Intrapreneurship
Explore real-world insights, reflect on your practice, and find inspiration for actionable change
Intrapreneurship is a collection of 21 articles that were originally published in the online EXPRESS magazine. Intrapreneurs can use these international insights to reflect on their own practice and also create actions for change that are tailored to their personal and organisational contexts.
EXPRESS is the online magazine published three times a year by the Entrepreneurial Mindset Network. Since its launch in 2018, it has established itself as a dynamic and inclusive global platform, featuring contributions from authors in 67 countries.Entrepreneurial Mindset Network is an inclusive, international community of practice where anyone can learn to use entrepreneurial behaviours and make their unique contribution to the world.Paul Coyle is the Founder and Executive Director of the Entrepreneurial Mindset Network and the editor of the Express magazine. He is an expert in the entrepreneurial mindset, innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership and organisational change.
RI:SE Mindset Development Framework
To date 21 articles have been published in EXPRESS on the theme of Intrapreneurship.Use the Network's RI:SE Mindset Development Framework to support your personal and organisational development. RI:SE stands for Reflect & Initiate : Scale & Excel.Reflect & Initiate: use the real-life lessons from the Express magazine articles and executive summary to Reflect on your personal goals and to Initiate actions to strengthen your entrepreneurial behaviours.Scale and Excel: the Network's premium development services enable leaders to Scale entrepreneurial ways of working, building from individuals to teams, and creating a culture in which everyone can Excel.
Executive Summary
An analysis of all the articles reveals the following common challenges and practical solutions suggested by the authors:
Topical Scope: This collection of articles explores how an entrepreneurial mindset drives transformation across commercial enterprises, public healthcare systems, and higher education institutions.Common Organisational Obstacles: Intrapreneurs consistently face systemic hurdles, including rigid corporate hierarchies, entrenched departmental silos, and a widespread fear of making mistakes among staff.Workplace Stress and Misalignment: Traditional management styles often exacerbate employee anxiety by relying on top-down target cultures and superficial antidotes rather than addressing systemic stress triggers and a lack of autonomy.Innovation Theatre Versus Strategy: A frequent pitfall highlighted across sectors is relying on unstructured hackathons or superficial idea calls, resulting in an eighty percent failure rate for corporate innovation projects that lack strategic execution capabilities.Culture of Safe Experimentation: To overcome these barriers, authors advocate replacing blame-heavy management with controlled experimentation, rapid prototyping, and flatter team structures that nurture psychological safety.Bottom-Up Job Crafting: At the individual level, internal innovators are encouraged to proactively redesign their daily tasks, align their roles with personal values, and treat intrapreneurship as a self-directed, extra-role behaviour.Structured Capability Building: Practitioners can strengthen their strategic impact by adopting structured frameworks such as the seven-behaviour MINDSET model, enrolling in specialised MOOCs, or completing Executive MBAs to navigate complex corporate boundaries.Personal Productivity and Focus: To prevent burnout and maximise output, intrapreneurs must learn to say no to non-strategic tasks, eliminate workplace distractions, and focus single-mindedly on priority outcomes.Self-Reflection and Political Awareness: Intrapreneurs should evaluate their own alignment with their organisation's core values while developing an acute understanding of workplace politics to determine which risks are worth taking.Tailored Actions for Change: Rather than waiting for top-down approval or perfect initial plans, practitioners should spark change by initiating small pilot programmes, building cross-departmental networks, and co-creating solutions tailored to their local context.(Summary generated by Gemini Notebook).
Intrapreneurship Articles
Thank you to the authors of these global insights on Intrapreneurship for taking the time to share their inspiring stories from Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Ecuador, England, Estonia, France, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Scotland, South Africa, and the USA.Click on any image to read the article on screen or to download a PDF.
List of references and authors
Copyright notice. You may quote, paraphrase or refer to information in these articles on condition that you credit the author and publisher by using the following references.Antonova, K. (2023). The Executive MBA - cultivating a life-long learning mindset. Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 6(2). https://express-volume-6.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Krassimira Antonova (Advent Group, Bulgaria) PDF linkCoyle, P. (2024). Entrepreneurial mindset and the future of values-based healthcare. Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: EXPRESS 7(3). https://express-volume-7.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Paul Coyle (Entrepreneurial Mindset Network, France) PDF linkCoyle, P. (2022). A culture of innovation in healthcare. Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 5(1). https://express-volume-5.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Paul Coyle (Entrepreneurial Mindset Network, France) PDF linkCoyle, P. (2020). Are intrapreneurs born or made? Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 3(1). https://express-volume-3.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Paul Coyle (Entrepreneurial Mindset Network, France) PDF linkCoyle, P., Foley, S., Friedl, C., and Kikas, M. (2021). Entrepreneurial employees. Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 4(2). https://express-volume-4.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Paul Coyle (Entrepreneurial Mindset Network, France) and Susan Foley (Corporate Entrepreneurs, USA) and Chris Friedl (FH Joanneum, Austria) and Mart Kikas (Estonian Business School, Estonia) PDF linkCresswell, J. (2024). Why we need a whole new approach to innovation within higher education. Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: EXPRESS eZINE 7(3). https://express-volume-7.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Jo Cresswell (Research and innovation consultant, England) PDF linkCrispin, S. (2018). The entrepreneurship curriculum. Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 1(1). https://express-volume-1.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Stuart Crispin (University of Tasmania, Australia) PDF linkFang, M. (2022). An entrepreneurial mindset is essential for every business. Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 5(3). https://express-volume-5.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Marcela Fang (William Angliss Institute, Australia) PDF linkFriedl, C. (2020). Intrapreneurship MOOC. Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 3(1). https://express-volume-3.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Chris Friedl (FH Joanneum, Austria) PDF linkGueorguiev, S. (2020). How can we learn not to fear failure? Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 3(2). https://express-volume-3.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Stefan Gueorguiev (Advent Group, Bulgaria) PDF linkKikas, M. (2021). Europe needs more intrapreneurship. Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 4(1). https://express-volume-4.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Mart Kikas (Academy of Innovation Coaching, Estonia) PDF linkKikas, M. (2020). How can companies develop their capability to innovate? Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 3(3). https://express-volume-3.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Mart Kikas (Estonian Business School, Estonia) PDF linkMiller Judd, P. (2020). How should we deal with the causes of work-related stress? Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 3(2). https://express-volume-3.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Pauline Miller Judd (Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland) PDF linkMontero, G.S. (2023). Entrepreneurship and development - what is missing? Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 6(1). https://express-volume-6.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Gerson Sopó Montero (Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Ecuador) PDF linkNeergård, G-B. (2019). Entrepreneurial nurses. Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 2(2). https://express-volume-2.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Gunn-Berit Neergård (Norwegian University of Science & Technology, Norway) PDF linkNielsen, P, B. (2024). Utilising the amazing potential of AI in the healthcare sector. Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 7(1). https://express-volume-7.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Peter Børker Nielsen (Centre for Clinical Artificial Intelligence, Denmark) PDF linkNikolić, J. L. (2022). Robots and jobs - how to be prepared for the future? Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 5(3). https://express-volume-5.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Jelena Lukić Nikolić (Modern Business School in Belgrade, Serbia) PDF linkOrozco, J. (2025). Corporate entrepreneurship and innovation in emerging economies. Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 8(2). https://express-volume-8.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Jairo Orozco (EGADE Business School, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico) PDF linkPelica, R.O. (2026). The power of intrapreneurship, serious games and networking. Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 9(1). https://express-volume-9.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Rita Oliveira Pelica (European University of Lisbon, Portugal) PDF linkRajah Baird, S. (2020). Is it time for an HR strategy reset? Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 3(2). https://express-volume-3.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Sherisa Rajah Baird (Fasken, South Africa) PDF linkRobins, M. (2020). What next for employee engagement? Entrepreneurial Mindset Network: Express 3(2). https://express-volume-3.entrepreneurial-mindset.network
Martine Robins (HR Dept, England) PDF link
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Only the Executive Summary was generated using Gemini Notebook.