Physician IntrapreneurshipArlen Meyers, MD, MBA

President and CEOSociety of Physician Entrepreneurship

Definitions and conceptsEntrepreneurship

Pursuit of opportunityScarce and uncontrolled resourcesGoal is to create user defined valueThrough the deployment of innovation

Innerpreneurship: nascent inner entrepreneurial tendencies and mindset

Intrapreneurship: Employees acting like entrepreneurs

What you should know about innovationThere is a difference between and idea, an

invention, and improvement and an innovation

An innovation has both a qualitative and quantitative component

Innovation can be in four different categories, 10 different ways

There are many ways to innovate without creating a company

Rules create ecosystems that support or impair business models that drive innovation

What you should know about value Value is the difference between user defined tangible

and intangible perceived benefits- tangible and intangible perceived cost

Features that are not user defined benefits are costs to the producer

Your value proposition is the promise you make to your customers concerning how you intend to solve their problem or do the job they are asking you to do. 

 On average, it takes a 5x difference in the perceived value in the mind of the customer to switch from one product to another. Disruption requires creating many multiples of that.

Types of physician entrepreneursMedical practice ownersTechnopreneursIntrapreneursService providersSocial entrepreneursInvestors

The entrepreneurial mindsetPersonal growth relates to the size of the

challenge, not the size of the kingdom. The new direction is the challenge, not

the destination.Be an attacker of forces holding people

back, not a defender.

The entrepreneurial mindsetNew insights come from a quest for

questions, not a quest for answers. Stakeholders must be connected into the

new reality, not convinced.Work from the challenge backward,

rather than capability forward.

“Orbit Shifting Innovation, Narang and Devaiah

Is there intrapreneurial engagement?Employer, for example:How important does senior management

think innovation is to the future of our company?

Are there clearly defined mandates for innovation?

What common behaviors do we see around us that would both support and detract from innovation?

How do we compare to other innovative organizations?

How well do we handle external shock?

Is there intrapreneurial engagement?Employee, for example:Business Development Knowledge, Skills and

AttitudesLegal and Intellectual Property Knowledge,

skills and attitudesPassion for you ideaPersistenceWillingness to accept risk

Intrapreneurial survivial skillsBuild a power baseKnow when to ask for forgiveness and not

permissionPerfect office politics, negotiation and persuasionFind a sponsorWatch your back and circle of trustPilot projects. Test a little learn a lotApproach projects like strart upsKeep score. Measure what’s importantHave a marketing planDon’t expect recognition, resources or credit

Why intrapreneurship is harder?Two front warGuerilla war, not a frontal assaultFocus on the new, not the now and threats to

vested interests and the status quo

Not newThere is nothing more difficult to take in hand,

more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order, this lukewarmness arising partly from fear of their adversaries … and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.

— Niccolo Machiavelli

Why do intrapreneurs fail?Fear or retributionThreat to ego and self esteemGreed or overreachingKilling the cash cowNo recognition or appreciationSystem issues and the corporate immune

systemWrong productNo customersWrong business model

Why hire physician intrapreneurs?Knowledge technicians are deadNeed to play nice with othersFew have an entrepreneurial mindsetNeed to evolve into leaderpreneursNeed to overcome the corporate immune

systemNeed for strategic alignmentNeed to create user defined valueThey will leave if you don’t satisfy their needsYou need them to serve as role models and

champions

What to do with them?1. Provide them with the knowledge,

resources, networks, mentors and experiential learning they need to succeed.

2. Create a transparent innovation leadership system

3. Facilitate team building4.  Set strategy, define the vision and get out

of the way5. Let them fail without labeling them as

"disruptive physicians"

What to do with them?6. Be sure they are integrated into your regional

innovation ecosystem7. Absolutely, positively, walk the walk. Never promise

something you can't deliver. If you do, you will break the trust you are trying to create and never regain it.

8. Be sure you have the structure, process and culture that fertilizes imaginative physician intrapreneurs

9. Not everyone is motivated by the same things. Some want time. Some want money. Some just want revenge, driven by anger to make things right based on their values.

10. Think big, but seek and leverage small wins.