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."