Author: Stephan Klaschka

Read Intrapreneuring Case Study “Leading Innovation” by Ivey Business School!

The prestigious Ivey Business School of the Western University in Ontario, Canada, published an insightful new teaching case study on intrapreneuring and corporate innovation titled “Boehringer Ingelheim: Leading Innovation” in which the case writers, Professor J. Robert Mitchell, Ph.D., and Ramasastry Chandrasekhar, follow the footsteps of the newly appointed innovation director.

Meant to raise questions and serving as a learning opportunity for graduate students in academic program around the globe, this case study lifts the corporate curtain a bit to show how innovation through intrapreneuring really happens and decision points along the way.

Outline (by Ivey Publishing)

The newly appointed director of Innovation Management & Strategy at Boehringer Ingelheim, a German-based multinational pharmaceutical company, is finding his way forward in his firm’s new, first-of-its-kind role, which is central to the company’s growth rejuvenation strategy. His job has a threefold mandate: to build internal networks, to establish internal structures and to leverage internal ideas. His biggest challenge, however, may be transforming the organization’s DNA. The blockbuster business model that has characterized the company for decades is no longer appropriate. Instead, the firm needs to develop healthcare products available to end users over the counter. This shift in strategy requires innovative changes in distribution, delivery and customer focus. To accomplish this goal, he needs to institutionalize innovation so that it becomes sustainable. But in doing so, he must also identify the metrics for assessing progress. The case provides an opportunity for students to step into the shoes of an innovation leader, to develop an innovation roadmap for the organization in the face of uncertainty and to understand how to engage in innovation leadership at various levels of a global enterprise.

Learning Objective

This case has two key objectives. First, this case provides students an opportunity to grapple with the difficult decisions associated with innovation in an uncertain environment. Second, this case highlights that anyone has the ability to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset and to lead innovation. The case divides the attributes of an innovation leader into five components: observing, questioning, experimenting, networking and associating. It shows the real-life experiences of a manager doing seemingly routine activities, who evolved into a leader who transformed the DNA of a global enterprise. The case also provides a template of the tasks, responsibilities and value-added changes as an individual moves progressively within an enterprise from an operations manager to a senior manager to an innovation leader. This case can be used either toward the beginning or toward the end of any course that addresses innovation and creative thinking in a large organization. At the beginning of a course, it illustrates the challenges of acting in the face of uncertainty in a large organization. At the end of a course, the case provides an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned about innovation, entrepreneurial thinking and innovation leadership.

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‘School for Intrapreneurs” finalist in eyeforpharma awards 2015!

We are honored by eyeforpharma’s announcement for Boehringer Ingelheim “School for Intrapreneurs” to be a Finalist for yet another award: the prestigious eyeforpharma Philadelphia awards 2015 in the Most Impactful Emerging or Global Initiative category!

One juror, for example, believes the Boehringer Ingelheim School for Intrapreneurs adds value beyond the pill to patients and customers: “Great program that ensures that the company keeps up to date and a competitive edge. I also like that everybody has the opportunity to contribute and participate.”

The winners will be announced on April 7th during the upcoming eyeforpharma Philadelphia 2015 conference (from April 7-8th, 2015, Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing, Philadelphia, PA.), so join the conference and stay connected via Twitter at #efpPhilly

About the Awards

The eyeforpharma Philadelphia Awards recognize those in the pharmaceutical industry who are driving pharma forwards not just with higher short-term profits, but with better customer innovation, value and outcomes leading to longer-term success.

eyeforpharma’s mission is to make the pharmaceutical industry more open and valued, which means these awards are a literal translation of why we exist. It is our responsibility to shine a light on where pharma does well, to inspire others into similar or better action.

“Angel Investing as corporate venturing within a company” guest blog on CUREconnect

Angel Investing as corporate venturing within a company concludes the 3-posts mini-series as guest blogger for CURE.

However, it’s not over!  Please check in occasionally for more innovation and intrapreneuring-related posts in the future!

CURE serves as the bioscience cluster of Connecticut, a diverse network of small and large life and healthcare sciences companies, ranging in scope from therapeutics, to healthcare technology, to medical devices. Universities, government agencies, scientists, educators, mentors, students, entrepreneurs, business experts, service providers and investors join in to begin nucleate the breadth of the network.

As participants in CURE, we educate, cultivate entrepreneurship, support the build of bioscience companies and collaborate to ensure a sustainable, high-value bioscience and healthcare community that improves our quality of life and keeps the Connecticut community strong.

Is Disruptive Innovation a Myth?

When we talk about disruptive innovation, we can easily agree that going from the days of dim candle light and sooty oil lamps to electric light was one of these breakthrough innovations, right?  Its icon, the lightbulb serves as our symbol for a great idea today.

Lightbulb idea (www.istockphoto.com)
(source: http://www.istockphoto.com)

Who invented the lightbulb?

When you ask around “who invented the lightbulb?” the answer “Thomas Edison” first comes to mind – and the answer is wrong!  Truth is that we can give credit closer to 20(!) inventors of the lightbulb! – How so?

Thomas Edison patented the first practical and commercially viable incandescent lightbulb in 1878 and a revised design in 1879.  In addition, he  offered the first efficient electricity supply system for households and businesses, which laid the foundation and cleared the path for mass-producing light bulbs in 1880.  His design was an evolution from previous, inferior designs and enabled by improved technology.

Edison's Lightbulb (source: www.unmuseum.org)
Edison’s Lightbulb (source: http://www.unmuseum.org)

 

Sitting in the dark without Edison?

No worries, we would not stay sitting in the dark.  It appears safe to say that even if Thomas Edison was never born, the practical incandescent lightbulb would have been developed around the same time – by someone else.

Looking back in history, Humphrey Davy invented electric light in 1802; more than 75 years before Edison.  His “arc light” was unsuitable for mainstream application though it found specialty uses even today. Many more designs for incandescent light and lightbulbs were developed by several inventors, but neither were they practical nor suitable beyond demonstration stage. Prominently, Joseph W. Swan built a working prototype of a “light bulb” in 1850 – well before Edison.

Entrepreneurial Competition

Edison had access to improved technology such as a better vacuum pump for his breakthrough design. This technology was not available to previous inventors.  Edison also developed an efficient and economical way to distribute electricity when earlier designs drained batteries quickly.  (A nice example, by the way, on how a product can go a long way when bundled with a complementing service.)

On the flip-side, Edison knew of his limitation too.  He made carbonized Japanese bamboo glow as filament between two electrodes knowing that carbonized Tungsten was the superior material.  However, the technology was not available at the time to produce a thin Tungsten thread.  We had to wait for William D. Coolidge to produce the Tungsten filament for General Electric in 1910, which is still the preferred material to illuminate our modern incandescent lightbulbs today.

This situation is typical and comparable to many big ideas that entrepreneurs work on today.  There is much competition among entrepreneurs, so every good idea usually has a handful of teams working on it independently and head-to-head at the same time.  Thus, it is highly likely that, if not Edison, another inventor would have come up with the lightbulb design we are so familiar with today.

R&D as a Legacy

Perhaps, the even more impactful and lasting heritage of Thomas Edison are not his inventions, useful as they are.  His products such as the lightbulb, phonograph, quadruplex telegraph, mimeograph, etc., have been replaced over time by more advanced technology.

Nonetheless, Edison has changed the way we discover concertedly today. Until his time, inventors matched the stereotypical image of a lonely genius experimenting and inventing in their lair burning the midnight oil over some ambitious idea.  Edison established the first research and development (R&D) organization in his famous Menlo Park lab, where a large number of researchers worked together in an orchestrated way to find solutions to specific problems coordinated strategically and systematically concerted.  Edison has industrialized research!

Until today every research-driven company or organization worldwide follows in Edison’s footsteps!  What an impressive legacy!

Summary

Disruptive innovations tend to have their origin in incremental steps and competition among inventors. First working individually and now increasingly in teams or even distributed R&D organizations across country borders.
A key success factor here is building trust and incentives within the team in order for all individual contributors to share information and findings freely.

The broader, cross-functional approach to research helps to identify ideas and technologies from other disciplines that can serve as stepping stones.  Edison used a better vacuum pump, which made his design possible.  Later, the capability to manufacture a thin Tungsten wire allowed General Electric to take the lightbulb the next level.
As the saying goes, “innovation happens at the intersections of disciplines.”  The development of the lightbulb serves as a nice example proving it to hold true once again.  Thus, innovation benefits by drawing from advances in other disciplines.

So, is disruptive innovation a myth?

Back to our original question, the story of the lightbulb is a great example for a breakthrough innovation with vast ramifications that disrupted and shaped the we live and work around the globe.

It can, however, not be seen as just one big and isolated scientific step but rather a series of many little steps in combination insights from other disciplines including manufacturing, economics and marketing leading to broad adoption that changed the world.

Lightbulb evolution (source: www.thewirelessbanana.com)
Lightbulb evolution
(source: http://www.thewirelessbanana.com)

Only when it all comes together you have a disruptive innovation like Edison’s famous design.  And it was still not the end.  The journey continued to evolve with a Tungsten wire and later fluorescence, halogen and LED lights.

In this light, every disruption seems as yet another incremental step, doesn’t it?

Join me at the Intrapreneurship Conference 2014 in The Netherlands, Dec.10-12, 2014

Meet me at the Intrapreneurship Conference 2014 at the “Kennispoort”-building of the Eindhoven University of Technology, John F. Kennedylaan 2, 5612 AB Eindhoven, The Netherlands, from December 10-12, 2014!  Contact me you are interested to attend, as I may be able to get you a discounted ticket!

Don’t miss

Why attend?

Intrapreneurship is the most powerful engine for growth. With innovation being priority #1, how are you implementing and leveraging innovation from within?

Now being organized for the fourth time, the Intrapreneurship Conference 2014 is the premier global event for Corporate Innovation Managers, Intrapreneurs, Business Managers, HR-Managers and Innovation Consultants. This is not just another conference on innovation, where you will be listening to motivational speakers all day. We intentionally keep the number of available seats at a level that enables you to really connect with everyone.
Discuss the best and next practices in implementing and leveraging intrapreneurship.  We have carefully curated a program for you that includes all relevant topics in the field of intrapreneurship, and invited experienced intrapreneurs and experts to co-create an impactful learning experience for you.

You will leave the conference with a clear action plan and practical tools for the next step in implementing intrapreneurship.  Plus, you will meet like-minded people to connect, share and collaborate with – as most Intrapreneurs are the lone mavericks in the corporate jungle.

Join me at eyeforpharma’s Value Beyond the Pill Summit, Philadelphia, December 3, 2014

Join me for eyeforpharma’s Value Beyond the Pill Summit 2014 and come to my talk on “Build an intrapreneurial ecosystem to ensure your innovative services deliver the value required by patients” at 2:10PM on December 3, 2014.

Why attend other than hearing me speak?  🙂

The topics are around delivering patient value and reimburse your services by innovating your business model. A new way of healthcare is here; services are now an essential part of patient care and will help the pharma industry to make a bigger impact as a healthcare provider. Learn how to put successful services in place to gain better access, reduce costs and help your end-user, the patient. Find out what the most innovative and forward-thinking companies are doing to differentiate their brand in the most competitive times pharma have ever faced.

The Value Beyond the Pill Summit is held at the Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District Hotel, 400 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA, on December 3-4, 2014.

See the full speaker line up and agenda in the event brochure.

 

 

 

 

Organovo begins selling 3D printed liver tissue

Another step towards game-changing drug development through synthetic biology.

Gigaom

In case you weren’t sure if we are living in the future, Organovo is here to remind you: The bioprinting company announced today that its 3D printed liver tissue is now commercially available, and pharmaceutical laboratories can begin using it to test if their early-stage drugs are toxic.

The tissue is made from three types of cells found in the human liver. Liver cells need to be arranged in a very precise pattern or they don’t work. That means 3D tissue can give clearer results than the 2D collections of cells that labs currently use because the cells interact and mimic a full liver more convincingly. Organovo said it also makes the drug discovery process faster and, as a result, cheaper.

Organovo prints its liver tissue with a machine that isn’t that far removed from the inkjet printers that can be found on a desktop. Needle-like nozzles lay down the cells in…

View original post 86 more words

ventureLab Launches ‘Startup Studio’ for Technology across International Markets

ventureLab Growth Partners today announces its launch as a ‘startup studio’ designed to develop marketable technologies and help entrepreneurs more efficiently build and commercialize early-stage startups. With offices in…

http://venturebeat.com/2014/11/18/venturelab-launches-new-startup-studio-to-invest-build-and-commercialize-technology-across-international-markets/

BlackBerry To Ship A Classic BlackBerry With Modern Software In Mid-December For $450

I do see a market for seasoned Blackberry business users, who don’t want all the smartphone bells and whistles but the tangible keyboard they are used to. Not a new blockbuster, perhaps, but demand. – We’ll see!

Meet me at AlphaSights’ Knowledge Summit in NYC, Nov. 19, 2014

Event

The AlphaSights Knowledge Summit – Accessing Critical Business Knowledge Safely and Securely in the 21st Century
at the Harvard Club of New York City, 27 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036

Overview

In today’s digitally connected economy, competitive advantage no longer comes from ‘hard’ assets. It’s human assets – knowledge and talent – that give companies and investors an edge.

Specialist knowledge can be accessed, shared and recombined quicker than ever before, driving innovation, interactivity and wealth creation. But knowledge lies at the heart of the next billion-dollar company as much as it lies at the heart of billion-dollar trade-secret lawsuits or insider trading convictions. Leading professionals and their employers find themselves in the crosshairs of litigious competitors and ambitious prosecutors more often than ever before.
At this Knowledge Summit, acclaimed thought-leaders, top lawyers, former federal prosecutors and leading practitioners will explore and discuss current best-practice in the acquisition and protection of knowledge in today’s globally connected economy.

Why attend? – Other than just meeting me 🙂

Every organization needs to access external knowledge to succeed. But what type of knowledge delivers a competitive edge, and how can it be accessed both safely and efficiently?

Network with and learn from fellow senior legal, compliance and commercial executives from the world’s leading investment and advisory firms at the Harvard Club in New York City. Over a half-day event, the Summit will discuss:

  • Best-practice policies and procedures for effective knowledge acquisition. What systems and practices do the top investment funds and leading lawyers recommend?
  • Where can public and private investors trip up when seeking alpha? Lessons from Operation Perfect Hedge and recent private equity litigation.
  • Why the exchange of knowledge has always driven human progress, and what the ramifications of a totally interconnected global marketplace might be.
  • Redrawing the battle lines for talent and knowledge as employees move ever more freely between firms – should smart employers embrace or be wary of the ‘free-agent’ economy?

 

Meet me at Yale’s “Patients and Big Data in Healthcare: Deriving Value and Accelerating Innovation” Nov.11, 2014

Patients and Big Data in Healthcare: Deriving Value and Accelerating Innovation
Nov 11 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

REGISTER:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/patients-and-big-data-in-healthcare-deriving-value-and-accelerating-innovation-tickets-12475417309

CURE and Yale, in collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, presents “Patients and Big Data in Healthcare: Deriving Value and Accelerating Innovation.” In an increasingly digital age, healthcare stakeholders can access significant amounts of data and knowledge using various platforms. Critically, this “big data,” represents a vast quantity of complex and diverse information. While payers, providers, healthcare experts and the pharmaceutical industry have the capability to analyze this data to gain insight, this information can be overwhelming to patients. This BioHaven event, moderated by Richard Foster, has convened a panel of experts to explore the topic of “big data,” the role of the patient in data analytics, the role of payers and what actionable data represents. Further discussion will explore the state of the art, including discussing national hospital systems using big data and local ones in CT and at Yale. Finally, the discussion will conclude with discussion about effectively incorporating big data into operations and where the field is headed.

Special kudos to my valued colleague Faye Lindsay, who was instrumental in pulling this event together!

Some of the topics the moderator and panelists will consider:

Defining and Exploring the topic

  • Tell us what “big data” means to you and why it is important.  Give us one example which illustrates the best use of big data to date.
  • What is the role of the patient in data analytics?  Does it benefit them?  Do they naturally do it?  How error prone are the data they provide directly?
  • What is the role of the payer in all of this.  Can they get the data they need to better set rates?  Will “big data” help or hurt the payers?
  • What is actionable data?  What are the three major areas where we are making progress?

State of the Art

  • Where is the best state of the art in using data to improve outcomes in the US?  How do we know that is true?
  • What hospital systems or MCOs are most advanced?
  • How are we doing in CT compared to other states?  How do we know?
  • What is the state of the art in healthcare info tech/big data in the US.   Where?  Why?  What do we need to do to catch up?

Unanticipated Consequences

  • Will all this measurement result in intense, and from time time, unproductive rivalries between docs, or hospital systems?
  • How can the providers use “big data” and not put at risk the effectiveness of current medical care delivery processes which have takes years to define and perfect?

Specific Subtopics

  • Big Data and the bottom 5%
  • We know we spend $1.35 T on 5% of the population. Do we know who they are and how we can best treat them.  How much can we expect to reduce the cost, or improve the quality of the health care delivered to these patients?
  • Big Data and Quality
  • Integrating Big Data into Operations, effectively

What is coming?

  • Who is controlling the pace of advance in Big Data these days – Academia (who), the Payers (who?), the providers (who?) the Feds (who and who in HHS/CMS?)  What about the role of the National Cancer Hospitals.  Or other specialized (by disease/condition) providers (e.g. DaVita)

Moderator:

Richard N. Foster, PhD, Emeritus Director, McKinsey and Co; Lecturer, Yale School of Management.

Dr. Foster is an emeritus director of McKinsey & Company, Inc. where he was a Director and Senior Partner. While at McKinsey he founded several practices including the healthcare practice and the private equity practices, the technology practice and innovation practice. From 1995 to 1998 he led McKinsey’s worldwide knowledge development.

At Yale, Dr. Foster teaches “Managing In Times of Rapid Change” and serves as the Executive in Residence at the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute. Dr. Foster’s research interests are in the relationships between capital formation, innovation, and regulation. Dr. Foster has written two best-selling books: Innovation: The Attacker’s Advantage (1986) and Creative Destruction (2001), both of which were cited as among the “ten best books of the year” when they were published by the Harvard Business Review.

Dr. Foster’s work has appeared in Business Week, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times as well as several dozen articles in research and popular journals. Dr. Foster was recognized as one of their ten “Masters of Innovation” in the past century. He was the external leader of the Concil on Foreign Relations Study Group on Technological Innovation and Economic Performance which led to the publication of Technological Innovation Economic Performance (2001, Princeton University Press).

Panelists:

Harlan Krumholz, MD, Harold H. Hines Jr. Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Professor of Investigative Medicine and of Public Health (Health Policy); Co-Director, Clinical Scholars Program; Director, Yale-New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation.

Dr. Krumholz’s research focuses on improving patient outcomes, health system performance and population health. His work with health care companies has led to new models of transparency and data sharing. His work with the U.S. government has led to the development of a portfolio of national, publicly reported measures of hospital performance. These measures also became part of several provisions of the health reform bill. He is currently working with leaders in China on government-funded efforts to establish a national research and performance improvement network.

Dr. Krumholz is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, the Association of American Physicians, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He is a Distinguished Scientist of the American Heart Association. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology, the Board of Directors of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the Board of Governors of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

Rishi Bhalerao, MBA, Director of PatientsLikeMe, a free patient network and real-time health research platform.

At PatientsLikeMe Rishi manages major relationships with industry partners. Prior to joining PatientsLikeMe, Rishi spent several years as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and more recently, as an innovation consultant, at a firm started by Prof. Clay Christensen of the Harvard Business School. He earned an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and also holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Engineering.

You Xi

Director of Business Analytics at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals (BI)and leads a team of analysts conducting analysis across all BI’s portfolio and communicating findings and strategic insights to internal stakeholders (Marketing, Sales, Managed Markets, Sr. Management etc.).

The key deliverables include using various data sources to measure performance, build promotional mix optimization modeling, behavior segmentation, portfolio optimization, etc.  Prior to BI, You was a consultant at ZS Associates and then held various management roles in the pharmaceutical industry including Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Novartis.

Michael Matteo

Mike Matteo is chief growth officer at Optum, where he is responsible for creating and enabling growth across the company. Matteo focuses on the needs and opportunities of Optum’s customers and how the company can deliver creative, innovative solutions that meet their objectives. Prior to bringing his passion for modernizing the health care system to Optum in 2012, Matteo served for four years as chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare National Accounts, where he expanded the company’s industry-leading position in the large-employer marketplace. Prior to becoming CEO, Matteo led business development efforts for UnitedHealthcare National Accounts, where previously he worked in product development and was instrumental in designing and launching the company’s first consumer-driven product innovations. He joined UnitedHealth Group in 1997 as a strategic account executive, helping many of the company’s largest employer clients meet their health care objectives.

Before joining UnitedHealth Group, Matteo was with Physicians Health Services, where he served the needs of major clients as an underwriting director and senior account executive. He began his career serving in multiple roles with Traveler’s Insurance Companies. Matteo graduated magna cum laude with honors from the College of the Holy Cross, and participated in the Columbia University Executive Management Program. He is on the boards of the MetroHartford Alliance, Hartford YMCA, and Connecticut Science Center, and served as chairperson of the Greater Hartford Arts Council Capital Campaign.

Don’t miss Gati Dharani on ‘Wearables for Health Intervention in Aging Population’ @APHA, Nov.17, New Orleans

It’s a billion dollar question: How can we use wearable mobile devices for better health outcomes in the aging population?  Join my valued colleague and HITLAB innovator Gati Dharani and her team revealing newest research in sights on “Wearable fitness tracker intervention increases physical activity in Baby Boomers” at the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) HEALTHOGRAPHY 142nd Annual Meeting and Exposition on November 15-19, 2014, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Why is this a billion dollar question? – The traditional business model of the pharmaceutical industry is broken.  The focus shifts to incentivize patient-centric outcomes, prevention and behavior change in the global battle against a mounting wave of chronic diseases such as diabetes.  In search for a new business “beyond the pill” the pharmaceutical industry joins other stakeholders in the healthcare system to align and pull in this same direction.  First data-driven results are highly anticipated – well, here they are, so don’t miss this milestone event!

Meet me at the 9th Annual Health Care Delivery and Management Case Challenge at Columbia University, Nov. 8, 2014

Join the 9th Annual Health Care Delivery and Management Case Challenge at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health on Sat. Nov. 8, 2014!
I will be acting as juror once again – always a fun a insightful event with the following goals:

  • Create opportunity for students to apply classroom learning to a real-world healthcare case, using strategic decision making to solve health service delivery problems
  • Allow students from the three Alliance schools, Business, Medicine, and Public Health, to collaborate in a cross-functional way
  • Utilize faculty from the three Alliance Schools to advise teams.

For more information/rules and to register your team for the competition, please contact Prof. Paul Thurman, Executive Director of the Alliance, at Paul.Thurman@Columbia.edu

‘School for Intrapreneurs” nominated for 5th annual Corporate Entrepreneur Awards

We are honored that the Boehringer Ingelheim “School for Intrapreneurs” got nominated for Market Gravity announce the fifth annual Corporate Entrepreneur Awards in New York.

The awards will be held at an inspiring new venue, 7 World Trade Center, and include the opportunity to explore some of the top corporate innovations in North America, network with innovation leaders, and hear from our guest speaker from Virgin Galactic.

The awards recognize and celebrate the achievements of individuals and teams who are working within large companies to deliver game changing innovation and growth.

Meet me at the 5th annual Corporate Entrepreneur Awards, New York City, Nov. 4, 2014

After four successful years, Market Gravity is proud to announce the fifth annual Corporate Entrepreneur Awards, and this year the Awards are coming to New York.

The awards will be held at an inspiring new venue, 7 World Trade Center, and include the opportunity to explore some of the top corporate innovations in North America, network with innovation leaders, and hear from our guest speaker from Virgin Galactic.

The awards recognize and celebrate the achievements of individuals and teams who are working within large companies to deliver game changing innovation and growth.

Can a Business Savvy Executive become a Social Intrapreneur ?

Social Intrapreneuring is on the rise – are you in?

ConsciousLab blog - Adventure to Consciousness

The answer is a big YES!  We are seeing a huge trend where people in organisations are being internally stirred to do meaningful work that has an impact on society and the ecology.  Slogging for the benefit of creating more wealth for shareholders is no longer an appealing option for many.  In the last decade, there has been a flurry of employees leaving the comfort of their corporate nests to work on social or environmental projects and many have set up social enterprises from scratch.  But there has been another breed of employees showing up in companies who are challenging the status quo and catalysing change from within and launching entrepreneurial initiatives with social/environmental objectives.  I call these the pioneering ones.

They have surely been leading the way and have shown a lot of grit in getting people on board and making their social or eco ideas a reality in…

View original post 406 more words

Join my Expert Chat on “Prototyping and Pitching” for Social Intrapreneurs, Oct. 29, 2014

Join me for the Expert Chat on “Prototyping and Pitching” on Wednesday, October 29 at 10am ET.  The Social Intrapreneurship for Innovation in Health and Wellness course attracts participants from around the world (23 countries on 6 continents) to develop prototypes for new social intrapreneuring and social entrepreneuring ventures as a collaborative social innovation platform.

Course Description

This 6-weeks online course is facilitated by Joseph Agoada and Megan Coolidge of Ashoka and powered by TechChange, the institute for technology and social change in cooperation with Boehringer Ingelheim.

As the world rapidly changes new employer and employee skills such as changemaking, teamwork, empathy and leadership are fundamental to an institution’s ability to innovate and grow into the future. Ignoring the need for these new skills leads to loss of opportunity and competitiveness, along with increased redundancy and inefficiency. Social intrapreneurship is a methodology for sparking, cultivating, advancing and scaling social innovation within institutions by capitalizing on trends such as technology advancement and globalization, deploying agile and start-up strategies and building the core changemaker skill set. Check out why Forbes is calling the Social Intrapreneur the Most Valuable Employee of 2014.

Ashoka, the world’s largest network of social innovation and entrepreneurship, has teamed up with Boehringer Ingelheim, a world leading pharmaceutical lab with a corporate vision for “value through innovation”, to create a six-week online course in social intrapreneurship for innovation in health and wellness. In this course, you will connect with participants from institutions across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors and convene to learn entrepreneurial and start-up strategies for creating positive social and business impact in the health and wellness space.

In this course you will:

  • Prepare for a lead or supporting role in developing a health and wellness innovation with social and business impact
  • Gain skills and strategies to garner internal and external support for innovative projects
  • Learn how to collaboratively advance innovation in a bureaucratic setting
  • Connect with a network of intrapreneurs and innovators to share ideas, make critical connections, and get continuous support and feedback
  • Complete a final group prototype project using Ashoka’s innovative concept formation and collaboration techniques

Through an online dynamic learning environment, which utilizes Ashoka’s and Boehringer Ingelheim’s knowledge and networks in intrapreneurship, students will join facilitators and leading experts in the field to discuss case studies, major trends and social business ideas to keep you on the cutting edge of intrapreneurship.

Course Topics:

  • Week 1: The Business Case for Social Intrapreneurship
  • Week 2: Selecting and Framing an Intrapreneurial Problem Statement
  • Week 3: Strategies for Advancing Social Innovation Within Your Institution
  • Week 4 & 5: Prototyping and Pitching
  • Week 6: Final Review and Wrap-up
  • Finale Event: Prototype Presentations

~~~

Read also:  School for Intrapreneurs: Lessons from a FORTUNE Global 500 company

The Mindset of Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs

What do Intrapreneurs and Entrepreneurs have in common? The answer is: their attitude! Here are my learnings inspired by Malcolm Gladwell.

What does IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad have in common with Malcolm McLean, who revolutionized the global transportation of goods by introducing shipping containers in 1953?  Both think big and share the “10X” aspiration for returns on their investments (see also 10x vs 10% – Are you still ready for breakthrough innovation?).  But there is more: a shared mindset of entrepreneurs that also drives intrapreneurs within large organizations.

Just recently I had the pleasure hearing Malcolm Gladwell speak as a “Provocateur” at the World Of Business Ideas event in New York City’s epic Radio City Music Hall.  He illuminated the attitude of these against-all-odds entrepreneurs who succeeded and changed the world.  It struck me seeing significant parallels in the mindsets of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs which I want to share with you.

Just as a bit of background, my work in recent years focuses on disruptive intrapreneuring, i.e. building frameworks to revitalize mature organizations from within and get break-through employee ideas implemented for exponential business outcomes.  In contrast to entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs are employees who build new businesses within their organization for the greater good of the company and, ultimately, it’s customers.

Entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs both pursue opportunity relentlessly and without regard to resources currently available to them. But there is even more commonalities relating to their attitude, their mindset, as Malcolm Gladwell puts it so eloquently, which goes beyond the traits of being

  • Open and creative to imagine the future in new ways.
    Here, associative thinking and a deeper understanding of subject matters helps to envision the future solution overall and implementing it with all its details.
  • Conscientious to focus on how to make it happen.
    This is the relentless drive, energy and experimentation to understand and being able to implement the many details necessary to turn the idea into reality and success despite mounting obstacles.
Beyond that, however, what constitutes the common mindset of successful entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs alike can be described by three things coming together in a game-changer’s mind:
  1. They are “disagreeable” in the sense of being indifferent to what others are think. They remain steadfast despite the rejection and immediate social consequences they may experience.
  2. They reframe the problem by elevating it from the current business model and practice to a higher level of abstraction.  They look at the problem broadly before condensing it to its pure core.  Once they got to the core of the problem, they map out the disruptive steps it takes to getting there without regard which industries are being affected and need to be disrupted.  Instead of thinking in industries, the thinking is more around an “arena” that constitutes the space and markets the new business will cover.
  3. They are impatient!  Driven by a sense of urgency they take action without hesitation.  There is no time to waste, they want to make the future happen now!
In the start-up world, entrepreneurs can turn to incubators and accelerators to get help developing their idea. Investors decide which entrepreneurial businesses are likely viable and should be funded.  The situation is different within large, mature organizations (see also:Why mature organizations can’t innovate).  It starts with the question where do you find these game-changing Intrapreneurs within an organization?  Often enough, intrapreneurs are not the “talent” that gets officially selected top-down and developed along a structure career development plan of sorts.  In all honesty, true intrapreneurs are disruptors by definition and can come come across a bit rough in the beginning – especially in a polished corporate environment.  Just look at the “disagreeable” criteria!  Not a quality you would find in a corporate leadership job description, right?

This is why it takes a dedicated effort to foster innovation through intrapreneurship in large and mature organizations.  Two programs I’ve spearheaded, the School for Intrapreneurs and Angel investing within the company, are tried and true approaches to building an innovation ecosystem.  Both produce outstanding results in a Fortune Global 500 and received best-practices credits in the international innovation study out of the University for Applied Sciences in Munich, Germany.

Contact me for more information or to design and implement an innovation and intrapreneuring in your organization!

Meet me at “Healthcare Delivery to Developing Countries Using Mobile Technology” in NYC, Oct. 22, 2014

The German Center for Research and Innovation and Physicians Interactive offers a high-level panel discussion on “Healthcare Delivery to Developing Countries Using Mobile Technology” at the German House, 871 United Nations Plaza (First Ave. at 49th Street), New York, NY.  on Wednesday, October 22, 2014, from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.  – Click here to sign up for an invite to this RSVP event.

Why?

The United Nations reports that a child born in the developing world is 33 times more likely to die by age five than a child born in the U.S. or in Germany. Tragically, the leading causes of death are entirely preventable. Given the shortage of health care providers worldwide and the explosive proliferation of mobile phones, devices, and apps, mobile health technology has a tremendous opportunity to help improve health in developing countries. How can we best deploy mobile health technology to help save lives and empower communities? Is there a role for human rights advocacy in the campaign to increase access to quality care? And, what lessons can the West learn from the developing world with regards to solving the problems of access, affordability, and even innovation?

Expert panelists address these and other pertinent questions about using mobile technology to solve the health care crisis:

  • Kerry Kennedy – President, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights
  • Donato J. Tramuto – CEO & Chairman, Physicians Interactive
  • Bernd Altpeter – CEO & Founder, German Institute for Telemedicine and Health Promotion (DITG)

moderated by

Speaker Biographies:

Kerry Kennedy is President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. She is the bestselling author of Being Catholic Now and Speak Truth to Power. Ms. Kennedy started working in human rights in 1981 when she investigated abuses committed by U.S. immigration officials against Salvadoran refugees. Since then, her life has been devoted to the pursuit of justice and to the promotion and protection of basic rights. She established the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights in 1988 and has led over 50 human rights delegations across the globe. Ms. Kennedy founded RFK Speak Truth to Power, a global human rights education initiative that is taught to millions of students worldwide.  In 2010, she founded RFK Compass, which convenes financial leaders to consider the impact of human rights violations, environmental degradation, and corruption on investment outcomes. Ms. Kennedy is Chair of the Amnesty International USA Leadership Council and serves on the boards of directors of Human Rights First, Inter-Press Service, and the United States Institute for Peace. She has three daughters, Cara, Mariah, and Michaela.

Donato J. Tramuto, Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Physicians Interactive, has more than 30 years of healthcare experience in both the product and service segments. Mr. Tramuto is the Chairman and Founder of the Tramuto Foundation, a non-profit organization that he created in 2001 to help young individuals achieve their educational goals and has also supported more than 40 organizations worldwide in helping the disadvantaged of our land.  In 2011, following the devastating effects from the earthquake in Haiti, Mr. Tramuto founded Health eVillages, a program now residing at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights and funded through Physicians Interactive, which provides state-of-the-art mobile health technology to medical professionals in the most challenging clinical environments around the world. Mr. Tramuto serves on several executive leadership boards:  The Boston University School of Public Health Dean’s Advisory Board, the Physicians Interactive Board of Directors, the Robert F. Kennedy U.S. Leadership Council, the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights Europe Board, the HealthWays (NASDAQ) Board of Directors, and the Maine Economic Council. In 2005, 2009, and 2012, he was selected by PharmaVoice as one of the Top 100 Most Inspirational Healthcare Leaders in the Life Sciences Industry. Mr. Tramuto was selected as one of four distinguished recipients of the 2014 Ripple of Hope Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights.

Bernd Altpeter is Founder and CEO of the German Institute for Telemedicine and Health Promotion (DITG). Prior to this, he founded the boutique consulting firm “driving growth group,” which works for German and international life science companies. Previously, Mr. Altpeter was Global Business Partner at Monitors Marketing Practice M2C. Since 2006, he has been operating as a consultant, business angel, and entrepreneur in the eHealth business. In March 2013, he founded DITG, which to date has evolved into one of the leading eHealth companies in Germany, offering lifestyle intervention programs for chronic diseases such as type 1 and type 2 diabetes, in addition to servicing international companies in various sectors from health insurance to the pharmaceutical industry. Mr. Altpeter studied economics in Germany, France, and the U.S.
Moderator Biography:

Wolfgang Renz is President of International Business at Physicians Interactive. Prior to this role, Dr. Renz was Corporate Vice President of Business Model & HealthCare Innovation at Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. For over a decade, he has been involved in developing medicines and technology to help people lead healthier, more productive lives. At Boehringer Ingelheim, he led a team of specialists to find, test, and develop the disruptive technologies that will shape the way healthcare will be delivered in the future. In addition, he currently also serves as Adjunct Professor of Surgery at McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine in Montreal, Canada. Dr. Renz holds a medical degree and a Ph.D. from Freiburg University and is board certified in Germany in emergency medicine.

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