Safe Sailing
After 20 years of experience in Building a Team, Operating them for the first toughest 5-7 years and then to make it sail smoothly is my zest. I always feel energetic whenever I define the rule and then follow the same myself so that I can be a role model for my team.
Success is not an easy way to travel to any destination. It requires lot of planning, idealising and implementation. When we start reaching the success, it will be the most sweetest thing in the world.
I have faced the question of “Am I a part of the board or the founders of the company” that too when I travel with my CEO on roadshows. I used to reply, I am sailing on a safer side so that I will get my pay check (cheque) at the end of every month without fail. Its not an easy task to become a Successful Entrepreneur. Until the starting point of the success, Entrepreneurs are the one who never get paid or financially benefitted. Person like me cannot afford to take that risk in my life.
The Unique Entrepreneur
If i am asked to answer, the question I have faced most number of times in the last 5 years, then it is, “Why Am I Not an Entrepreneur” My unchanged answer to everyone who have asked me till date is “I know my strength and weakness as a professional person and so becoming an Entrepreneur is not my cup of tea.”
I always wonder why should I become an Entrepreneur in my life. Just because having “Ideas” can I call myself an Entrepreneur? If you analyse the needed qualities of an Entrepreneur then I am sure that most of the so called Entrepreneurs are amateur in their profession and not serious.
The statistics shows that earlier 1 in 10 entrepreneurs reach success. After 2000 and 2007 recessions, it has increased to somewhere around 1 in 30.
The main problem with Concept Based Entrepreneurs are, most of them are not Confident Enough to say that their Concept or Idea of their business is “THE UNIQUE ONE” in the market. They pacify always to say that though there are others with same concept their concept is different from others. In the recent days the mostly spoken and funded companies in India are also falling into this bucket only.
Businessman Not Entrepreneur
They get funded millions and millions. But can they challenge that their concept is Unique in the market? No. They cannot. My question to these Entrepreneurs are “If you are not able to bring unique Concept to the table then how can you call yourself as an Entrepreneur?” You are nothing but one another Businessman. Thats all right.
If you took the core concept from the company where you were working, modify it with customer feedback, white label it and then calling yourself an Entrepreneur? How can you justify this?
If getting funded is the only quality to call these guys as Entrepreneurs, then of course these guys are THE ENTREPRENEURS. No doubt on that.
Don’t Compare – Differentiate
Coming back to where I left earlier, Real Entrepreneurs come with their own unique Vision. They give the spark to ignite. They loose most when they fail. They know how to bounce back even if they bankrupt.
Intrapreneurs are those who take the spark from these Entrepreneurs and make the flame to burn continuously. They work within the organisation whereas Entrepreneurs work outside the organisation. Intrapreneurs don’t need to worry about the funding. Its the toughest task assigned to Entrepreneurs.
Though all Entrepreneurs are Independent, they bear the most risk in the organisation. If an Entrepreneur is compared as Spark plug then Intrapreneur is compared as the piston which accelerates and runs continuously so that every other parts run smoothly and safely.
Both are different and being Intrapreneur requires more in-depth knowledge in Operations and Business Management. They set the rules. They have to follow those rules so that others follow without any hesitation. They have to walk the talk so that the organisation is set to fly on the correct course to reach the destination.
Since the Entrepreneur and Intrapreneur roles are entirely different we can only Differentiate those but cannot Compare those.
Entrepreneur, Intrapreneur and Employees
If vision is the role of an Entrepreneur then we can say mission is the role of any Intrapreneur. The only common point where they both meet is the Mission. Defining the mission is also again the role of the Entrepreneur only. But driving the mission to Success is the role of an Intrapreneur.
As how mission happens to be the intersecting point between Entrepreneur and Intrapreneur, business involvement happens to be intersecting point between Intrapreneur and Employees.
It will be a little smooth sailing for an Intrapreneur if he becomes an Entrepreneur. But Entrepreneur should never take the role of Intrapreneur. You have proved something more than that. You should look out for an Intrapreneur to run the organisation if your vision and mission is of greater success.
AnubKumar Dharmabalan 