Why I wrote this book
The Entrepreneur Within is the culmination of decades of experience leading innovation in start-ups and large organisations. But there is a deep-rooted problem, and this book was written to address it. Mark Roberts explains
Imagine if large corporations could ignite new ideas as effectively as start-up entrepreneurs, and imagine if startup entrepreneurs could scale their ideas as efficiently as well-run corporations. Connecting the strengths of each contrasting mindset can unlock the potential for powerful innovation-led growth.
I’ve led innovation portfolios in multinational companies, been a scale-up entrepreneur, worked as an intrapreneur within a global corporation, and as a venture capital investor. In every venture, I began to see the same underlying problems.
As an entrepreneur, I relished the freedom that a small business brings, but I also experienced the challenges of having few resources and the growing pains of scaling fast. Then, in a large corporation, I was again reminded of my time at the bank, attempting to slash my way, Indiana Jones-style, through the jungle of constraints, my hat left on the other side of the door.
I began to realise that there are common threads that impede innovation within organisations of all sizes. I shared my thoughts with dozens of business leaders, all of whom corroborated my experiences. You, as our innovator-in-chief, our entrepreneur within a business, will no doubt have shared similar pain.
This book is the culmination of decades of experience innovating inside and outside established businesses. It’s the culmination of dozens of interviews with business leaders who have made things happen at companies including Nike, Sony, AB InBev, Apple and many more. You’ll hear from many of them in this book. I’ve studied where innovation has worked and, perhaps more importantly, where it hasn’t.
I started collating these ideas and experiences alongside interviews, research and thoughts, and the result is this book, The Entrepreneur Within. FORGE®, the methodology that this book outlines, has become my playbook for innovation. I hope it will guide you through the challenges of innovating within an organisation, understanding where to focus, how to scale up, and explain how to keep an entrepreneurial mindset alive within any organisation, no matter how much jungle undergrowth or swishing poison-tipped arrows there is around you.
THE TRUE REASON FOR THIS BOOK
I’m passionate about innovation. It’s thrilling. I love the buzz of being part of new ventures, I love hearing how they succeed. When businesses grow, when they scale efficiently, it improves the lives of people, it improves the economy, it benefits to everyone. But here’s the real crux: innovations change the world. I believe that if we solve the problems of innovation, we can solve the problems of the world. That’s why I wrote this book.
