亲爱的安妮: 我想开发一项新业务，在我来看，它对公司非常有利。但一想到要把我的理念真正付诸实践，我就有些胆怯和畏缩。尽管公司的高级管理人员时不时也会提到，要鼓励员工们增强“内部创业精神”，但我们的公司文化跟谷歌（Google）这种初创企业毕竟相差太远。（我们公司的业务相当多元化，大部分业务都涉及传统制造业和运输业。）我得找出一种最好的办法，能够说服公司高层为我的想法提供资金和人员方面的扶持。您和您的读者们可否为我指点迷津？——激情燃烧的人

    激情燃烧的人: 你可能也知道，内部创业精神这一理念在美国企业界有着悠久而富有传奇色彩的历史。它要回溯至二次世界大战期间，美国洛克希德马丁公司（Lockheed Martin）知名的“臭鼬工厂”。离我们最近的一个例子是苹果公司（Apple），苹果旗下产品麦金托什电脑（Macintosh）是由史蒂夫•乔布斯领导的一支小型非正式团队研发出来的。乔布斯曾说过，这一项目的完成其实就是“一群人重回地下车库搞研发，只不过车库换成了大公司的地下室”。

    吉福德•平肖称：“如果没有内部企业者的存在，公司也不可能有任何创新。几乎所有重大的革命性创新都是由充满激情的创新者推动的结果，其他人的百般阻挠也扼杀不了他对于创新的追求。”

    平肖是一位来自西雅图的咨询师。他运营一家名为班布里奇研究所（Bainbridge Graduate Institute）的商学院。他是这所商学院的创始人，他也因提出了“内部创业者”的概念而闻名。你可能也会对他的两本著述感兴趣，一本是《内部创业：成就创业梦想无需另起炉灶》（Intrapreneuring: Why You Don't Have to Leave the Corporation to Become an Entrepreneur），另一本是《内部创业者商业创新行动指南》（Intrapreneuring in Action: A Handbook for Business Innovation）。我们在平肖的网站上还可以看到 “内部企业家十诫”。

    没准第一条诫律就会让你望而却步了。第一诫写道：“每一天上班都要做好被炒鱿鱼的心理准备。” 平肖说，试图在一个庞大的官僚主义企业内开发一项新业务，这种事绝对不适合胆小怯懦的人，因为“它会触发公司内部的免疫系统”，对那些安于现状的人来说，任何改变都是威胁，他们会极力阻挠新想法的出现。（我猜想，你一定很清楚你们公司里也有这种人，也知道他们都是谁，否则你就不会像自己所说的那么“胆怯和畏缩”了。）

    平肖拥有这方面的亲身经历（他曾经在一家大企业内部开展过新的咨询业务），他也曾采访、研究过数以百计的内部创业者。在此基础之上，他总结出了三种途径，能帮助你实现自己的想法：

    1. 寻找一位有影响力的支持者。平肖指出：“近来，因为很多公司都在削减成本，导致在尝试新业务领域方面投入的资金不断缩水。但真正的好项目总会有办法获得支持的。”可以先从说服某位可能接受你想法的上司开始，比如你提到的鼓励内部创业精神的某位高管。平肖还说：“如果你在公司上层有朋友，他也能协助你压制公司的内部免疫系统，帮你铲平很多障碍”，支持你的事业。

    2.找出你的新点子与公司现有业务之间的联系。平肖建议，你要说明你推崇的新业务是“公司现有某种业务的合理延伸，切忌把新业务描述为一种全新的概念（即便事实如此也不可行）。过快过多的变革会把人吓跑，所以要避免过分夸大、言过其实的表述。要强调，你只是在潜在客户中对新理念进行探索和检验。总之，这么做很合情合理，也容易让人接受。”

    Dear Annie: I have an idea for what I think would be a terrific new line of business for the company I work for, but I'm daunted by the thought of actually trying to get it off the ground. Senior managers here sometimes talk about encouraging people to be more "intrepreneurial," but this isn't really a startup-incubator type of culture like, for instance, Google. (Most of our businesses, which are widely diversified, are in old-line manufacturing and transportation.) I need to figure out the best way to approach higher-ups about getting support, including funding and staffing, for my idea. Can you or your readers give me any pointers? — All Fired Up

    Dear AFU: As you probably know, intrapreneurship has a long and storied history in U.S. companies, going back to the famous "skunk works" at Lockheed Martin (LMT) during World War Two. A more recent example is Apple's (AAPL) Macintosh, which was developed by a small, informal team led by Steve Jobs, who later described the project as "a group of people going, in essence, back to the garage, but in a large company."

    "Innovation in companies doesn't happen without intrapreneurs," says Gifford Pinchot. "Almost every big, game-changing invention you can name is the result of a passionate person pushing it through despite others' efforts to kill it."

    Pinchot, a Seattle consultant who founded and runs a business school called the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, is generally credited with having coined the term "intrapreneur." He wrote two books you might want to check out: Intrapreneuring: Why You Don't Have to Leave the Corporation to Become an Entrepreneur and Intrapreneuring in Action: A Handbook for Business Innovation. Take a look, too, at Pinchot's web site, which features 10 Commandments for Intrapreneurs.

    Commandment No. 1 may give you pause: "Come to work every day willing to be fired." Gulp. Trying to launch a new business within a huge bureaucracy isn't for the faint of heart, in part because, Pinchot says, it "triggers the corporate immune system," inviting resistance from people who see any change to the status quo as a threat. (In your own company, I suspect you know who these people are or you wouldn't be, as you say, "daunted.")

    Based on his own experience (he once started a new consulting business within a large firm), and that of hundreds of other intrapreneurs he has interviewed and studied, Pinchot suggests three ways to start turning your idea into a reality:

    1. Find an influential sponsor. "These days, there is less money around for trying out new lines of business, because so many companies are in cost-cutting mode," Pinchot notes. "But there is always a way to get resources for the right project." Begin by persuading one higher-up that your idea can fly -- maybe one of those senior managers you mention who talks about encouraging intrapreneurship. Says Pinchot, "Friends in high places can calm the corporate immune system for you" and champion your cause.

    2. Connect what you're proposing to what the company is already doing. Rather than pitch your idea as a radical new concept (even if it is one), Pinchot advises describing it as "a logical extension of one of the company's current businesses. Too much change too fast scares the hell out of people, so avoid overdramatizing or overpromising. Emphasize that you are just exploring the idea and testing it with potential customers, which is always a sound strategy anyway."

    3. 循序渐进，从微小的要求开始。平肖称：“最开始可以用点小窍门，只提出别人无法拒绝的要求。一步一步地推进，让别人慢慢习惯对你的要求给出肯定的大幅。”举例而言，不要一开始就要求指派专人协助你开拓新业务，而要做好准备，自己完成大部分的工作。平肖还说：“一下子提出不切实际的要求，只会促使别人跟你唱反调。不要给人口实，让别人有机会明正言顺地抨击你正在做的事情。”

    在此基础之上，新型IAC应用软件网站CrowdedRoom.com创始人麦克•克斯滕鲍姆还提供了另外几条建议。他曾经是一位投资银行家，2004年进入大型互联网公司IAC担任企业并购分析师（他曾帮助IAC公司收购了免费字典网站Dictionary.com和在线娱乐公司CollegeHumor Media）。

    他说：“做足功课，彻底了解市场，尤其是潜在客户基础和市场竞争方面的详细情况。”打消别人对你的想法所抱有的疑虑就得“比别人更理解市场。”

    克斯滕鲍姆还建议：“要充分利用公司其他人的技能。我很幸运曾经在IAC公司工作过，因为公司有很多人都是建设新网站方面的专家，拥有很多成功经验，”他说。“还可以从公司内部其他员工身上学习新产品开发、市场研究以及其他自己欠缺的知识。”

    平肖完全同意他的观点，其中一部分原因涉及职场政治，这一点很有意思。他说：“寻求建议是拉拢人心的好方法。大胆征求他人建议，但事后一定不要忘记感谢他们给予的真知灼见。”他补充说，如果能够争取到反对派的支持，让他们的专长为我所用，将是十分有利的事情。“一旦把反对派也拉进来，参与到你的新项目中来，他们就会对项目产生感情。现在，他们也开始为新项目出力了，因此，这个项目错不了。”他还说，表达真诚的感激之情非常重要：“没有人能抵挡得了他人的谢意。”

    祝你好运！

反馈：您所在的公司鼓励“内部创业精神”吗？您是否曾提出新产品或新服务方面的建议，后来有什么结果？请在此留言，发表您的看法。

    译者：李玫晓/汪皓

    3. Begin with small requests. "The trick in the very early stages is to always ask questions to which the answer will be 'yes,'" says Pinchot. "Take small steps. Get people used to saying 'yes' to you." For instance, instead of asking to have someone assigned to help you develop your new business, be ready to do the lion's share of the work yourself. "Asking for the moon right away" will just stir up naysayers, Pinchot says: "You don't want to give people a reason to attack what you're doing."

    To that advice, Mike Kestenbaum adds a couple more tips. A former investment banker who joined giant Internet company IAC (IACI) in 2004 as a mergers-and-acquisitions analyst (he helped IAC acquire Dictionary.com and CollegeHumor Media), Kestenbaum now runs a new IAC app he invented, CrowdedRoom.com.

    "Do your homework and know the market -- especially the potential customer base, and the competition -- inside out," he says. Overcoming skepticism about your idea requires that "you know more about the market for it than anyone else in the room."

    Kestenbaum also recommends "tapping into the skills of other people in your company. I was lucky in that IAC has so many people who are experts at making new sites successful," he says. "You can also get input from your in-house specialists in new product development, market research, or wherever your own skills aren't quite enough."

    Pinchot couldn't agree more, partly for an interesting political reason. "Asking for advice is a good way to get people on your side," he says. "So ask, and then be sure to thank them for their insights." This is especially helpful, he adds, if you can enlist the expertise of someone who is trying to block your idea. "Once you have involved that person in your project, you engage their ego. They're now contributing to it, so it must be good," Pinchot says. Expressing your sincere appreciation is essential, he observes: "Very few people can resist gratitude."

    Good luck!

Talkback: Does your company encourage "intrapreneurship"? If you've ever proposed a new product or service, what became of your idea? Leave a comment below.