Do you want to stand out in your organisation, be known for your creativity and innovation while helping to drive success?

You might be an aspiring intrapreneur.

But what is an intrapreneur, and how can you become one?

The term intrapreneur is not new. One of the first people to use it was the late Steve Jobs, who described his early Apple team of the 1980s as intrapreneurs.

By that he meant employees with the passion, dedication, initiative and ambition to create the best future for the business that they could.

These employeess took as much satisfaction from seeing the business succeed as if they were an entrepreneur working at their own enterprise.

Indeed, intrapreneurs are essentially entrepreneurs, working within the structure of an organisation to further its goals.

An intrapreneur is excited by innovation and creativity, and motivated to transform an idea into a profitable venture. They are valuable assets in this age of change and disruption.

Google, in particular, works to encourage intrapreneurship by allowing staff to spend 20 per cent of their time pursuing projects that interest them and which they think will benefit Google and its customers.

The philosophy has paid off, with services including Gmail, Google News, Orkut, and AdSense all originated during this free time.

So, what are the characteristics of an intrapreneur?

• Confidence - Even if one idea doesn’t pay off, your next could be transformational.
• Energised - Doggedly pursue every idea to its ultimate conclusion.
• Innovative - Always think, can we do this better?
• Inspired - Gets excited by opportunities and their outcomes.
• Sharing - Works collaboratively to reap the rewards, and share the risks, of progress.

Learn how small businesses from various sectors are employing technology to their advantage by visiting Brother’s business solutions homepage.