Social entrepreneurs like Doug Ross and Alvaro Lima have taken risks, raised capital, and built new, pioneering solutions that address the problems plaguing education and transnational immigration. But while social entrepreneurs shake up the system with their new models and ideas, another important force gains steam in the halls of corporations around the world.
Mike Norelli is a social intrapreneur. Mike’s job at Ingersoll Rand (a global industrial company) focused on managing technical teams to implement new design plans. In addition to the engineering background he brought to the role, Mike had spent time pouring over books on triple-bottom-line philosophy, joining Net Impact’s Issues in Depth Call series on his lunch breaks, and focusing on how to develop sustainable models of doing business. When the opportunity came, Mike leveraged the internal capital of his organization to lead two volunteer teams, each composed of 20+ company employees, to help make a huge environmental impact. One team measured the carbon footprint of Ingersoll Rand’s global manufacturing projects and the second developed a strategy that the company later adopted for gaining market share in several key client segments by improving technologies to meet client environmental goals. As a twenty-something year-old employee, he helped design and implement an initiative that would lead to the $13B company’s first carbon reduction strategy for its 76 global manufacturing plants.
Fortunately, Mike’s story is not an isolated occurrence. For a recent report produced by Net Impact titled Making Your Impact at Work, I researched over 30 similar social intrapreneurs, who apply the principals of social entrepreneurship within organizaitons. (You can find the report with the case studies of 15 individuals we selected here.) They’re initiating employee volunteer programs at companies like Clorox and Google, building powerful employee networks at Best Buy, and creating green building strategies at McDonald’s. They occupy every functional position from marketing to finance. As the much of the corporate world searches high and low for its long-lost ethical footing, the leagues of the corporate changemakers continue to grow.
While we often focus on those solo operators making headlines in the entrepreneurial world, the work of social intrapreneurs should not be overlooked.
Helping this cohort make an impact is crucially important for several reasons. First, the sheer number of corporate employees interested in making an impact in their current job (or transitioning to a job with impact) has never been higher. Second, unlike many of their entrepreneur cousins, social intrapreneurs have access to the social, intellectual, and financial capital of existing firms that can be leveraged in the pursuit their social endeavor. And finally, by challenging the status quo and implementing solutions to the social and environmental challenges and opportunities faced by their companies, they give the business sector a real chance to create a sustained positive impact on the world. Having engaged social intrapreneurs in your company is the definition of integrated corporate social responsibility.
A huge opportunity lies in finding ways to support the ideas of this large and growing segment. I’d guess that nearly everyone reading this post knows someone who has decided to take a new approach to business as usual inside their current role. Maybe you’ve done this yourself. And maybe you even succeeded or helped someone else succeed as a social intrapreneur. If you have a good story to tell or have best practices that you can share to help other nascent and aspiring social intrapreneurs, let us know. |
