Company startuppers. Unlocking the hidden entrepreneurial potential in our organizations

Organizations are rich in people with untapped entrepreneurial skills who often don’t find the right conditions to fully reveal their potential. The consequence? At best, even talented people are careful to adapt when ordered to do so, to avoid slowing down their careers. At worst, they become resigned and demotivated to the point of frustration. In some situations, they decide to leave the company. The peculiar thing is that some managers consider that decision an unexpected opportunity (one less restless person to manage) rather than a failure and a direct loss of a portion of intangible capital. In short, companies do not generally represent the ideal location to be a startupper. The good news, however, is that a growing number of organizations – even among traditional, regulated ones – are exploring how to exploit energy and internal initiative without killing them in the cradle. The concrete experiences illustrated in the book and the method on which it is based demonstrate this, on the condition that there are two fundamental ingredients: on the one hand, businesses willing to create and make available spaces of expression that are not temporary, and people willing to occupy them with courage and determination; on the other, a few, clear mechanisms to manage those spaces and a toolbox to transform problems and challenges into concrete solutions.