如何成爲一名"內部創業者"

In 2009, I took on a new job title—not a new position, but a new way of describing myself—that fundamentally changed how I worked.

2009年，我擁有了一個全新的頭銜—— 不是一個新的職位，而是一種重新定義自我的方式。它徹底改變了我的工作方式。

At the time, I was a general manager at Intel Corporation INTL 1.01% , and had been tasked with turning an education PC initiative into a for-profit business. The job included developing user-friendly products and establishing a market for Intel in the education sector. I recall describing my role during a talk I gave at Harvard Kennedy School, and someone said, “So you are an ‘intrapreneur?’” It was the first time I had heard the term, and I realized it described me perfectly, and the type of work I had been doing during much of my Intel career.

那時我還是英特爾公司（Intel Corporation）的一名總經理，負責將一個教育類個人電腦的項目變成一門賺錢的生意。這份工作的內容包括開發人性化的產品，爲英特爾公司在教育領域拓展市場。我記得我曾在哈佛大學肯尼迪學院（Harvard Kennedy School）發表講話，談到自己的職業定位，當時有人問我：“也就是說，你是個‘內部創業家’（intrapreneur）？”那是我第一次聽到這個詞，我意識到它準確地定位了我個人以及我在英特爾公司從事的大部分工作。

Five years later, after leaving Intel, I am now a Partner at Kleiner Perkins Claufield & Byers as well as Chief Business Officer at an education tech company, Coursera. I spend my days working with entrepreneurs — people with immense energy and big ideas, trying to change the world. I realize that my Intel team and I functioned much the same way; although we worked for a large company, we focused on doing new things.

5年以後我離開了英特爾，現在我是凱鵬華盈（Kleiner Perkins Claufield & Byers）的合夥人以及教育科技公司Coursera的商務總監。我每天和創業者們一起工作，這是一羣擁有無限活力和宏偉設想的人，希望靠自己的努力改變世界。我發現，曾經的英特爾團隊和我現在的工作職責非常相似：雖然我們過去是爲一家大公司工作，但工作重點也是作出新東西。

Taking the inside track to entrepreneurship as an employee in a big company can be just as rewarding and exciting as leaping into the start-up world, and it can offer some great advantages. Keeping your corporate job may provide greater stability, while also enabling you to: leverage a strong corporate brand; recruit talent more easily within an organization where you already have relationships and share a common language; and concentrate more on achieving your vision than on tasks, such as securing venture funding, figuring out office space, and building a company infrastructure.

以僱員身份在一家大公司內部進行創業，可以收穫和外部創業同樣豐厚的回報和激動人心的體驗。而且，這種內部創業具有巨大的優勢：繼續公司的工作意味着更高的穩定性，同時你可以運用所在公司強大的品牌資源，依靠內部的人際關係和共同的興趣在企業中更輕鬆地招聘到所需要的人才。這樣，你可以更加專心於實現既定的目標，不用爲創業基金、辦公地點和公司基礎設施等事宜操心。

Intel is obviously a far cry from a scrappy start-up, but the company provided opportunities for me to follow my passions and turn ideas into projects with huge impact. Here are a few tips to becoming an intrapraneur that I learned along the way:

英特爾和組織鬆散的初創企業截然不同，但是它給我提供了一個跟隨自己的激情、將創意變成重大項目的機會。這裏有一些如何成爲一名內部創業家的祕訣，是我多年經驗所得：

Be different.Take on new projects and pursue positions that broaden your experience. Early in my Intel career, I took a job in Japan working on DVD standards. One of my managers said it was a bad move — that I didn’t have enough experience and it would take me off the fast track toward the corporate C-suite. But I was effective in the job in part because I was different — no one expected a young American woman from the PC industry would be trying to open doors at consumer electronics companies like Sony, Panasonic and Hitachi, but that’s just what I did.

與衆不同。參與新項目並爭取不同的職位，以此豐富個人經驗。早年在英特爾工作時，我接受了一份在日本從事DVD標準化的工作。我的一位經理認爲這是一個糟糕的人事調動，因爲我缺乏足夠的經驗，此舉將阻礙我晉升公司最高管理層的道路。但是，結果我在這個職位上做得風生水起，部分原因就是因爲我的與衆不同。沒有人預料到，電腦公司裏會有一個年輕的美國女職員努力爭取那些消費型電子產品公司客戶，比如索尼（Sony）、松下（Panasonic）和日立（Hitachi），但是我確實就是這麼做的。

Through cold calling, finding introductions to the right people, speaking Japanese in business meetings, and generally being fearless, I was able to get Intel onto the committee that allowed us to advocate for DVDs to work on computers, not just living room devices. As it turned out, people did want to watch movies on computers.

通過不停打電話、努力結識能夠提供幫助的人、在商業會議上說日語，以及大無畏的做事風格，我最終促使英特爾被相關委員會接納，獲准將DVD應用在電腦上推廣，而不僅僅是在家用電器上。事實證明，人們確實喜歡在電腦上看電影。

Become your own CEO.Successful CEOs understand different parts of their company’s business and know how to work well with people. Many would-be entrepreneurs have a single, focused skill set. Maybe you’re a great engineer, but you know little about finance, manufacturing or communications. With the limited resources of a start-up, you have to be smart about hiring and the skills on your team. You need to wear many different hats, even when you’re not the expert. You also need to commit to being someone who never stops expanding your knowledge and skill set. There are so many resources out there, as well as mentors and peers from whom to learn and gain perspective.

成爲自己的CEO。成功的CEO理解公司業務各個不同的部分，深諳與人相處之道。很多所謂的創業者只有十分單一和侷限的技能。你或許是一位偉大的工程師，但是對財務、製造或傳播等方面知之甚少。由於初創企業的資源有限，你必須懂得招聘人才，提高團隊技能。你需要承擔不同的角色，即便你不是相關領域的專家。此外，你還需要永無止境地擴大自己的知識面和學習新的技能。可以學習的資源數不勝數，還可以向很多前輩和同儕請教，以此拓寬自己的視野。

Build your board of directors.Find an executive sponsor—someone who will serve as your sounding board, connect you to people in the company who can help you, and protect your organization to give you the time and space required to achieve your vision. My Intel executive sponsor functioned like a lead director or a good venture capitalist: he asked me the hard questions, highlighted the things I needed to think about, helped me recruit talent, and taught me the ropes in securing annual funding. The good news is that it’s much easier to build your board and rally support within an organization where you’re already known than it is to cold-call a venture capital firm.

打造自己的董事會。找到一個“贊助者”，他/她可以作爲你的參謀，幫你與公司內可以提供幫助的人建立聯繫，爲你的組織提供保護，讓你有足夠的時間和空間達成你的願景。我在英特爾的“贊助者”就像是一個首席董事，或是一個出色的風險投資家：他會提出一些尖銳的問題，強調我需要思考的東西，幫助我招聘人才，教會我如何搞定年度資金申請。好的方面是，在一個你已經熟悉的機構建立自己的董事會和爭取支持，要比你盲目尋求一個陌生風險投資公司的幫助容易得多。

Own what you are.Adopting the “intrapraneur” label at Intel gave me (and my team) an entirely new vocabulary. Suddenly we were able to explain what we were doing within a “start-up” framework that other people could better understand—a process that helped remove obstacles to new ways of doing business. As intrapreneurs, we took pride in being rebels, rolled up our sleeves, and got the job done.

把握好自己。在英特爾，“內部創業者”的標籤給了我（和我的團隊）一個全新的定義。突然之間，我們發現一切事情都可以在“創業”的框架下解釋，這也讓其他人更容易理解—— 這個過程有助於排除新的行事方式所面臨的障礙。作爲內部創業者，我們以提出相反的意見、全力投入並順利完成工作爲榮。

You don’t need to be at a startup to innovate and have a huge impact. Often, all you need is creativity and the willingness to learn skills outside of your comfort zone to innovate right where you already are.

你不需要加入一家創業公司也能創新，作出一番成就。通常來說，你需要的只不過是創造力，和在所熟悉的領域之外掌握新技能，努力在公司內部進行創新的決心。（財富中文網）

Lila Ibrahim is the Chief Business Officer of Coursera, an education technology company that offers massive open online courses. She is also an Operating Partner and Chief of Staff at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

易卜拉欣是教育技術公司Coursera的商務總監。該公司主營大量的在線課程。她還是美國著名風險投資公司凱鵬華盈的運營合夥人和幕僚長。