So you want to be a social intrapreneur? Here are 5 tips

Feb 16, 2023

Social intrapreneurs want to build change from within an organization. Image: Unsplash/Marvin Meyer

Pavitra Raja

Programme and Engagement Lead, Europe and Americas - Schwab Foundation, World Economic Forum

Alexander Court

Marketing Communications Lead, World Economic Forum

Our Impact

What's the World Economic Forum doing to accelerate action on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion?

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Entrepreneurship is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Fairer Economies

Listen to the article

A social intrapreneur is someone who behaves like a social entrepreneur, but while working within an large organization.
Social intrapreneurs are ambitious workers who want to leverage their company's resources to create positive impact.
Two Let's Fix It podcast guests – Sam McCracken and Jonathan Wong – outline their top tips for social intrapreneurs.
Subscribe to the podcast on any platform here. Visit the show page on our website: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/lets-fix-it.

Have you wondered how you can create change from within your organization? Then you might be a budding social intrapreneur.

A social 'intrapreneur' is someone who behaves like a social entrepreneur, while working within a large organization. Social intrapreneurs are ambitious employees who want to leverage their firm’s resources to create positive social and environmental impact.

Have you read?

In the new episode of Let’s Fix It, we spoke to two leading social intrapreneurs: Sam McCracken, General Manager at Nike N7, and Jonathan Wong, Chief of Technology and Innovation at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

If you are a social intrapreneur, or want to become one, here are their top tips:

1. Figure out what you’re good at

“

When you talk about my journey and how I ended up here, it was about working out what you’re good at. I have several failed entrepreneurial ventures, but what I quickly realized was that I was actually quite good at working in bigger organizations and driving change.

”

— Jonathan Wong, Chief of Technology and Innovation at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

2. Don’t be afraid to experiment, but have a bigger picture in mind

“

I've never had a career path in mind. I've worked for NGOs, and I've worked in the private sector (currently at the United Nations). I've always believed in the need to reshape the economy to better serve people and planet. And that's always been the theme throughout all the organizations I've worked for.

”

— Jonathan Wong, Chief of Technology and Innovation at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

3. Have strategic patience

There is a sense of impatience to solve big, complex, global problems quickly – however, in order to create systemic solutions, you often need to have “strategic patience”.

4. Build trust with your audience

“

One key ingredient that an individual needs to build trust, is to be who they are. If you talk to anyone who knows me they know who Sam McCracken is – they know who I am, they know what I represent and they know my core values.

”

— Sam McCracken, General Manager at Nike N7

Discover

What is the Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship?

The Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship is one of the largest multi-stakeholder collaborations in the social innovation sector.

The Alliance has 100 members – corporations, investors, philanthropists, governments, researchers, media, and industry actors – who work together to build an engaged ecosystem of key public and private sector leaders in support of a social innovation movement that transforms society to be more just, sustainable and equitable.

Launched in response to the COVID-19 crisis by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship together with Ashoka, Catalyst2030, Echoing Green, GHR Foundation, Skoll Foundation, and Yunus Social Business in April 2020.

In that pursuit, the Global Alliance will continue to mobilise a trusted community of leaders together with core partners - SAP, Bayer Foundation, Motsepe Foundation, GHR Foundation, Porticus, Deloitte, Microsoft and Catalyst 2030, that acts and learns together so that social entrepreneurs can flourish.

5. Just do it

“

To be a corporate social intrapreneur, you need to add value to the business. I wrote a one-page business plan and presented it to my superiors at Nike. I'm a blue-collar guy that rolled up his sleeves and did what needed to be done.

”

— Sam McCracken, General Manager at Nike N7

And finally, be humble:

“The secret sauce to success is being humble and bringing people along on your journey,” McCracken says. Wong concludes: “You have to be ambitious. You have to be fearless. You also have to be very humble”.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.