Entrepreneurial employees to boost innovation

A growing number of companies are putting strategies in place to let their employees express their entrepreneurial spirit. Intrapreneurship is gaining ground among companies facing constant innovation challenges  as well as constantly exploring ways to improve the motivation of their personnel.

Intrapreneurship bypasses the constant financial problems entrepreneurs face. It gives individuals the opportunity to initiate entrepreneurial and innovative projects in a secure environment provided by the company for which they work.  It creates  new  professional development and personal achievement  opportunities that  boost employee  motivation  and  increase retention. Intrapreneurship brings  undeniable  value  to  Human  Resource strategies, in addition to growth potential to the company; a win win situation for employers and employees

Experienced innovators and some of the most inspiring speakers in the areas of intrapreneurship and innovation will share their views and experience during Intrapreneurship Conference 2011, the first international conference on Intrapreneurship.  Major entrepreneurs from Alcatel-Lucent,  Google, Rabobank & Exki will address the positive impact of intrapreneurship in their organizations, how it unleashed creativity and empowered employees to better achieve personal objectives as well as  getting higher recognition for what they are doing. They will also address challenges that may be faced when developing Intrapreneurship strategies.

Intrapreneurship Conference 2011 will take place on December 2nd, 2011 in Brussels.

For more information and registrations: www.intrapreneurshipconference.com

Source: Press Release from organizers

Personal note: I was honored to be invited to this conference, as I am organizing International Conference on Intrapreneurship next year (19-22 July, Mamaia, Romania). I am a huge fan of people joining forces in promoting good concepts, so I hope that our two events will have a great impact on future workforce and employers in order to bring more innovation in our economies.

Networking without a purpose

You probably got used to be advised to have very clear objectives when you go to a conference, to have a clear purpose for networking. Yeah sure, if only we will work all our life in the same field/ company.

 What most people tend to forget is that we build a personal network of contacts that we should be able to use no matter the changes in our career, or the career changes of our contacts. We should connect to people, not with their current positions or companies. These can change even in a few months (which actually happens more and more in our endless opportunities and dynamic world). And another thing we tend to forget is that nobody likes at a conference to feel hunted for his/ her position. A great person is great in any professional position, so your interest should not change if he/she works somewhere else.

 I do network without a clear purpose at the time of the conference. I just like to meet new interesting people. And I like to connect with them, make them remember me, without wanting something from them. Sometimes I just give first, without asking for something. Of course, sooner or later I have ideas on how to benefit from the contacts I have - but that becomes just a way to maintain the relation over time. Is just like connecting the dots later on.

 So my advice:
- You are not just X Manager at Y company. You are more complex. And you might have different needs in the future than the needs you have now. So don't waste opportunities for the future just because you think they are not useful for now.
- He/ she is not just Z Manager at W company. He/ she is more complex. They might change their field/ company anytime. They might have parallel cool projects, or hobbies...
- Keep yourself curious. Explore. Get inspired.
- Make yourself pleasant, human. Don't make them feel as if you hunt them for their positions.
- Be yourself. You are a person, not a business card.

Not really working from home

The working remotely phenomenon is increasing. No doubts on that.

But I disagree that the good old saying "working from home" applies anymore. Instead, people start to work more from public places like cafes, restaurants, concept stores, business hubs. And these places apply also for business meetings.

Why? Because we don't want to work from here or there (office/ home), but we simply want to be free/ completely mobile and to have diversity. And yes, these spaces should have: plugs, wireless, inspirational environment.

Would this be a business trend that will emerge into the development of new types of working spaces?
Well, I am betting that it is starting to be a perfect market time for a hi-tech cafe for business clients :)

I don't have time

That's a lie!!! Perhaps you don't lie to the others, but you lie to yourself.

Here is the truth:

You will always have time for what you love to do. Your lack of time does not come from lack of good planning/ time management, it just comes from lack of motivation. You don't like what you have to do or you think that you should not do more than your colleagues etc.

And one more thing:

The most successful people I have met always have time to run their things and keep an eye on what is going on around. The most unsuccessful people I have met always say they don't have time.

You get it...So it's time to start having time :)

Europeans, get ready for Startup Week 2011

Last week in Vienna  I met Andreas Tschas, CEO at STARTeurope, with who I've been in touch for a while.

Working on activating and fostering entrepreneurial thinking in Europe, they are now preparing for the European Startup Festival 2011 - an event gathering entrepreneurial people, mentors and investors, a total of 1000 European participants and 70 speakers for 5 days in Vienna.

Teaser STARTUP WEEK - The European Startup Festival from STARTUP WEEK on Vimeo.

The event is a great networking and business development opportunity I will not miss. Moreover, I want to spread the word about it and I hope that more like-minded entrepreneurs will join me there. I will be one of their ambassadors in Romania, so if my blog doesn't reach you, you will also find out about it on different media channels soon.

And this is not all. With STARTeurope's support, I will organize a local event to encourage the development of Romanian startup scene. To be announced soon...

Other articles about the event:
http://eu.techcrunch.com/2011/07/27/come-to-techcrunch-vienna-on-october-6-2011/
http://thenextweb.com/eu/2011/08/03/startupweek-to-turn-spotlight-on-central-and-eastern-europe/