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Social Intrapreneur
From CopperWiki
A social intrapreneur is a hybrid individual working in major corporations or organizations who looks beyond the purview of traditional business and carves out a new niche within the corporate habitat of our ecosystem. The term social intrapreneur was coined in 1978 by Gifford and Elizabeth Pinchot to describe innovators who create change from within corporations.
They not only understand business processes and priorities, but are equally aware of sustainability imperatives.
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[edit] Emergence of Social Intrapreneurs
The emergence of social intrapreneurs can be attributed to society’s increased expectations from business and shifts in personal motivations. They care more for social change than personal wealth. See SustainAbility’s second Skoll Program Report covering wide-ranging research and interviews within twenty leading global businesses. Includes profiles prominent social intrapreneurs from multinational corporations including Unilever, Nike, BP, Cemex, Coca-Cola, Dow, and Shell, among others.
Unlike social entrepreneurs, social intrapreneurs have the support and resources of their parent organization behind them which enable them to transfer everything around them, providing the leadership and momentum to make things happen.
They are entirely reasonable people, often working for large companies, who see ways to create better products or reach new markets, and have the resources to do so.
[edit] Intrapreneurs : Dreamers Who Do
Normally in an organization these two functions are separate. People are either dreamers or doers. But according to Gifford Pinchot, imagination is the most concrete mental skill that people have. And an intrapreneur's imagination is different from an inventor's imagination. The vision of a good inventor is usually incomplete unless they are also intrapreneurs. Because the intrapreneur moves back to the present and takes on the rather mundane and practical task of turning the prototype into a marketplace success. This too requires enormous imagination.
