The Beauty of Success

4Ego: Who, Me?

Ego is important. Without a healthy ego entrepreneurs don't have the necessary internal reserves to survive the daily rigors of startup life.

—Ben Yoskovitz, Instigator blog, July 22, 2010

I never thought I had an ego until I became an intrapreneur for the third time and my ego reared its ugly little head in a way that I had never experienced. This time around, going back into someone else's company as an intrapreneur was different; my mindset was forever altered as I had just spent the years prior as an entrepreneur. I had already successfully started and run two companies and had been a working entrepreneur for about eight years, managing my team, making decisions, and running the show. My ego wasn't driven by having to compete with entitled peers, politics, or an industry that praises and rewards employee competition. Instead, my ego was driven by a need to keep my company afloat, make payroll, and pay office rent.

When your ego becomes entwined in a political chess game, a true entrepreneur who is playing the role of intrapreneur (as I was during this stop on my journey) simply cannot win. As an entrepreneur, my focus was solely on getting it done and moving forward as the sole provider for my team and captain of our ship. Going back into corporate life as an intrapreneur at that point was difficult, and, I admit, my ego got the best of me trying to defend myself, my talents, and my own vision against the backdrop of interoffice politics and bad corporate ...