Understanding Intrapreneurship: the New Wave Reshaping Companies

Intrapreneurship: what is this new wave sweeping through companies?

True pirates at heart, intrapreneurial employees are boarding the ship to transform organizations and create new models—sometimes going as far as bending job descriptions or bypassing hierarchical layers. Intrapreneurship has become the conquest of a new generation of engaged employees who take action and are determined to shake things up.

Who are they? What do they do? And how can companies harness this desire to create and innovate from within in order to encourage initiative and generate value? Because today—and even more so tomorrow—this community will be the crew driving a new way of thinking about work and fulfillment: rejecting the heavy influence of rigid, pyramidal organizations and completely redefining the company’s value system.

Companies, it is time to set sail and meet these rebels who have so much to offer in reinventing you.

Pirates conquering the mothership: when intrapreneurs board the company

They have potential, they have ideas, and above all, they have an incredible drive to create and improve what already exists within the company. No, they are not necessarily Millennials or Generation Y—even if their voices often carry the strongest expression of a desire that is shared across generations. Nor are they exclusively senior executives or top managers, even though leadership is often (wrongly) entrusted only to them.

So who are intrapreneurs?

They are employees who know the company inside out—its weaknesses as well as its untapped strengths. They are everywhere, of all ages, in every role, and from all backgrounds. With innovation and initiative as their banner, they strive to evolve traditional business models that move far more slowly than they do and than their expectations allow.

They know that by organizing themselves as a community, they can go further, faster, and stronger. They stand out for their remarkable collective and organizational ability to unite and collaborate, breaking down silos and dismantling imposed boundaries. In this context, hierarchy is a concept they are happy to détourne. Creators of “oblique relationships,” they collaborate without necessarily going through their managers—working transversally, openly, simply, and free from convention.

A mutiny to revolutionize the company: intrapreneurship as a true act of rebellion to build tomorrow’s organization

Armed with an inexhaustible energy to change things, intrapreneurs launch high–value-added projects that make sense for the business. They invent the business models of the future, optimize existing processes, and help boost productivity, efficiency, and agility.

A true mutiny with a single objective: leveraging the best of collective intelligence to reinvent their company.

Faced with the challenge of accommodating these new aspirations, companies are now confronted with a parallel concept: corporate hacking—the art of employees steering their own course when organizational slowness or resistance becomes an obstacle. Turned into hackers, they organize underground to carry out their revolution.

At EDF, for example, a group of employees crystallized around a shared ambition: to “hacktivate” innovation within the company. “Connected Generation” is the name of this movement led by change-makers united by their desire to initiate projects and work together to bring them to life.

So whether intrapreneurship or corporate hacking, where does the company stand? Often, it sees these corsairs arrive without being ready to bring them aboard. It sails in troubled waters, where fear and hesitation go hand in hand with rigid organizational structures and management systems. How should the role of managers be redefined? How should decision-making processes evolve?

This is far more than a simple internal trend—it challenges the entire operating model of the organization. It is up to the company to seize the opportunity to lead its own revolution, a prerequisite for creating fertile ground to identify and nurture intrapreneurial talent.

Pirates in search of treasure: intrapreneurs seek fulfillment and engagement

Entrepreneurship is booming. More and more employees are setting sail to start their own ventures. The company—and the idea of a job for life—no longer holds the same appeal. Proof of this is the +205% increase in business creation among young people.

Why? Because the digital and collaborative era has made entrepreneurship more accessible than ever. Because many aspire to a different ideal—one where fulfillment, expression, and creation take precedence. And because outside the workplace, employees are also customers whom brands know how to care for—highlighting a stark contrast with how companies treat their own people.

Customer experience, long the focus of all efforts, is giving way to employee experience—still largely uncharted, yet just as critical. It is no longer acceptable for employees’ voices, ideas, and expectations to be ignored. They have things to say—and the power to be heard.

In an era where one-way corporate communication is obsolete, this network of engaged voices can become an exceptional community of ambassadors—provided their ability to contribute is nurtured and their needs for meaning and recognition are met.

A cultural shift is essential

So how can companies respond?

• Redefine leadership and the role of managers toward collective intent, experimentation, and experience
• Develop an entrepreneurial culture that unleashes collective intelligence as the company’s new engine
• Grant the right to fail and to take risks, because “a calm sea never made a skilled sailor” (African proverb)
• Unlock potential to gain performance and agility, and set sail toward richer horizons—more value-creating and more meaningful

“In the future, leaders will be those who know how to empower others.”
— Bill Gates

LVMH, for example, through its DARE initiative (Disrupt, Act, Risk to be an Entrepreneur), brought together over 4,000 employees in an ideation process focused on disruptive innovation in the luxury sector. Sixty participants were selected and given three days—during a startup weekend—to work on twelve projects. At the end of the event, the three winning teams were given the opportunity to bring their projects to life, notably through Yumana’s digital platform to connect talent.

In doing so, LVMH created a true community of entrepreneurs capable of reinventing luxury métiers and instilling an intrapreneurial mindset—allowing employees to work in startup mode within the group’s Maisons.

Conclusion

Intrapreneurs—these rebels in suits—have already set sail to kick-start the transformation of companies and steer them toward models that inspire once again. Intrapreneurship becomes a shared adventure, giving full meaning to the evolution companies aspire to: new ways of collaborating and managing, participatory innovation, and sustainable performance.

A reflection of the creative energy of our time, intrapreneurship is an undeniable treasure that every organization should seek.

So… who’s coming aboard?