I read a great article in the Wall Street Journal on disaster as inspiration.

It’s timely because

• not all startups are Net startups – Net startups get most of the press, just as they did the last time, but the idea that the only companies worth funding or working for must be engaged in providing some consumer service that requires massive numbers of users and often relies on advertising for revenue (assuming it has a revenue model) is not only inaccurate, but also ridiculous;
• ‘find a need/nitch and fill it” can change the world—even if it only changes small pieces at a time it often does it in a way that flashier models don’t;
• intrapreneurship is not only alive and well it’s also extremely successful, as shown in the Wall Street Journal article—or just think ‘Apple’, ‘Intel’, ‘IBM’, the list is endless;

As the Wall Street Journal article points out, real-world happenings, especially disasters such as hurricanes, inspire both innovation of existing products and the creation of totally new ones; both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs.

Whether it’s disaster or downtime, you need to keep your mind as open as your eyes.

Flickr image credit: zzzack

Image credit: mariaboismain

A manager I coach was concerned about one of his people. He said that although he knew it was none of his business he felt that one of his top producers was wasting her personal time working on an idea she had for a new product, but admitted that her actions had no impact on what was a stellar performance.

It wasn’t that she might leave to pursue the idea that bothered him, but rather that failing would be painful and he found it sad that she was setting herself up for so much disappointment if things didn’t pan out.

And before you write this off with the thought that he’s old and she’s young or that he’s jealous let me clarify a bit.

Both are in their early thirties—she’s actually two years older, they’re educational equals and both are highly innovative.

What they have is different MAP. While both take risks, he prefers being an intrapreneur while she likes the idea of entrepreneurism.

I told him that

• they were more similar than he realized and that he shouldn’t evaluate her dreams using his MAP;
• in return for her productivity and 110% efforts he owed it to her to support her dream;
• the way dreams come true is by being willing to risk making a plan, setting goals and then going for it; and
• the only real failure comes when you’re dead, since any time before that you can try again and that the only people who never “fail” are those who attempt nothing.

What would you have told him?