heartfelt thanks go to these individualsfor sharing their stories — and to theircompanies for nurturing and supporting these valuable initiatives.

This publication would never have seendaylight had it not been for the financialsupport and wider inputs of Jeff Skoll, SallyOsberg and their colleagues at the SkollFoundation. We are profoundly grateful to the Skoll Foundation and would like toacknowledge their efforts to advanceentrepreneurial solutions to sustainabilitychallenges. We are also enormously gratefulfor the support of our corporate sponsors,Allianz (where we thank Paul Achleitner,Mónica Aguilar, Nick Tewes and Kay Müller)and IDEO (where we thank Tim Brown,Santiago Matheus, Richard Kelly, James Parrand Carmen Marrero).

The Project Team from SustainAbilityconsisted of Maggie Brenneke, Alexa Clay,and John Elkington, with invaluable helpfrom Yasmin Crowther, Chris Guenther,Meghan Chapple-Brown, Sophia Tickell,Michael Sadowski, Kavita Prakash-Mani,Manuela Fremy, Ori Chandler and Sam Lakha.

In addition, we would like to thank others for their inputs, which in no small way helpedto shape and set the tone of this publication:Chris Sherwin, Forum for the Future; JedEmerson, Generation Foundation; DianeOsgood, Business for Social Responsibility;Ziba Cranmer, Nike; Stu Hart, JohnsonSchool, Cornell University; Mary Harmon,Trium Group; Eric Rassman, UCLA; RosTennyson, IBLF; Daniel Vennard, Mars; Mark Goyder, Tomorrow’s Global Company;Virginia Barreiro, World Resources Institute;and Samantha Beinhacker. Our gratitude to Rupert Bassett for his design. As ever, all errors of omission or commission are ours alone.

Finally, we hope that for those socialintrapreneurs who shared their stories, this guide provides a tribute to their courageand determination, a validation of theirapproach and a platform for imagining new possibilities of success.

The role involves a measure of asking for forgiveness after the event, rather than asking for permission in advance.” Off-the-record comment

“

Notes

1 www.ashoka.org2 John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan,

The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create MarketsThat Change the World, Harvard BusinessSchool Press, 2008.

3 ‘Unreasonable people power’, The Economist, 22 January 2008.

4 Growing Opportunity: Entrepreneurial Solutions to Insoluble Problems,SustainAbility, 2007.

5 Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplan in Creative Destruction estimate that by 2020the average lifespan of a corporation onthe S&P will have been shortened to aboutten years! See Richard Foster and SarahKaplan, Creative Destruction: WhyCompanies that are Built to LastUnderperform the Market — and How toCreatively Transform Them, CurrencyPublisher, 2001, p. 13.

6 www.ashoka.org7 www.weforum.org/en/media/

latest%20press%20releases/pr_closing_270108

8 Roger Martin and Sally Osberg, ‘Social entrepreneurship: the case fordefinition’, Stanford Social InnovationReview, Spring 2007.www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/social_entrepreneurship_the_case_for_definition

9 Roger Martin, The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win ThroughIntegrative Thinking, Harvard BusinessSchool Press, 2007.

10 http://eitransparency.org11 www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/

paci/index.htm12 See SustainAbility’s recent work,

Raising our Game: Can We SustainGlobalization?, for more in-depthcoverage of the ten divides.www.sustainability.com

13 www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/stern_review_economics_climate_change/stern_review_report.cfm

14 Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer, ‘Strategy and society: the link betweencompetitive advantage and corporatesocial responsibility’, Harvard BusinessReview, December 2006.

15 Joanna Barsh, ‘Innovative management: a conversation with Gary Hamel andLowell Bryan’, McKinsey Quarterly, 2008,Number 1, p. 31.

16 The Forum of Young Global Leaders is a multistakeholder community of theworld’s most extraordinary leaders aged40 or younger who agree to dedicate apart of their time and energy to jointlywork towards a better future. Each year,the World Economic Forum recognizes200–300 individuals, drawn from everyregion in the world and from a myriad of disciplines and sectors, as Young Global Leaders (YGLs) and invites them to join the community as active members.YGLs engage in task force work under the themes of development and poverty,education, environment, globalgovernance and security, health, as well as values and society.www.younggloballeaders.org

17 Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class, And How It's Transforming Work,Leisure and Everyday Life, Basic Books,2002. http://creativeclass.com

18 Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, Wikinomics, Atlantic Books, 2007, p. 47.

19 This list draws upon a multitude of sources for social entrepreneurialcharacteristics — including Schwab,Ashoka and the Skoll Foundation. www.ashoka.org

20 www.intrapreneur.com/mainpages/history.html

21 Gifford Pinchot, Intrapreneuring, Harper & Row, 1985.

22 http://209.59.162.229/~intrapre/cgi-bin/bbs/ikonboard.cgi

23 William McDonough, Cradle to Cradle, North Point Press, 2002.

24 Clayton Christensen and Joseph L. Bower, ‘Disruptive technologies: catching thewave’, Harvard Business Review,January–February 1995, pp. 43–53.

25 Clayton Christensen, Heiner Baumann, Rudy Ruggles and Thomas M. Sadtier,‘Disruptive innovation for social change’,Harvard Business Review, HarvardBusiness Press, December 2006, pp. 94–101.


26 Clayton M. Christensen and Stuart L. Hart, ‘The great leap: driving innovation from the base of the pyramid’, MIT SloanManagement Review, MIT, Fall 2002, p. 52.

27 Clayton Christensen, The Innovators Dilemma, Harvard Business Press, 1997, p. xxvi.

28 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/beaver29 Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplan,

Creative Destruction: Why Companies thatare Built to Last Underperform the Market— and How to Creatively Transform Them,Currency Publisher, 2001, p. 62.

30 James A. Belasco, Teaching the Elephant to Dance: The Manager’s Guide toEmpowering Change, Crown, 1990.

31 Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's HistoricTurnaround, Harper-Collins, 2003.

32 Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Transforming Giants, Harvard Business Press, 2008.

33 www.johnkotter.com34 Note, however, that BP is simultaneously

expanding into carbon intensive oil sandsas it races to meet growing energydemand.

35 First used by John Elkington in Cannibals with Forks in 1997, this phrasealso appeared as the title of a book byAnita Roddick in 2005.


SpecimenDan Vermeer


NicheWater Stewardship Initiative

HabitatCoca-Cola, Atlanta

Eureka momentRealizing water’s dualcharacter, its necessity to the sustainability of theplanet and its criticality as a primary input to Coke’sproducts.

PersonalLived in the Himalayas;worked for Gary Hamel.

ChallengeDeveloping risk-sharing andvalue-sharing solutions towater scarcity.

Opportunity Develop innovative capacityfor value-sharing; createcompetitive positioningthrough sustainability acrossthe value chain; reduce risksto business continuity andreputation.

AmbitionTo use the power of thebrand and a global businesssystem to transform thesustainability of our valuechain.

MottoAllow knowledge to flow up.


Outside-in workerAnthropologist

Social intrapreneur

Thinker

InnovatorLocalizer

Publication

The Social Intrapreneur:A Field Guide for CorporateChangemakersFirst Edition 2008

Copyright 2008 SustainAbility Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of thispublication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system or transmitted inany form or by any means, electronic,electrostatic, magnetic tape, photo-copying, recording, or otherwise,without permission in writing from the copyright holders.

ISBN 978–1–903168–22–6

PublisherSustainAbility

DesignerRupert Bassett

PrinterSeacourt

PaperRobert Horne Revive 100 Offset

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The Social Intrapreneurs - A Guide by SustainAbility, IDEO, Skoll, Allianz

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skoll program report

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