The Beauty of Success

1Are You an Entrepreneur or Intrapreneur?

Dear Kendra,

I THINK you ARE an entrepreneur learning for your OWN purposes and leadership the LESSONS that INTRAPRENEURSHIP offers you right now so that the NEXT TIME you put on the LEADER's ROBES, they will be higher quality fabric :-) and you will have ALL THE SUPPORT you need as the CHIEF AND CHAMPION of your projects to have a team of INTRAPRENEURS to EXECUTE.

—Love, Julie Flanders (my executive coach, as told to me in 2019 upon returning to entrepreneurship)

As an intrapreneur, I was calculated and political, and I prayed every day that I would have a seat at the table to do what I was hired to do for the company I worked for. I was an employee, a boss, and a leader, but I was undervalued.

As an entrepreneur, I took risks, I made decisions, I prayed every day we'd make payroll, but I was the bearer of all decisions, successes, and failures. I was a chief and my own champion, mentor, colleague, and coach. Entrepreneurs and visionaries encompass a much smaller group than what is portrayed by job titles; there are a lot of people who pretend or wish. Entrepreneurs see possibilities that other people can't.

Having spent the past 20 years of my career navigating between my role as an intrapreneur and my role as an entrepreneur, I have created a set of definitions that I believe summarize both.

1. Intrapreneurs are internal corporate entrepreneurs who follow the goals of the organization.
2. Entrepreneurs follow their dreams and passions. ...